Acts 4:1

Acts 4:1. First arrest of the Apostles. Their hearing and Defence

1. And as they spake unto the people The movements of the Apostles had by this time become an object of concern to the authorities in Jerusalem. See their complaint (Acts 5:28). There is no note of time at the beginning of chap. 3 to indicate what period had elapsed since Pentecost before the lame man was healed. But news soon spread in the city as we can learn from the events related in the previous chapter.

the priests Those whose duty it was at the time to take charge of the Temple services, and who probably had taken offence at the multitudes assembled in the Temple court. The division of the priests was into twenty-four courses, each of which was to serve in the Temple for a week, see 1 Chronicles 24:1-19; 2 Chronicles 23:8. It was during such service in the order of his course, that the promise of the birth of John the Baptist was made to Zechariah the priest (Luke 1:5-8). Some authorities read high priests.

and the captain of the temple There is mentioned in the O. T. an officer whose title is "the ruler of the house of God" (1Ch 9:11; 2 Chronicles 31:13; Nehemiah 11:11). He was not a military officer, but had charge of the guard of priests and Levites who watched the Temple at night. There are two titles given to such an officer in the later writings of the Jews, (1) the Memunneh(Mishna Tamidi.), a kind of prefect of the Temple guard, and (2) a higher officer called "the captain of the mountain of the [Lord's] house." (Mishna Middothii.) Rabbenu Shimshon describes this second officer as "the Commander who was set over every watch of those that watched in the less sacred portion of the Temple." He was apparently a civil as well as religious official, for we find (Acts 5:26) that he goes with "the officers" to make the second arrest of the Apostles.

and the Sadducees This was the name of one of the most influential sects among the Jews in our Lord's time. Their name has been variously explained. The Jewish authorities state that the name, which they write Tsedukim, is derived from Tsadok(Zadok) the proper name, and that thus they are "the followers of Zadok." The Zadok from whom they derive the title is said to have been a disciple of Antigonus of Socho. This Antigonus is the second in order of the Jewish Fathers whose sayings are recorded in the Pirke Aboth, and the commentators thereon mention two of his pupils, Zadok and Baithos, to the latter of whom, and to his followers, they attribute the teaching that "there was nothing for them in the world to come." But it is perhaps more probable, from their constant connection with the priests, that the name of the Sadducees was derived from the more famous Zadok who became high priest in the reign of King Solomon (1 Kings 2:35). We read of the distinction of his descendants as "the sons of Zadok" and "the priests the Levites of the seed of Zadok" even as late as the description of Ezekiel's Temple (Ezekiel 40:46; Ezekiel 44:15). The probability of this priestly descent of the sect of the Sadducees is strengthened by the way in which they are mentioned Acts 5:17, "Then rose up the high priest and all they that were with him(which is the sect of the Sadducees)." The derivation which makes their name the plural of the Hebrew adjective Tsaddik= righteous, has not much authority to support it.

The teaching of the Sadducees is partly described Acts 23:8. They "say that there is no resurrection neither angel nor spirit." In addition to this they attached no authority to the Oral Law, while the Pharisees maintained that the greater portion thereof had been transmitted to them from Moses. The Sadducees also taught the doctrine of the freedom of the will of men. The statement that they rejected all the Old Testament Scriptures except the Pentateuch has no confirmation in Josephus and has arisen from a confusion of the Sadducees with the Samaritans. Josephus (Antiq. xviii. 1. 4) says "their doctrine is accepted only by a few, but yet by those of the greatest dignity," a statement fully borne out by the influential position in which we find them when the history of the Acts opens. They play no very prominent part in the Gospel history, because the teaching of Christ while on earth was directed more specially against the formalism and outward show of religion that prevailed among the Pharisees. It is only when the doctrine of the resurrection begins to be preached that the hostility of the Sadducees makes itself apparent.

came upon them to arrest them. The same word is used as of the action of the chief captain (Acts 23:27), "Then came I(upon them) with an army and rescued him." See note there.