Acts Chapter 13 verse 34 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 34. - Hath spoken for said, A.V.; holy and sure blessings for sure mercies, A.V. No more to return to corruption. This is added to show that Christ's resurrection was a final victory over death; not like that of Lazarus, or the Shunammite's son, or Jairus's daughter, but, as St. Paul himself says (Romans 6:9), "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him." Here he tells us that this eternal exemption of Christ from death was promised or signified in Isaiah 55:3, which he quotes from the LXX., only abbreviating the διαθήσομαι κ.τ.λ., into δώσω, I will give. What, then, is meant by the ὅσια Δαβὶδ τὰ πιστά? The Hebrew has חֻסְדֵי דָוְד הַנֶּךאמָנִים, which can mean nothing else but "the sure mercies of David," the favor and mercy promised to David in God's everlasting covenant, well ordered in all things and sure. And in like manner, in 2 Chronicles 6:42, ὅσια Δαβὶδ means "the mercies of God to David." And if we turn to the account of this covenanted mercy in 2 Samuel 7, we shall see that it comprises the setting of David's seed upon his throne for ever (see specially vers. 12-16). In ver. 15 it is said, חַסְדִי לאִ יָסוּר מִמֶּגוּ, "My mercy shall not depart from him." And in the next verse his house and his kingdom are described as being נֶאְמַן לְעֹלָם, sure," or "established for ever," which, when applied to the personal Christ, the Son of David, manifestly implies his eternal exemption from death and corruption (see also Psalm 132:4). The sense of the Hebrew, therefore, is clever and certain, and it is equally certain that the LXX. meant to represent this sense in the version here quoted by St. Paul. Ὅσιος, though properly meaning "holy, pious," and thence "mild" and "merciful" (εἰρηνικὸς, Hesych.) as applied to man, came to be applied in the same senses to God (Revelation 15:4; Revelation 16:5; and here and in the LXX.). Beyond doubt, therefore, the passage before us is rightly rendered in the A.V., "the sure mercies of David;" the plural, ὅσια, represents the חֲסָדִים of the Hebrew. Clemens Alex. (quoted by Schleusner) uses it in the same way for "mercies or "benefits:" Πόσα αὐτῷ ὀφείλομεν ὅσια: "For how many mercies are we indebted to Christ!" In a similar way, the Latin pietas is used for God's "justice" or "kindness" ('AEneid,' 2:536; 5:688). "Trini pulses pietatem" (on a sepulchral monument, A.D. 1427): "Beat at the door of God's mercy." Gronovius, in his note on 'AEian. V. H.,' 8:1, where he ascribes to ὅσιος the primitive sense of what is "just" and "due," from man either to God or to his fellowman, adds, "Tribuunt quidem LXX? interpetiam Deo τὸ ὅσιον: sod etiam tum significat quoddam quasi offcium benignitatia in heroines pios, Deo decorum."

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(34) Now no more to return to corruption.--We note from the turn of the phrase that St. Paul already has the words of Psalm 16:10 in his mind, though he has not as yet referred to it.I will give you the sure mercies of David.--The words do not seem in themselves to have the nature of a Messianic prediction. To those, however, whose minds were full to overflowing with the writings of the prophets they would be pregnant with meaning. What were the "sure mercies of David" (Isaiah 55:3) but the "everlasting covenant" of mercy which was to find its fulfilment in One who should be "a leader and commander to the people?" We may well believe that the few words quoted recalled to St. Paul and to his hearers the whole of that wonderful chapter which opens with "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." The Greek word for "mercies" is the same adjective as that translated "holy" in the next verse, "holiness" being identified with "mercy," and so forms a connecting link with the prophecy cited in the next verse.