tended to do the good work than thus to do it by halves. "When it was sold, it was in thine own power; but it was not so when it was vowed, thou hadst then opened thy mouth to the Lord, and couldest not go back." Thus, in giving our hearts to God, we are not admitted to divide them. Satan, like the mother, whose own the child was not, would take up with a half; but God will have all or none.
4. All this guilt, thus aggravated, is charged upon him; Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Observe, Though Satan filled his heart to do it, yet he is said to have conceived it in his own heart; which shews that we cannot extenuate our sins, by laying the fault of them upon the Devil; he tempts, but he cannot force; it is of our own lusts that we are drawn away and enticed. The evil thing, whatever it is, that is said or done, the sinner has conceived it in his own heart; and therefore, if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. The close of the charge is very high, but very just; Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. What emphasis does the prophet lay upon that of Ahaz; not wearying men only, but wearying my God also! Isa. 7. 13. And Moses upon that of Israel; Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord! Exod. 16. 8. So here, Thou mightest have imposed upon us, who are men like thyself; but, be not deceived, God is not mocked. If we think to put a cheat upon God, we shall prove in the end to have put a fatal cheat upon our own souls.
III. The death and burial of Ananias, v. 5, 6.
1. He died upon the spot; Ananias, hearing these words, was speechless, in the same sense that he was, who was charged with intruding into the wedding feast without a wedding garment, he had nothing to say for himself, but that was not all, he was struck speechless with a witness, for he was struck dead; he fell down, and gave up the ghost. It does not appear whether Peter designed and expected that this would follow upon what he said to him; it it probable that he did, for to Sapphira his wife, Peter particularly spake death, v. 9. Some think that an angel struck him, that he died, as Herod, ch. 12. 23. Or, his own conscience smote him with such horror and amazement at the sense of his guilt, that he sunk and died away under the load of it. And perhaps, when he was convinced of lying to the Holy Ghost, he remembered the unpardonableness of the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which struck him like a dagger to the heart. See the power of the word of God in the mouth of the apostles! As it was to some a savour of life unto life, so it was to others a savour of death unto death. As there are those whom the gospel justifies, so there are those whom it condemns.
This punishment of Ananias may seem severe, but we are sure it was just. (1.) It was designed to maintain the honour of the Holy Ghost as now lately poured out upon the apostles, in order to the setting up of the gospel-kingdom. It was a great affront which Ananias put upon the Holy Ghost, as if he could be imposed upon: and it had a direct tendency to invalidate the apostles' testimony; for if they could not by the Spirit discover this fraud, how could they by the Spirit discover the deep things of God, which they were to reveal to the children of men? It was therefore necessary that the credit of the apostles' gifts and powers be supported, though it was at this expense. (2.) It was designed to deter others from the like presumptions, now at the beginning of this dispensation. Simon Magus afterward was not thus punished, nor Elymas; but Ananias was made an example now at first, that with the sensible proofs given what a comfortable thing it is to receive the Spirit, there might be also sensible proofs given what a dangerous thing it is to resist the Spirit, and do despite to him. How severely was the worshipping of the golden calf punished, and the gathering of the sticks on the sabbath-day, when the laws of the second and fourth commandment were now newly given! So was the offering of strange fire by Nadab and Abihu, and the mutiny of Korah and his company, when the fire from heaven was now newly given, and the authority of Moses and Aaron now newly established.
The doing of this by the ministry of Peter, who himself with a lie denied his Master but a while ago, intimates that it was not the resentment of a wrong done to himself, for then he, who had himself been faulty, would have had charity for them that offended; and he, who himself had repented and been forgiven, would have forgiven this affront, and endeavoured to bring this offender to repentance; but it was the act of the Spirit of God in Peter, to him the indignity was done, and by him the punishment was inflicted.
2. He was buried immediately, for that was the manner of the Jews; (v. 6.) The young men, who, it is probable, were appointed to that office in the church of burying the dead, as among the Romans the libitinarii and pollinctores; or the young men that attended the apostles, and waited on them, they wound up the dead body in grave-clothes, carried it out of the city, and buried it decently, though he died in sin, and by an immediate stroke of divine vengeance.
IV. The reckoning with Sapphira, the wife of Ananias, who perhaps was first in the transgression, and tempted her husband to eat this forbidden fruit. She came in to the place where the apostles were, which, as it should seem, was Solomon's porch, for there we find them, (v. 12.) a part of the temple where Christ used to walk, John 10. 23. She came in about three hours after, expecting to share in the thanks of the house, for her coming in, and consenting to the sale of the land, of which perhaps she was entitled to her dower or thirds; for she knew not what was done. It was strange that nobody ran to tell her of the sudden death of her husband, that she might keep away; perhaps they did, and she was not at home; and so when she came to present herself before the apostles as a benefactor to the fund, she met with a breach instead of a blessing.
1. She was found guilty of sharing with her husband in his sin, by a question that Peter asked her; (v. 8.) Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? Naming the sum which Ananias had brought and laid at the apostles' feet. "Was that all you received for the sale of the land, and had you no more for it?" " No," saith she, "we had no more, but that was every farthing we received." Ananias and his wife agreed to tell the same story, and, the bargain being private, and by consent kept to themselves, nobody could disprove them, and therefore they thought they might safely stand in the lie, and should gain credit to it. It is sad to see those relations who should quicken one another to that which is good, harden one another in that which is evil.
2. Sentence is past upon her, that she should partake in her husband's doom, v. 9.
(1.) Her sin is opened; How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Before he passes sentence, he makes her to know her abominations, and shews her the evil of her sin.
[1.] That they tempted the Spirit of the Lord; as Israel tempted God in the desert, when they said, Is the Lord among us? Or is he not? After they had seen so many miraculous proofs of his power, and not only his presence, but his presidency, when they said, Can God furnish a table? So here, "Can the Spirit in the apostles discover this fraud? Can they discern that this is but a part of the price, when we tell them it is the whole? Can he judge through this dark cloud?" Job 22. 13. They saw they had
