Acts 4:27

After ἀληθείας add ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ with אABDE. Vulg. ‘in civitate ista.’

27. ἐπ' ἀληθείας, of a truth. This expression is both classical and is also found often in the LXX. as Daniel 2:8; Daniel 2:47; Job 9:2; Job 19:4; Job 36:4; Isaiah 37:18, for the Hebrew אָמְנָם = verily.

The Apostle proceeds to apply the language of the Psalmist to the events which preceded the Crucifixion. Thus the words ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτη find a natural place here, as given by the best authorities.

παῖδα, servant, as in Acts 3:13.

ἔχρισας, Thou hast anointed, i.e. by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon Him at His baptism.

Ἡρώδης. The representative of the rulers of the Jews. This particular Herod was Antipas the son of Herod the Great by his Samaritan wife Malthace. He was tetrarch of Galilee and Perea (Luke 3:19), and because our Lord belonged to Galilee, Pilate took occasion to send Jesus to be examined by him, as Herod was in Jerusalem to keep the feast of the Passover.

καὶ Πόντιος Πιλάτος, who was the Roman Governor; and so in his person were represented many nations at this time under the sway of Rome. His officials and soldiers would be drawn from all lands, and the mockery to which Jesus was exposed at their hands might well be described as the rage of the Gentiles.

Pontius Pilate was the sixth Roman procurator of Judæa; he was appointed A.D. 25–6 in the twelfth year of Tiberius, and continued to hold the office till A.D. 36, when he was sent to Rome by Vitellius under an accusation brought against him by the Samaritans. Of his after life and his death there are many legends, but no history.