Acts Chapter 8 verse 2 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - Buried for carried to his burial (the last three words in italics), A.V. Devout men; ἀνδρες αὐλαβεῖς. This word is applied to Simeon (Luke 2:25), and to the Jews who were assembled at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:5), and, according to the R.T., to Ananias (Acts 22:12); but occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is not certain, therefore, that these men were Christians, though they might be. If not, they were pious Jews, men who feared God, and still loved Stephen as being himself a devout Jew though he was a disciple. Buried. Συγκομίζω occurs only here in the New Testament; but its common use for carrying corn to a barn or granary seems to indicate that "carrying to his burial" of the A.V. is the most exact rendering. The word is said also to be applied to the acts preparatory to burial - closing the eyes, washing, anointing the body, and so on; but this meaning is less certain than that of "carrying."

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) And devout men carried Stephen to his burial.--It has sometimes been asserted, as e.g. by Renan (Les Apotres, p. 145), that these were proselytes. St. Luke, however, always uses a different word to describe that class (comp. Acts 13:43; Acts 13:50; Acts 16:14; Acts 17:4; Acts 17:17), and the word used here is applied by him to Simeon (Luke 2:25), to the multitude of Jews present on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:5), to Ananias as devout according to the Law (Acts 22:12). This notion must accordingly be rejected as against evidence. On the other hand, had they been members of the Church they would naturally, though perhaps not necessarily, have been described as "brethren" or "disciples." We are left therefore to the conclusion that they were Jews who had been kindled into admiration and half-conviction by the calm heroism of the martyr, and who, without committing themselves to more than that admiration, acted in his case as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea had acted after the Crucifixion. They would show honour to the memory of the dead, though they had not had the courage to defend the preacher of the truth while he was yet with them. In the legend or tradition as to the death of Stephen, reported and accepted by Augustine (De Civ: Dei. xvii. 8; Serm. 318, 319; Tract. In Joann., 120), Gamaliel and Nicodemus are named as actually taking part in the entombment, and as afterwards laid in the same sepulchre, on which his name appeared in Aramaic characters as Chaliel (= garland), the equivalent in that language of the Greek Stephanos. The translation of the martyr's relics to Ancona, Minorca, and to Uzalis, and other towns in Africa, made a deep impression on Augustine, and gave occasion to some of his most eloquent sermons. Oratories were dedicated to his memory, and miraculous cures effected by prayers addressed to him. (See Butler's Lives of the Saints, Aug. 3rd.) . . .