John Gill Commentary Acts 8

And Saul was consenting unto his death
This clause, in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic and Ethiopic versions, stands at the close of the preceding chapter, and which seems to be its proper place; and so it does in the Alexandrian copy: that Saul consented to the death of Stephen, and approved of that barbarous action, is evident from his taking care of the clothes of the witnesses that stoned him; but the word here used signifies not a bare consent only, but a consent with pleasure and delight; he was well pleased with it, it rejoiced his very heart; he joined with others in it, with the utmost pleasure and satisfaction;

this, and what is before said concerning his having the clothes of the witnesses laid at his feet, as well as what follows, about his persecuting the saints, are, the rather mentioned, because this violent persecutor was afterwards converted, and became an eminent preacher of the Gospel; and these accounts serve to set off and illustrate the grace of God, which was abundant towards him.

And at that time there was a great persecution against the church
which was at Jerusalem :
it began "on that day", as the words may be rendered, on which Stephen was stoned. As soon as they had put him to death, these bloodthirsty wretches were the more greedy after the blood of others; and being now in great numbers, and filled with rage and fury, fell upon the members of the church wherever they met them, and killed them;

for that more, besides Stephen, were put to death, seems plain from (Acts 26:10) and, according to some accounts, though they cannot be depended on, two thousand persons suffered at this time: and if this was the case, it might be called a great persecution:

and they were all scattered abroad ;
not all the members of the church, nor perhaps any of the private ones; for we afterwards read of devout men that carried Stephen to his grave; and of the church being made havoc of by Saul; and of men and women being haled out of their houses, and committed to prison by him; but all the preachers of the word, except the apostles;

for they that were scattered, went about preaching the word, (Acts 8:4) (11:19) They seem to be the seventy disciples, and other ministers of the word, on whom the Holy Ghost fell at the day of Pentecost, or was since bestowed; among whom were Philip, who went to Samaria; and Ananias, who was at Damascus; and others that went as far as Phenice, Cyprus, and Antioch: and particularly they are said to be dispersed

throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria ;
where their ministry was so greatly blessed, to the conversion of souls, that there were quickly many churches planted and formed in these parts, as appears from (Acts 9:31);

so that this persecution was for the furtherance and spread of the Gospel: that upon this dispersion any of them came into France and England, or into any other parts of Europe, is not probable; since the particular places they went to are mentioned; and since they preached to Jews only: and this scattering by reason of the persecution, was of all the preachers,

except the apostles ;
the twelve apostles, who stayed at Jerusalem to take care of the church; to encourage the members of it to suffer cheerfully for the sake of Christ and his Gospel; and to animate them to abide by him:

and this was not only an instance of courage and constancy in them, and of the divine protection and preservation of them, in the midst of their enemies; but also of the timidity of their adversaries, who might be afraid to meddle with them; remembering what miraculous works were performed by them, and how they had been delivered out of prison, and especially the case of Ananias and Sapphira, who were struck dead by Peter. Beza's ancient copy adds, "who remained in Jerusalem".

And devout men carried Stephen to his burial
These men were not Jewish proselytes, but members of the Christian church; who were eminent for their religion and piety, and who had courage enough, amidst this persecution, to show a respect to the dead body of this holy martyr; which they took from under the stones, washed it, and wound it up in linen clothes, and put it into a coffin, or on a bier: they did everything preparatory to the funeral, which is chiefly designed by the word here used, rather than the carrying of him out to his grave, though they did this also, and buried him: and to bear a corpse and follow it to the grave, and bury it, were with the Jews ^F24 reckoned among acts of kindness, mercy, and piety, and which would not fail of a reward; they have a saying ^F25 , that ``he that mourns, they shall mourn for him; and he that buries, they shalt bury him and he that lifts up (his voice in weeping lamentation), they shall lift up for him; he that accompanies (a dead corpse), they shall accompany him; he that "carries", they shall carry him;'' as these devout men did, who would not suffer Stephen to be buried in the common burying place of malefactors, but interred him elsewhere, in a more decent manner:

but whether they had leave from the sanhedrim so to do, or whether they did this of themselves, is not certain; if the latter, which seems most likely, it is an instance of great boldness and resolution, and especially at this time; for ``they did not bury one that was stoned in the sepulchres of his fathers, but there were two burying places appointed by the sanhedrim, one for those that are stoned and burnt, and another for those that are slain with the sword and strangled ^F26 .''

Thus, they acted contrary to the Jewish canon, as they also did in what follows: and made great lamentation over him ;
though they did not sorrow as those without hope, yet they did not put on a stoical apathy; but as men sensible of the loss the church of Christ had sustained, by the death of a person so eminent for his gifts and grace, they mourned over him in a becoming manner: in this they went contrary to the Jewish rule, which forbids lamentation for those that died as malefactors, and runs thus ^F1 ``they do not mourn, but they grieve; for grief is only in the heart;'' their reason for this was, as the commentators say <sup>F2</sup> , because they thought that ``their disgrace was an atonement for their sin:''

but these devout men knew that Stephen needed no such atonement, and that his sins were atoned for another way: otherwise the Jews looked upon mourning for the dead to be to the honour of him; hence they say ^F3 , that mourning ``is the glory of the dead--whoever is backward to the mourning of a wise man shall not prolong his days; and whoever is sluggish in mourning for a good man, ought to be buried alive; and whoever causes tears to descend for a good man, lo, his reward is reserved for him with the holy blessed God.'' Maimon. Hilch. Ebel, c. 12. sect. 1, 2. has

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Peah, c. 1. sect. 1.
• F25: T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 72. 1. & Moed Katon, fol. 28. 2.
• F26: Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 5.
• F1: Misn. Sanhedrin, sect. 6.
• F2: Jarchi & Bartenora in ib.
• F3: Maimon. Hilch. Ebel, c. 12. sect. 1, 2.

As for Saul, he made havoc of the church
Did evil to the saints, destroyed them that called upon the name of Christ, (Acts 9:13Acts 9:21) and persecuted and wasted the church of God, as he himself says, (1:13) and now did Benjamin, of which tribe Saul was, ravine as a wolf, (Genesis 49:27)

Entering into every house ;
where the saints dwelt:

and haling men and women :
in a violent manner, without any regard to age or sex:

committed them to prison ;
delivered them up into the hands of the chief priests and magistrates, in order to be committed and sent to prison; this he himself confesses, (Acts 22:4) (26:10) .

Therefore they that were scattered abroad By reason of the persecution in Jerusalem: the seventy disciples, and other ministers of the word; or the hundred and twenty, excepting the apostles,

went every where ; or went through the countries of Judea and Samaria, as far as Phenice, Cyrus, and Antioch:

preaching the word ; the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions add, "of God", and so some copies; the Gospel, which is the word of God, and not man; which was not of men, nor received from men, but came from God, and by the revelation of Christ; and which was good news and glad tidings, of peace, pardon, righteousness and salvation, by Jesus Christ.

Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria
The city which was formerly called Samaria, but now Sebaste; it has been destroyed by Hyrcanus, and was rebuilt by Herod; and called by him, in honour of Augustus, by the name of Sebaste ^F4 ; and so R. Benjamin says ^F5 , that ``from Luz he came in a day to Sebaste, (Nwrmwv ayh), "this is Samaria"; where yet may be discerned the palace of Ahab king of Israel-----and from thence are two "parsas" to Neapolis, this is Sichem.''

Which last place, Sichem, is by Josephus said to be the "metropolis" of Samaria; and is thought by Dr. Lightfoot to be the city Philip went to, and where our Lord had before been, and preached to the conversion of many persons. This place lay lower than Jerusalem, and therefore Philip is said to go down to it; and who was not Philip the apostle, but Philip the deacon, for the apostles abode at Jerusalem; and beside, though this Philip preached the Gospel, and baptized, and wrought miracles, yet did not lay on hands, in order that persons might receive the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost; this was peculiar to the apostles, and therefore Peter and John came down for this purpose, when they heard of the success of Philip's ministry: the subject matter of which follows:

and preached Christ unto them ;
that Christ was come in the flesh, that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, and that he was the Son of God, and the alone Saviour of men; who by his obedience, sufferings, and death, had wrought righteousness, procured peace and pardon, and obtained eternal redemption for his people; and was risen again, and ascended into heaven, and was set down at the right hand of God, where he ever lived to make intercession, and would come again a second time to judge both quick and dead.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: Joseph de Bello Jud. l. 1. c. 2. sect. 7. & c. 21. sect. 2. Plin. l. 5. c. 13.
• F5: Itinerar. p. 38.