Acts 5:34

ἀναστὰς, see Acts 5:17. συνεδρίῳ : the word is used here and in Acts 5:27 above, without γερουσία, and this seems to indicate that in Acts 5:21 the Sanhedrim is meant, and no additional council. Γαμαλιήλ : it has sometimes been urged that Saul, the persecutor, could not have been the pupil of such a man as is here described a man who was so liberal in his religious opinions, and so adverse to political agitation. But whatever may have been the extent of his liberality, Gamaliel remained firmly attached to the traditions of the fathers, and whilst we may see in his recorded principle his abhorrence of wrangling and over-scrupulosity, we may also see in it a proof of his adherence to traditionalism: “Procure thyself a teacher, avoid being in doubt; and do not accustom thyself to give tithes by guess” (Edersheim, History of the Jewish Nation, p. 128). But in itself there is nothing strange in the fact that Saul should surpass the zeal of Gamaliel, for not only does history often show us how one side of the teaching of a master may be exaggerated to excess by a pupil, but also the specific charge against Stephen of destroying the Temple and of changing the customs of Moses had not been formulated against St. Peter and his brother-Apostles, who still attended the Temple worship, and whose piety gained them the regard of the people. That charge against the first martyr was nothing less than the charge brought against Jesus of Nazareth: the burning words and scathing denunciations of Stephen could only be answered, as those of Jesus had been answered, by the counter charge of blasphemy, and the punishment of death (see Sabatier's L'Apôtre Paul, 21 ff.).

Gamaliel appears as an ordinary member, and there can be no reasonable doubt that the high priest was always the President during the Roman-Herodian period. Not until after the destruction of Jerusalem, when the priesthood had lost its importance, was a Rabbi chosen as President of a reconstituted Sanhedrim. For a summary of the views for and against the Rabbinic tradition that this Gamaliel was the President of the Sanhedrim, see Appendix iii., “The President of the Sanhedrim,” by the late Rev. H. A. White, in Dr. Edersheim's History of the Jewish Nation, p. 522 ff. The influence of Gamaliel may easily be understood (1) when we remember that whilst the ἀρχιερεῖς belonged chiefly if not exclusively to the Sadducees, the Pharisees who also had seats in the Sanhedrim (cf. Acts 23:6, and Jos., B. J., ii., 17, 3, Vita, 38, 39, C. Apion, ii., 22) possessed practically a predominating influence in the Council. The remark of Jos., Ant., xviii., 1, 4, gives us, as Schürer says, “a deep insight into the actual position of matters,” Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. i., p. 178 ff., E.T., and O. Holtzmann Neutest. Zeitgeschichte, p. 175. (2) But we have also to take into account the personal influence of the man, which was no doubt at its height about the time described in Acts 5 he died A.D. 57 58. Not only was he the first teacher of the seven to whom the title Rabban was given (higher than that of Rab or Rabbi), but Jewish tradition respecting him shows the dignity and influence which attached to his name, Hamburger, Real-Encyclopädie des Judentums, ii., 2, 236, and see on the titles given to Gamaliel, Derenbourg, Histoire de la Palestine, pp. 239 246, and Schürer, u. s., p. 364. We may see a further proof of his influence in the fact that a certain proviso with regard to the determining leap year, which was passed in the Sanhedrim in his absence, was only to come into force if it received the confirmation of Gamaliel (Edajoth, vii., 7). So far then St. Luke's account of the weight which would be carried by Gamaliel in the assembly is amply justified, and Schürer's description of the constitution of the Sanhedrim, u. s., p. 174 ff., is sufficient reply to the strictures of Jüngst against Gamaliel's appearance as a member of the Council, cf. Derenbourg, u. s., pp. 201, 213. On the words attributed to Gamaliel see below. νομοδιδάσκαλος : only in St. Luke and St. Paul, cf. Luke 5:17; 1 Timothy 1:7, almost = γραμματεύς, νομικός, not found in LXX. βραχύ (τι): = “a little while,” R.V., Luke 22:58, “a little space,” A.V.; ambiguous, in classical Greek the word might be used as either βραχύ, a short distance, Xen., Anab., iii., 3, 7, or ἐν βραχέϊ, “in a short time,” Herod., Acts 5:24, cf. Thuc., vi., 12. In Acts 27:28 the word may be taken either of space or time (see Blass). In the LXX it is used of space in 2 Samuel 16:1, and 2 Samuel 19:36, and most likely of degree in Psalms 8:6 (although the expression may be taken of time, cf. Hebrews 2:7; Hebrews 2:9, R.V.), and of time in Psalms 93:17, and in Isaiah 57:17 (Weiss, Westcott; but see Hatch and Redpath, doubtful). But whether we take the word of space or time in this passage, it is noteworthy that St. Luke alone of the N.T. writers can be said to use βραχύ temporally (in Hebrews it is a quotation), Friedrich, and so Klostermann, Vindiciœ Lucanœ, p. 54. ἔξω ποιεῖν (hinausthun): only here in this sense, cf. Blass, in loco, for classical instances, and cf. Psalms 141:8 (Symmachus) Weiss, Wendt.