5 And at these words, Ananias went down on the earth, and his life went from him: and great fear came on all who were present.
And straight away she went down at his feet, and her life went from her: and the young men came in and saw her dead, and they took her out and put her in the earth with her husband. Then great fear came on all the church and on all who had knowledge of these things.
But fear came on every soul: and all sorts of wonders and signs were done by the Apostles.
And in that hour there was a great earth-shock and a tenth part of the town came to destruction; and in the earth-shock seven thousand persons came to their end: and the rest were in fear, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
And if any man would do them damage, fire comes out of their mouth and puts an end to those who are working against them: and if any man has a desire to do them damage, in this way will he be put to death.
I said before, and still say it before I come, as being present for the second time, though I am still away from you, to those who have done wrong before, and to all the others, that if I come again I will not have pity;
Yes, I make my request to you, so that when I am with you I may not have to make use of the authority which may be needed against some to whom we seem to be walking after the flesh. For though we may be living in the flesh, we are not fighting after the way of the flesh (For the arms with which we are fighting are not those of the flesh, but are strong before God for the destruction of high places); Putting an end to reasonings, and every high thing which is lifted up against the knowledge of God, and causing every thought to come under the authority of Christ; Being ready to give punishment to whatever is against his authority, after you have made it clear that you are completely under his control.
For you see what care was produced in you by this very sorrow of yours before God, what clearing of yourselves, what wrath against sin, what fear, what desire, what serious purpose, what punishment. In everything you have made it clear that you are free from sin in this business.
What is your desire? is my coming to be with punishment, or is it to be in love and a gentle spirit?
And now, see, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind and not able to see the sun for a time. And straight away a dark mist came down on him; and he went about looking for a guide.
Now while I was saying these things, death came to Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah. Then falling down on my face and crying out with a loud voice, I said, Ah, Lord! will you put an end to all the rest of Israel?
Then Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord said, I will be holy in the eyes of all those who come near to me, and I will be honoured before all the people. And Aaron said nothing.
And in fear men make public the works of God; and giving thought to his acts they get wisdom.
For because you did not take it at the first, the Lord our God sent punishment on us, because we did not get directions from him in the right way.
And turning back, he saw them, and put a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the wood and put forty-two of the children to death.
And Elijah in answer said to the captain of fifty, If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven on you and on your fifty men, and put an end to you. Then fire came down from heaven and put an end to him and his fifty men. Then the king sent another captain of fifty with his fifty men; and he said to Elijah, O man of God, the king says, Come down quickly. And Elijah in answer said, If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven on you and on your fifty men, and put an end to you. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and put an end to him and his fifty men. Then he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men; and the third captain of fifty went up, and falling on his knees before Elijah, requesting mercy of him, said, O man of God, let my life and the life of these your fifty servants be of value to you. For fire came down from heaven and put an end to the first two captains of fifty and their fifties; but now let my life be of value in your eyes.
But the Lord sent destruction on seventy men of the people of Beth-shemesh for looking into the ark of the Lord; and great was the sorrow of the people for the destruction which the Lord had sent on them. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to keep his place before the Lord, this holy God? and to whom may he go from us? And they sent men to the people living in Kiriath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have sent back the ark of the Lord; come and take it up to your country.
Did not Achan, the son of Zerah, do wrong about the cursed thing, causing wrath to come on all the people of Israel? And not on him only came the punishment of death.
Then he is to be stoned to death by all the men of the town: so you are to put away the evil from among you; and all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear.
And the children of Israel said to Moses, Truly, destruction has come on us; an evil fate has overtaken us all. Death will overtake everyone who comes near, who comes near the House of the Lord: are we all to come to destruction?
And he said to the people, Come away now from the tents of these evil men, without touching anything of theirs, or you may be taken in the punishment of their sins. So on every side they went away from the tent of Korah Dathan, and Abiram: and Dathan and Abiram came out to the door of their tents, with their wives and their sons and their little ones. And Moses said, Now you will see that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and I have not done them of myself. If these men have the common death of men, or if the natural fate of all men overtakes them, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord does something new, opening the earth to take them in, with everything which is theirs, and they go down living into the underworld, then it will be clear to you that the Lord has not been honoured by these men. And while these words were on his lips, the earth under them was parted in two; And the earth, opening her mouth, took them in, with their families, and all the men who were joined to Korah, and their goods. So they and all theirs went down living into the underworld, and the earth was shut over them, and they were cut off from among the meeting of the people. And all Israel round about them went in flight at their cry, For fear, said they, that we go down into the heart of the earth.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 5
Commentary on Acts 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
In this chapter we have,
Act 5:1-11
The chapter begins with a melancholy but, which puts a stop to the pleasant and agreeable prospect of things which we had in the foregoing chapters; as every man, so every church, in its best state has its but.
Act 5:12-16
We have here an account of the progress of the gospel, notwithstanding this terrible judgment inflicted upon two hypocrites.
Act 5:17-25
Never did any good work go on with any hope of success, but it met with opposition; those that are bent to do mischief cannot be reconciled to those who make it their business to do good. Satan, the destroyer of mankind, ever was, and will be, an adversary to those who are the benefactors of mankind; and it would have been strange if the apostles had gone on thus teaching and healing and had had no check. In these verses we have the malice of hell and the grace of heaven struggling about them, the one to drive them off from this good work, the other to animate them in it,
Act 5:26-42
We are not told what it was that the apostles preached to the people; no doubt it was according to the direction of the angel-the words of this life; but what passed between them and the council we have here an account of; for in their sufferings there appeared more of a divine power and energy than even in their preaching. Now here we have,