Alastair's Adversaria - Biblical Reading and Reflections: May 27th (Ezekiel 1 & Acts 4:32—5:11)

Episode Date: May 27, 2021

Ezekiel's vision of the divine throne chariot. Ananias and Sapphira. My reflections are searchable by Bible chapter here: https://audio.alastairadversaria.com/explore/. If you are interested in supporting this project, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (https://bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or buying books for my research on Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/36WVSWCK4X33O?ref_=wl_share). You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035?mt=2.

Ezekiel chapter 1. In the 30th year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Kibar Canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month, it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiakin. The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzai, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Kibar Canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there. As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were, gleaming metal, and from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures, and this was their appearance. They had a human likeness,

but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of a calf's foot, and they sparkle like burnished bronze, Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands And the four had their faces and their wings thus Their wings touched one another Each one of them went straight forward Without turning as they went As for the likeness of their faces

Each had a human face The four had the face of a lion on the right side The four had the face of an ox on the left side And the four had the face of an eagle Such were their faces And their wings were spread out above each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies, and each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went.

As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures, and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning, and the living creatures darted to and fro like the appearance of a flash of lightning. Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction, their appearance was like the gleaming a barrel, and the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. When they went,

they went in any of their four directions, without turn. as they went, and their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around, and when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them, and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When those went, these went, and when those stood, these stood, and when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring

crystal, spread out above their heads, and under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another, and each creature had two wings covering its body, and when they went I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings, and there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings. And above the expanse over their heads,

there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like Sapphire, and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist, I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around, and downward from what had the appearance of his waist, I saw as it were, the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the

bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the lightness of the glory of the Lord, and when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking. Ezekiel is set in a time of radical change in the geopolitics of the Near East. The collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the rise of Babylon had just occurred. Egypt and Assyria had been defeated by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar at Kharkamish in 605 BC, decisively turning the tide. Shortly after, Nebuchadnezzar became ruler of Babylon in place of his father. The northern kingdom of Israel had been removed from their land around 721 BC by the Assyrians, the southern kingdom of Judah had continued,

although it had fallen into the most wicked idolatry under Manassar during the middle of the 7th century BC. In the second half of the 7th century BC, around 640 to 609 BC, Josiah had ruled over Judah and sought to reform it. However, the success of his reforms were limited and short-lived, after Josiah was killed by Pharaoh Niko and following a brief reign by his wicked son Jehoaz, Pharaoh Niko set up Jehoakim in his place as a puppet king. Under Jehoiacim, during whose reign Jeremiah was prophesying, for instance, Josiah's reforms were largely unworked.

During Jeholyakim's reign, Judah was reduced to a vassal kingdom of Babylon. After Jehoiacim rebelled, Jerusalem was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar's men around 597 BC, and a large number of its elite, its military, and its skilled artisans were deported, along with treasures from Judah and its temple. Daniel and his friends and others were taken as exiles to Babylon at this time, as was the King Jehoakin and Ezekiel himself, probably because he was a priest. For some of the period while he is prophesying, Jerusalem is still standing, and Jeremiah is ministering there.

Many of the exiles ended up in the Jewish colony near the Kivar Canal to the east of Babylon in the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates. This is the context in which we've found. find Ezekiel at the beginning of this book. Judah continued for a time under the puppet king Zedekiah. After Zedekiah rebelled against the Babylonians, Jerusalem and Judah were finally crushed

and brought more directly under Babylonian rule around 586 BC. Geddalaia the governor was set up under the Babylonians, but after he was assassinated, many of the Jews fled to Egypt and other places and there was another mass deportation. From this period onwards, there were large populations of Jews scattered throughout the wider world of the Mediterranean and near east,

although during this period they were mostly in Judah, Egypt and Babylon. By the time that Jesus came, however, there will be far more Jews outside of Judea than lived within it. The book of Ezekiel begins with a call and a prophetic initiation narrative. We find other such prophetic initiation narratives in the story of Moses at the Burning Bush in Jeremiah chapter 1 or in Isaiah chapter 6 with Isaiah's vision in the temple. However, Ezekiel's call is the lengthiest and the most elaborate, taking up the first three chapters of the book. The book opens by giving the context of the vision with which Ezekiel's ministry starts,

rather than speaking of the entire period of his prophetic ministry, as many other introductions to prophetic books do. We are given two datings, while the second, the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoaquin, gives a recognised point of reference, leading to 593 BC, the first, the 30th, year, the fourth month, and the fifth day of the month is unclear. Various interpretations have been offered for it, but perhaps the commonest is that it refers to Ezekiel's own age. He is 30 years of age, the age at which priests were ordained to their ministry. The fourth month and the fifth day of the month was likely July the 31st. James Bejan, however, offers another possibility, one that I find quite compelling.

He suggests that this is the 30th year of a Jubilee cycle. He substantiates this claim by observing that the difference between this date and the crucial date of chapter 40 verse 1, dated in terms of the second dating system of the years of the exile, is around 19 years and two months. Adding that to the first mysterious dating system, we discovered that it completes a Jubilee cycle, which in the context of the actual text of Ezekiel helps a number of further details to fall into place, and also helps us to understand why these numbers are given to us. But John also observes that the dating here, like many other numbers in the book of Ezekiel, subtly gestures towards the Jubilee.

The Jubilee is connected with the numbers 49 and 50, and throughout the book of Ezekiel, there are clever organisations of numbers designed to add up to 49, 50 and related numbers. For instance, here we see a seemingly redundant and awkward repetition of the fifth day of the month in verse 2. However, if you add the numbers together, you get 30 plus 4. plus 5 plus 5 plus 5, which makes 49. Similar strange orderings of numbers will be seen elsewhere in the book of Ezekiel.

Paying attention to such unexpected and peculiar features of texts can often be rewarding and can offer us indications of some of the deeper theological themes to which we should be alert. In the opening two verses of Ezekiel, we are primed to keep our eyes peeled for Jubilee themes. The heavens are opened and Ezekiel experiences. a dramatic theophony, appearance of God. It's a revelation of the Lord's glory, which forms part of his ordination to prophetic ministry. The vision of Ezekiel is remarkable, mysterious, and strange. Many have seen in it something akin to a close encounter of the third kind, with the bizarre creatures being aliens, and the metallic throne chariot with fire flashing forth some sort

of spacecraft. Such speculative associations should be handled with considerable care and caution, but not just by those inclined to hold them. The connections that some have made between this appearance and accounts of alleged close encounters are suggestive enough to merit some closer thought and attention. Ezekiel saw it in terms of a technology familiar to him, a chariot, but perhaps modern witnesses might perceive and describe such a vision differently. Modern naturalistic categories, however,

mean that our understandings of such potential non-human technologies and intelligences are radically deflationary, which will not do when we're understanding Ezekiel chapter 1. However, they probably do not need to be, and we should be at least open to the possibility that there are some connections to be drawn between angelic and demonic activity and what we call UFOs and aliens. We should also be alert to the many resemblances between Ezekiel's vision and imagery in other near-eastern cultures of the period, where composite winged creatures with multiple faces of bulls, lions and eagles,

are found in various societies. However, we should also be careful not to overstate these similarities. As Walther Eichrot argues, Ezekiel was probably very alert to the differences between the imagery and his vision and that of Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt in his time. The throne chariot comes from the north in a stormy wind with fire darting to and fro, surrounded by a radiant cloud, presumably the glory cloud or the Shikina glory, with gleaming metal in the midst. What exactly this would look like is not easy to visualize. Ezekiel's description of his vision is highly impressionistic and elusive, with lots of hedging language. Ezekiel's language and terms struggle to convey what he is witnessing.

While we get some vague impression of what he saw, most readers will find it difficult to envisage the scene. The living creatures he sees emerge from the fiery cloud are composite, with metallic legs and feet like carvering They have four faces and four wings, which cover four sets of hands. Their four faces are human, lion, ox and eagle. In Ezekiel chapter 10, these creatures are described as cherubim. Similar imagery is found elsewhere in the Old Testament, for instance in the description of the cherubim on the ten bronze water chariots in the courtyard of Solomon's temple. We find visionary imagery that is highly reminiscent of Ezekiel's vision in Revelation chapter 4 verses 5 to 8. From the 3,000, came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were

burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass, like crystal, and around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind, the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight, and the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, all day and night they never ceased to say, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. We should also recall the description of the Lord's throne in the temple in First Chronicles

chapter 28, verse 18, described there as the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and cover the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. We are told about the ordering of the faces. The human face points south, as it is in the front. The eagle face presumably is at the back, pointing north, the bull face turns east, the lion face points west. There are good reasons to believe that this is associated with the placing of the 12 tribes of Israel around the tabernacle,

with four key tribes in the cardinal directions. James Jordan and some others have argued that there might be a zodiacal order here. Jordan has also argued that the non-human creatures are to be associated with the priest, the bull face, the king, the lion face, and the prophet, the eagle face. The fact that there are four of them, associated with the number four in various other ways, and closely aligned with the four cardinal directions, likely connects them with the four winds of heaven and the four corners of the earth and the altar. We see a similar association in Revelation chapter 7 verse 1. After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth,

that no wind might blow on earth or sea, or against any tree. Each of the four, four-faced, four-winged creatures have wings touching the opposite creature, so that they move in sequence. The touching wings of the cherubim probably reminds us of the description of the mercy seat in the instructions for the construction of the tabernacle in Exodus chapter 25 versus 18 to 20. And you shall make two cherubim of gold. of hammered work shall you make them on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends.

The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another. Toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. The creatures also have wings with which they cover themselves, like the seraphim in Isaiah's vision in Isaiah chapter 6. They move by the spirit in swift, straight lines. Their appearance is like fire darting to and fro,

once again described in elusive language. Each of the creatures has a composite wheel, wheels within wheels associated with it, apparently with its own form of locomotion. It's a wheeled throne chariot, again picking up on imagery we find elsewhere. They gleam like beryl and have rims full of eyes. eyes. The wheels move with the living creatures in whatever direction the living creatures move.

We now reach the most remarkable part of the vision. The hero catches their breath as Ezekiel's description rises up from the wheels and the living creatures to the expanse above them. Presumably we are to connect the expanse with the firmament, with the veil between heaven and earth, which has been temporarily peeled away as the heaven is opened. This is revealing the glorious realm of heaven above and God's very throne. Ezekiel is not being caught up, as John is in the book of Revelation, rather he is seeing from below what is above. The description might remind us of the descent of the Lord upon Mount Sinai in Exodus,

and also passages like Psalm 18, verses 7 to 15. Then the earth reeled and rocked, the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth, glowing coals flamed forth from him. He bowed the heavens and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub and flew. He came swiftly on the wings of the wind. He made darknesses covering, his canopy around him. Thick clouds dark with water. Out of the brightness before him, hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. And he sent out his arrows and, scattered them. He flashed forth lightnings and routed them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. They move with an awe-inspiring sound. Above the expanse over the living creature's heads is a throne. The description here is once again similar to things we read elsewhere in scripture, in this case to Exodus chapter 24 verses 9 to 10. Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abayhew, and 17, of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel, there was under his feet,

as it were, a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. The language at this point in Ezekiel's vision becomes even more elliptical, as if struggling to get any purchase upon the wonder of what he is seeing. No direct description could do justice to it, so he speaks throughout of the appearance of, the likeness of, as it were, helping the reader to recognize that the vision is beyond anything that words could contain. There is a glorious humaniform figure on the throne. The description here is once again like descriptions we find elsewhere in scripture, in Daniel chapter 10 verses 4 to 6, for instance. On the 24th day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, that is the Tigris, I lifted up my eyes and looked,

and behold a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Euphaz around his waist. His body was like Beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. This is also similar to the description of Christ in Revelation chapter 1. The glory of the vision is multicolored like a rainbow. This, Ezekiel declares, is the lightness of the glory of the Lord. We should associate it with the Ark of the Covenant in the temple. God is on the move, readying for some great action. He is in the land of Babylon.

He shows his lordship over the gods and other forces there, but also his association with the exile community, far from Jerusalem and the land. God is not bound to a little strip of land. He can be present with and act on behalf of his people anywhere in the world. A question to consider. How is this passage similar to the description

of the beginning of Jesus' ministry in Luke chapter 3 and 4? Acts chapter 4 verse 32 to chapter 5 verse 11 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul And no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own But they had everything in common And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony To the resurrection of the Lord Jesus

And great grace was upon them all There was not a needy person among them For as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them And brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the Apostle's feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the Apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him, and brought the money and laid it at the Apostle's feet. But a man named Ananias, with his wife's Safira,

sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds, and brought only a part of it, and laid it at the Apostle's feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man, but to God.

When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon all who heard of it. the young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him after an interval of about three hours his wife came in not knowing what had happened and peter said to her tell me whether you sold a land for so much and she said yes for so much but peter said to her how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the lord behold the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. In Acts chapter 4 and 5 we read another episode in the life of the early church in Jerusalem. We learn more of the behavior of the early church and providing for those with need and also of the sin and the punishment of Ananias and Safira. What stands out in the early church in Jerusalem

is the intensity of the unity of the community. They are of one heart and one soul. They don't even treat their possessions as their own, but hold things in common. As we read further on, it seems clear that they were not required to donate their possessions to become part of the church. Rather, this was something that they voluntarily did.

In some cases, it would involve selling and giving the proceeds. In other cases, it would mean putting things at the disposal of the church. All of this is a result of the fact that they feel so bound up with each other, being one heart and one soul, that they don't withhold anything from each other. The benefit of the other is the benefit of oneself. In this practice, we can also see something of the practical import of the commandment

to love your neighbour as yourself. If you love your neighbour as yourself, you will not withhold from him and his need what you would not withhold from yourself. His good is not set over against or detached from your good. As he rejoices, you rejoice. As he mourns, you mourn. The practice here might relate. to what Roman Catholics have called the universal destination of goods, the fact that God has given the world to all humanity in common.

Private property is appropriate and a form of stewardship, but it does not ultimately undermine the fact that God intended the creation for all of his creatures. This can also be related to the church's spiritual ministry. The one, united gift of the Holy Spirit, has been given to the entire church at Pentecost. However, that one gift is ministered in a great many different ways. ways through the stewardship of the spiritual gifts that have been given to each one of us as individual members of the body of Christ. In the same way, we have all been given some stewardship in the common gift of the one creation that God has given to all of his creatures, and we will give

an account of our stewardship, whether more or less has been given into our charge. We will have to answer for whether we have served others and glorify God with what he has given us, or whether we have used it merely for our own selfish gain. Having a personal stewardship in the form of private property is a very good thing. It enables us both to enter into a fuller enjoyment for ourselves, a greater sense of God's gift as it relates to us, and also to serve others and to bless others with what has been committed to our charge. In Acts chapter four and five, we have a sense of both aspects of this. It is important that people love their neighbour as themselves, with their expression of the gifts that God has given to them. On the other hand, it is important that these

things are not just taken from people. People can actually express these things as a true gift of themselves. In this way, God makes us participants in his giving process. As we give to others what God has given into our stewardship, we share in God's own generous giving. No one requires Ananias or Safira or Barnabas to sell their property. They do it of their own free will. But as they act freely in this sort of way, they're expressing something about the way the world really ought to be, a world where the rich do not get rich on the back of the poor, but where the needs of all people are met, and every single person knows something of the goodness and the grace of God in his generous giving. This was the vision set forth in the Old Testament, and in the practice of the early church,

we should see something of a restored Israel. Thinking back to chapter one of the book, we should recall the way that the numbers of people associated with the church, serve to evoke the memory of Israel and the idea of the restoration of Israel. This is the core of a restored Israel, a sign of what Israel more generally could receive if they accepted the Messiah Jesus and had the times of refreshing from God come upon them. This description of what Israel really ought to be can be found in places such as Deuteronomy chapter 15 verses 1 to 11. At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release,

and this is the manner of the release. every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbour. He shall not exact it of his neighbour, his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it. But whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release. But there will be no poor among you. For the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess.

If only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. for the Lord your God will bless you, as He promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you. If among you one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother,

but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart, and you say, the seventh year, the year of release is near, and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cried to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him,

because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you undertake, for there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in your land. The meeting of all the needs of the poor in the community then would have been a sign of God's presence within the community, and a sign of the community's faithfulness that was fulfilling the purpose of the law. Laying money at the Apostle's feet for them to distribute among the community was also a way of devoting things to the Lord. Back in Exodus, the people donated to the building of the tabernacle,

voluntary gifts that were brought forward that expressed the people's heart in the very materials of the building. Now God is building a new building and these voluntary gifts are part of what will build it up a building made of people they are also a new family as families hold things in common people do have their private property but is not held over against other people

as something that will not be shared if there's ever any need the property of an individual person within the family will be shared with the others individuals like Mary the mother of Mark may continue to have large houses in Jerusalem but they don't treat those houses as if they were purely their own to use as they wanted, rather they want to use them

for the benefit and the building up of God's people. At this point, we're introduced to a character who provides an instance of this practice, an exemplary character called Barnabas. As Luke does elsewhere, he introduces this character as a minor one first, before he will become a major one later on in the story. He does the same with the character of Saul a few chapters later. Joseph called Barnabas is a Jew, a Levite, from Cyprus. Cyprus would become a key location later on in the story. In Chapter 11, men of Cyprus spoke to the Hellness in Antioch, which then became a base for the Gentile mission.

One of the prophets or teachers mentioned of the church in Antioch in Chapter 13 verse 1 is Barnabas. It seems likely that he is one of the men who went from Cyprus at that point in Chapter 11. Selling property to give to the needs of the church was a means of laying up treasure in heaven. The early Jerusalem church was taking properties that would soon be quite depreciated in value after the destruction of Jerusalem in 8070, selling them and using them

for something that would endure for eternity. They were also taking an approach to their money and possessions that was truly remarkable. The love of money has destroyed many unwary souls and we'll see in the example of Ananias and Safara two such examples. Later on, Simon the Sorcerer will try and buy the power of

the Holy Spirit from Peter and will be judged as a result. The selling of fields and possessions and using of the proceeds to build up the body of Christ is exactly the opposite of what Judas, who by love of money had been led to betray his master, had done back in chapter one. Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out, and it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language, Akhldama, that is, field of blood. Judas has sold his master's body, taken the money which had then been thrown at the feet of those who had taken his life,

and then that money was used to buy a field. This is the exact opposite of the actions of Barnabas and others, who are taking the money of fields that they have sold, to build up the body that Judas sold to be crucified. Barnabas is named Joseph. Barnabas may be a nickname playing upon the meaning son of prophet. Here it's connected with the meaning son of encouragement. Barnabas in his faithfulness is juxtaposed with the characters of Ananias and Safira in the chapter that follows.

Luke often has husband-wife or male-female pairings and Ananias and Safara are a negative example of one of these. At first, Ananias and Safara's action looks very similar to that of Barnabas. They sell a piece of property with the intention of laying the money at the Apostle's feet. However, they only intend to lay part of the money. They secretly withhold some of the money for themselves.

It is important to consider such gifts against the backdrop of the Old Testament commandments concerning devoted things and vows. In Leviticus chapter 27, there is extensive treatment of devoted things. In verse 28, for instance, but no devoted thing that a man devotes to the Lord of anything that he has, whether man or beast or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed. every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. What Ananias and Safara are doing then is devoting something,

the proceeds of the item that they have sold to the Lord, and then withholding some of that for themselves. But having devoted that to the Lord, they are both lying to the Lord, and they are stealing from the Lord. Both of those things are very serious offences. The vow aspect of this can be seen in places like Deuteronomy chapter 26, verses 13 to 14, which although it speaks about the tithe of the third,

year can give us a sense of the vow character of devoting something to the Lord. Then you shall say before the Lord your God, I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God,

I have done according to all that you have commanded me. After Ananias lays the money at Peter's feet, Peter challenges him, declaring that Satan has filled his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit. Perhaps we should here recall Satan entering into Judas's heart back in the Gospels when he betrayed Christ. Peter goes on to give a clearer sense of where the offence lay. It was not in the fact that the possessions were demanded by the Lord,

If he had not vowed his possession to the Lord, he would have been able to keep it, and he could have used it as he wanted. If he had sold the property, he would still have been free to dispose of that money as he wanted. It was only when he devoted it to the Lord, lying to the Lord and stealing from the Lord, that the judgment came upon him.

Peter makes clear he has lied not to man but to God. Connecting this to the claim that he lied to the Holy Spirit, we might see some proof of the Holy Spirit's divinity. He is immediately struck down dead. This is not something that happens that often in Scripture. We might connect this with the judgment upon the rebels of Cora. There are also similarities with the sin of Reckab and Beanna, presenting the head of Ishpasheth to David,

thinking that they will be approved, when they are actually put to death for their actions and the young men take them out and bury them. There are similarities with the sin of Akhan. Akan was put to death because he took of the devoted things, and Ananias and Safara are doing something. similar. A further example would be Nadab and Abayhu, who presumed to offer strange fire to the Lord, fire that had not been required. This occurs just after the worship of the tabernacle has been

established. They are killed by the Lord, and fear comes upon the people. The same sort of thing happens here. After judgment fell upon Ananias, three hours later, Sapphira came. From Sapphara's name, scholars surmised that she might have been a wealthy woman in Jerusalem. Peter gives her a chance to depart from the sin of her husband, but she confirms it. Consequently, she is struck down just as her husband was. The result of all of this is that a godly fear falls upon the church and the people round about. They can see that God's presence is among the disciples, and they have a clearer sense of the seriousness of sin. A question to consider, how would you describe the role that Peter and the apostles play within this passage?