Freethought & Rationalism Archive

vid · 02-26-2010, 04:22 AM

Acts 4:6 says:

Quote:

and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent.

Anyone knows who were those "John" and "Alexander"? I failed to find any info of them. Especially, does Josephus mention them?

Toto · 02-26-2010, 03:29 PM

FWIW

Gill's expostioin

Quote:

and John;
who is thought by Dr. Lightfoot to be the same with Jochanan, or John ben Zaccai; a famous Jewish Rabbi, who lived at this time, and until, and after the destruction of Jerusalem: this Rabbi was (...) , "a priest" F20, as this John was, of the kindred of the high priest; he lived also at Jerusalem; for it is said of him {u}, that he sat in the shadow of the temple, and expounded all the whole day; and a very remarkable story is told of him, which happened just about this time F23; which is, that

"forty years before the destruction of the temple--the doors of the temple opened of themselves, when Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai reproved them, saying, O temple, temple, wherefore dost thou fright thyself? I know thee, that thine end shall be, to be destroyed; for so prophesied of thee Zechariah, the son of Iddo, ( Zechariah 11:1 ) . "Open thy doors, O Lebanon"''

The chief objection to him, as that learned writer observes, is, that he lived and died a Pharisee, whereas this John seems to have been a Sadducee; see ( Acts 5:17 ) . This puts me in mind of John the high priest, who ministered in the high priesthood fourscore years, and at last became a Sadducee F24: Beza's ancient copy reads "Jonathan: and Alexander"; whose surname was Lysimachus, and had the title of "Alabarcha"; he was a very rich man F25: after Alexander the great had been at Jerusalem, this name became frequent among the Jews; and it is said F26 to be promised him, and was fulfilled, that every son that was born to the priests that year he entered Jerusalem, should be called Alexander; and therefore it is no wonder to hear of an Alexander among the kindred of the high priest; frequent mention is made of (...) , "Rabbi Alexander", in the Jewish writings F1:

DCHindley · 02-26-2010, 04:37 PM

Couldn't find anything for this Alexander "of high-priestly descent," but John is probably Jonathan, son of Ananus (aka Annas, HP 6-15 CE), and who later succeeded Caiaphas as HP (36-37).

DCH

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid

Acts 4:6 says:

Quote:

and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent.

Anyone knows who were those "John" and "Alexander"? I failed to find any info of them. Especially, does Josephus mention them?

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