Acts 5:17

Arrest of the Twelve. Their miraculous deliverance and their Defence before the Sanhedrin

17. Then the high priest rose up The conjunction at the beginning of the sentence should be But. While the multitudes thronged to be healed, the effect on the authorities was to provoke them to opposition.

rose up The Greek word is used in this chapter of the insurrections of Theudas and Judas (Acts 5:36) and in the next chapter (Acts 6:9) of the disputants with Stephen. It is often found without the sense of opposition which it has here and in those verses.

and all they that were with him A phrase more comprehensive than that used in Acts 4:6, "as many as were of the kindred of the high priest." The opposition has had time to gather its forces and now represents not only the family of Annas, but the heads of the party of the Sadducees.

which is the sect The word is that which St Paul uses in his defence (Acts 24:14) before Felix, "after the way which they call heresy." But he employs it without any sense of blame (Acts 26:5) about the Pharisees, and it is used of them also Acts 15:5. With a bad sense it is applied to the Nazarenes (Acts 24:5), and similarly Acts 28:22.

of the Sadducees From Acts 5:21 it will be seen that the statement of Josephus concerning the influence of this sect is fully borne out (Antiq.xiii. 11. 6), for they had the rich on their side. We have no certain evidence in Scripture that Annas was a Sadducee, but Josephus (Antiq. xx. 9. 1) tells us that his son Ananus [or Annas] was of this sect.

and were filled with indignation The word used to express their feeling might better be rendered jealousy. What the historian is describing is an outbreak of party-feeling. The whole influence of the Sadducean party is called forth by their antagonism to the doctrine of the resurrection and their envy of the growth of the new movement.