Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 1:20

"For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be made desolate, And let no man dwell therein: and, His office let another take." — Acts 1:20 (ASV)

For it is written in the book of Psalms—Saint Peter’s speech is continued after the parenthetical note. His purpose in making the quotation is to show that the disciples should not be staggered by the treachery of Judas, and the seeming failure of their hopes. The Psalms had represented the righteous sufferer as the victim of treachery. They had also spoken of the traitor as receiving a righteous punishment such as had now fallen upon Judas. No strange thing had happened. What had been of old was typical of what they had heard or known.

We do not need to discuss here either the historical occasions of the Psalms cited or the ethical difficulties presented by their imprecations of evil. Neither of these, so to speak, comes within the horizon of Saint Peter’s thoughts. It was enough for him to note the striking parallelism which they presented to what was fresh in his memory and to believe that it was not accidental.

His bishoprick let another take.—It is better, as in Psalms 109:8, let another take his office. The Greek word is episcopè, which, as meaning an office like that of the episcopos, is, of course, in one sense, rightly translated by “bishoprick.” The latter term is, however, so surrounded by associations foreign to the apostolic age that it is better to use the more general, and, therefore, neutral, term of the English version of the Psalm.

The use of “bishoprick” may be noted as an instance of the tendency of the 1611 revisers to maintain the use of “bishop” and the like where the office seemed to be placed on a high level (as here and in 1 Peter 2:25), while they use “overseer” and “oversight” (as in Acts 20:28, and 1 Peter 5:2) where it is identified with the functions of the elders or presbyters of the Church. “Bishoprick” had, however, been used in all previous versions except the Geneva, which gives “charge.”