Albert Barnes Commentary Acts 2:29

"Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us unto this day." — Acts 2:29 (ASV)

Men and brethren. Peter now proves this passage of the Psalms could not relate to David, but must refer to the Messiah. He begins his argument respectfully, addressing them as his brethren, even though they had just accused him and the others of intoxication. Christians should use the usual respectful forms of greeting, whatever contempt and reproaches they may encounter from opponents.

Let me freely speak. That is, "It is lawful or proper to speak with boldness, or openly, concerning David." Though he was an eminently pious man and venerated by us all as a king, it is still proper to say of him that he is dead and has returned to corruption. This was a delicate way of expressing high respect for the monarch whom they all honoured, while still showing boldness in examining a passage of Scripture that many probably supposed referred solely to him.

Of the patriarch David. The word patriarch properly means the head or ruler of a family, and then the founder of a family, or an illustrious ancestor. It was commonly applied to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others, as a mark of high distinction, as the illustrious founders of the Jewish nation (Hebrews 7:4; Acts 7:8–9).

It was also applied to the heads of the families, or the chief men of the tribes of Israel (1 Chronicles 24:31; 2 Chronicles 19:8, and so on). It was thus a title of honour, denoting high respect. Applied to David, it means that he was the illustrious head or founder of the royal family. This implies Peter's intention not to say anything disrespectful of such a king, even while he freely examined a passage of Scripture that had been supposed to refer to him.

Dead and buried. They had the record of that fact in the Old Testament. There had been no claim that he had risen, and therefore the Psalm could not apply to him.

His sepulchre is with us. It is in the city of Jerusalem. Sepulchres were commonly situated outside the walls of cities and the boundaries of villages. The custom of burying in towns was not commonly practised. This was true of other ancient nations as well as the Hebrews, and is still true in eastern countries, except in the case of kings and very distinguished men, whose ashes are permitted to rest within the walls of a city.

For example, Samuel was dead—and Israel buried him in Ramah, even in his own city (1 Samuel 28:3). Also, Manasseh was buried in the garden of his own house (2 Kings 21:18). Asa was buried in the city of David (2 Chronicles 16:14).

The sepulchres of the Hebrew kings were on Mount Zion (2 Chronicles 21:20; 2 Chronicles 24:25; 2 Chronicles 28:27; 2 Chronicles 32:33; 2 Chronicles 24:16; 2 Kings 14:20).

David was buried in the city of David (1 Kings 2:10) with his fathers, that is, on Mount Zion, where he built a city called after his name (2 Samuel 5:7). The exact form of the kings' tombs is not certainly known. It is almost certain, however, that they were constructed in a magnificent manner.

The tombs were commonly excavations from rocks or natural caves; sepulchres of vast extent, cut out of solid rock, are known to have existed. The following account of the tomb called "the sepulchre of the kings" is abridged from Maundrell: "The approach is through an entrance cut out of a solid rock, which admits you into an open court about forty paces square, cut down into the rock. On the south side is a portico nine paces long and four broad, hewn likewise out of the solid rock. At the end of the portico is the descent to the sepulchres. The descent is into a room about seven or eight yards square, cut out of the natural rock. From this room there are passages into six more, all of the same construction as the first. In every one of these rooms, except the first, were coffins placed in niches in the sides of the chamber," etc. (Maundrell's Travels, p. 76).

If the tombs of the kings were of this form, it is clear that they were works of great labour and expense. Probably, as there are now, there were also costly and splendid monuments erected to the memory of the mighty dead.

Unto this day. That the sepulchre of David was well known and honoured is clear from Josephus (Antiquities, Book 7, Chapter 15, Section 3): "He (David) was buried by his son Solomon in Jerusalem with great magnificence, and with all the other funeral pomps with which kings used to be buried. Moreover, he had immense wealth buried with him: for a thousand and three hundred years afterwards, Hyrcanus, the high priest, when he was besieged by Antiochus and was desirous of giving him money to raise the siege, opened one room of David's sepulchre and took out three thousand talents. Herod, many years afterward, opened another room and took away a great deal of money," etc.

(See also Josephus, Antiquities, Book 13, Chapter 8, Section 4). The tomb of a monarch like David would be well known and held in reverence. Peter might, then, confidently appeal to their own belief and knowledge that David had not been raised from the dead. No Jew believed or supposed it. All, by their care of his sepulchre and by the honour with which they regarded his grave, believed that he had returned to corruption. The Psalm, therefore, could not apply to him.