For in truth against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou hadst anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with [the] nations, and peoples of Israel, have been gathered together in this city
The council has just released the believers with orders to stop speaking about Jesus. They answer with prayer. In that prayer they name exactly who had stood against their Master, and why it happened.
Jesus is called God's "holy servant" here. The Greek word behind that title can be read two ways:
Morrish Bible DictionaryIn Acts 4:27, 30 the word is pais, which is translated 'servant' as often as 'child,' the word signifying both. In these verses it would be much better to translate 'your holy servant Jesus.' David is also called 'servant' in Acts 4:25.
The title also shows how far the apostles' preaching had gone by this point.
William KellyThe Messiah was rejected on earth. The Jews went furthest in urging the deepest shame and disgrace for Him who was born King of the Jews... But, as Peter preached, God raised Him up and made the very Jesus whom His people crucified both Lord and Christ. No apostle went beyond this until now. In Acts 3:13 and Acts 4:27 it is still the Messianic title of "servant" (not "Son").
The prayer quotes David first. It then matches his words, line by line, to what the city had just watched happen.
William KellyThey acknowledge His glory in creation, but turn at once to His prophetic word through David in the beginning of Psalm 2. They apply this plainly to the unnatural alliance Jerusalem had just seen: Gentiles with Jews, Herod with Pontius Pilate, against Jesus the Messiah.
Kelly presses further. This is not a general rule about opposition, but a prophecy with one owner.
William KellySince David wrote the Psalm, its opening words fit no event except the one just before them. They speak with precision of that strange union and daring guilt. There Jew and Gentile, with their rulers, lined up against Jehovah and His Anointed as never before or since. There are great principles in Scripture, but also exclusively personal prophecies.
The prayer names four parties. Two of them were enemies; the other two despised each other by habit.
The Bible TreasuryHow solemn! Pilate and Herod had been enemies. Yet they could bury their hatred and agree together in rejecting the Son of God. The Jews usually spoke of the Gentiles with contempt as "the uncircumcised." Yet they could join with them in heaping insult and disgrace on Christ... Satan is well able to bring about unity for the accomplishment of his dreadful purposes.
Bellett puts it as a standing rule, not just a past event.
J. G. BellettThe world has power to combine very different elements when an unworldly Christ stands out as a common enemy. Herod and Pilate were made friends together. A society may hold the secular and the religious, even the unbeliever and the superstitious. But let an unworldly Christ appear, and they will all challenge Him as their common enemy.
Some press the phrase to mean meeting in a single location. Kelly shows from the trial itself that it cannot carry that weight.
William KellyIt is very certain that this gathering "together" of Herod and Pilate, of the Gentiles and of Israel, does not say, or support the idea, that they were all assembled "in one place"... Yet Scripture clearly shows, as every reader of the Gospels knows, that they met in quite different places. The chief priests and scribes led Christ to their own council — to Annas first and then to Caiaphas. The whole crowd of them led Him to Pilate and the Praetorium. Then Pilate sent Him on to Herod.
The verse begins with human plotting. It does not end there.
William KellyThe disciples see in it a conspiracy directed by Satan. In it evil seemed to have its way unchecked, even to the crucifying of the Lord of glory. Yet they are clear that the enemy and all his hosts have really gained nothing but defeat. The others did not think so at all when they held their council and sentenced Jesus to the death of the cross. But He who is higher than the highest gathered them.
This is what makes the verse steadying when everything looks dark.
Frederick W. GrantTake the worst act the world has ever seen — the crucifixion of Christ... If we may read the hand and foreordination of God in this act, then we may read it in all acts whatever. In this way alone, no darkness is left without relief.
- Gathered against — Herod, Pilate, Gentiles and Israel shared nothing but their opposition to Christ. Rejecting Him turned enemies into friends.
- Gathered apart — "together" does not mean one place. The trial ran from Annas to Caiaphas to Pilate to Herod, yet Scripture calls it one gathering.
- Gathered by God — One higher than the plotters was gathering them, and they never guessed it.
- Named as Servant — the Greek word can mean "servant" or "child", and here "servant" fits best; at this stage Peter still preaches the Messianic title, not "Son".
- Turned into prayer — under threat, the disciples read Psalm 2 back to its Author and applied it to their own city.
to do whatever thy hand and thy counsel had determined before should come to pass.
The believers in Jerusalem had just been threatened and told to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. The believers answered by praying. In that prayer they looked back at the killing of Jesus and called it the very thing God's hand and plan had already settled. That raises the hardest question in the verse: if God settled it beforehand, what becomes of the guilt of the men who did it?
The men who condemned Jesus thought they were disposing of Him. The prayer says otherwise: a higher hand had gathered their council. (Older translations say God's "counsel" where the ESV says His "plan.")
William KellyThe disciples see in it a conspiracy directed by Satan. In it evil seemed to have its way without check, even to crucifying the Lord of glory. Yet they are clear that the enemy with all his hosts in fact gained nothing but defeat. The others never thought of this when they held their council and condemned Jesus to the death of the cross. But He who is higher than the highest gathered them, to do whatever His hand and His counsel had determined beforehand.
The prayer names God as Maker of all, then turns at once to the second Psalm. The believers saw that Psalm coming true in front of them.
William Kelly"Master," they said, in the sense of Sovereign owner and disposer of all... They acknowledge His glory in creation, but turn at once to His prophetic word through David at the beginning of Psalm 2. They apply it directly to the unnatural alliance Jerusalem had just seen: Gentiles with Jews, Herod with Pontius Pilate, against Jesus the Messiah.
The same act was God's settled purpose and the guilt of the men who carried it out.
F. B. HoleGod delivered Him up to this according to His "determinate counsel and foreknowledge." God knows how to make the wrath of man praise Him and carry out His designs of blessing. Yet this does not lessen man's responsibility in the matter. Here is a clear instance of how the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man do not clash, when it is a question of practical results. We may still find the two hard to reconcile as a matter of theory.
God's purpose does not blunt our moral judgment of the deed. Both sides in the verse acted out what they were.
William KellyEverything is in its place, not one side only but both. God has His determinate counsel and foreknowledge. The Jews played their evil part, the Gentiles theirs. They differed in thoughts and feelings, yet together they showed their characters and their guilt. In that very same act they fulfilled the prophets. And it gave occasion for the display of God's holiest judgment and for the carrying out of His work of grace.
God foreknew what men would do. He did more than permit it — He steered it.
J. T. MawsonGod was not responsible for the evil in the hearts of men. But He showed His supremacy over all. First He restrained that evil for a while. Then the hour came, and it poured out in unrestrained and determined hatred against Him. At that point He turned it into the channel by which it became the means of glorifying Him, and, more wonderful still, the way of blessing for men. He knew what men would do, and predetermined that their act should turn into a triumph of His love.
The cross is the extreme case. What holds true there holds true everywhere else.
Frederick W. GrantTake the worst act the world has ever seen — the crucifixion of Christ... If we may read the hand and foreordination of God in this act, then we may read it in all acts whatever. Only in this way does the darkness everywhere stop being unrelieved.
- Plot — Herod, Pilate, Gentiles and Jews joined against Jesus, and the praying believers saw Psalm 2 coming true in that alliance.
- Plan — God had settled beforehand what the council carried out. The enemy, with all his forces, gained nothing but defeat.
- Guilt — God's foreknowledge takes nothing off man's responsibility. In practice the two never clash, even when theory struggles to hold them together.
- Grace — God held that evil back until the hour came. Then He turned it into the channel of His own glory and man's blessing.
- Gaze — if we can read God's hand in the worst act ever done, we can read it in every act. No darkness stays unrelieved.