Bible Study series: Acts 13:16-22. David will testify that the son of David is the Messiah, who, Paul will say, is Jesus.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn. Let’s learn together and apply these truths to our lives.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
At the link to the original post, next, I write more commentary and dig a little deeper into the Greek. I also offer a section titled Observations for Discipleship at the end. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided in the commentary section for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Acts 13:16-22
16 Paul got up and motioned with his hand and said, “Israelite brothers and sisters and God-fearing people, listen! 17 The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and raised them up during their stay in the land of Egypt. With his exalted arm he led them out from there, 18 and for about forty years he put up with them in the desert.
19 After he destroyed the seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave the land to take possession of their inheritance, 20 for about 450 years. And after these things, he granted judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 From then, they asked for a king, and God granted them Saul, son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 After he removed him, he raised up David as king for them. He testified about him, saying, “‘I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who shall do all of my will.’” [1 Sam. 13:14] (Acts 13:16-22)
Comments:
In his speech-sermon, Paul is about to lay it on the line to this synagogue. He said he got five beatings from synagogue officials (2 Cor. 11:24), indicating he refused to leave behind his fellow-Jews. Now that’s sacrificial love!
Paul sketches out ancient Hebrew history before he spotlights the Messiah. Do we even have a sketchy knowledge of the Old Testament? It’s important for your life because it shows how God dealt with humanity, though, thankfully, punishments and judgment in the Old Covenant and New Covenant differ considerably. Get into the old Scriptures, for they still contain a certain measure of wisdom, but do not get into the Old Covenant.
See these posts:
The Wrath of God in the New Testament
Do I Really Know God? He Shows Wrath
The Wrath of God in the Old Testament
16:
Paul used the gestures of an experienced speaker; and no doubt he learned the techniques in his early education in his hometown of Tarsus. Renewalists of the fiery variety need to know that there is everything right with education. Spend some time in Bible college, and yes, even the right “cemetery”—I mean seminary (as the fiery Renewalists like to joke, wrongly in my opinion).
“God-fearing people”: these were converts to Judaism, though the men did not like circumcision! But they liked the ethical monotheism and attached themselves to the synagogue to hear the Bible being read. No doubt some synagogues could afford the huge cost of acquiring key portions of the Hebrew Bible translated into Greek, so the Greek-speaking Jews and God-fearers could understand it.
17:
This verse covers many, many years. Luke keeps using “about” or “around,” so don’t bring out the calculator to figure out precisely these periods in Hebrew history.
“exalted arm”: this is called an anthropomorphism, a fancy word that means speaking of God in human terms so we humans can understand spiritual truths more clearly. So God does not literally have an arm. He is Spirit (John 4:24). But his uplifted arm speaks of his mighty power. God too can use his mighty, exalted, and uplifted arm to set you free in your own life and bring you out of your own personal Egypt.
18:
Paul read and learned these little factoids, e.g. forty years, from reading the Torah and memorizing it from his synagogue school days (cf. Ex. 16:35 and Deut. 2:7 and 8:2).
19:
The seven nations are enumerated in Deut. 7:1: Hittites, Amorites, Girgashites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
“destroyed”: it could be translated as “take down” the seven nations. “Destroyed” may be too strong, but Josh. 24:18 does say that the Lord drove out all the pagans from the land, as if it was a done deal. Maybe we should take that verse as a statement of faith; that is, God commanded and declared it, and he was working on it, as the next verse implies.
20:
“for about 450 years”: Both the NIV and NAS says that “all of this took 450 years.” So this puts a different perspective on wiping out the pagans—it was a long process from calling the patriarchs to the sojourn in Egypt to the settlement in their promised land.
21:
Paul was of the tribe of Benjamin (Phil. 3:5), so his father gave him the tribe’s prominent leader’s name—Saul.
“Forty years”: The length of Saul’s reign cannot be calculated from the OT. Paul probably got this number from his earlier Bible lessons and tradition.
22:
God is the subject of the verbs “removed” and “raised up.” He removed Saul and raised up David. It is marvelous for our personal walk with God that even though David made catastrophic sins and errors in judgment, like his sin with Bathsheba and contriving to kill her husband (2 Sam. 11-12) and his misguided census of his army (2 Sam. 24:1-17; 1 Chron. 21:1-19), David was still called a man after God’s heart. David had no permanent sin dominate his life.
What about us? Despite our sins and misguided policies, do we still seek God? Do we worship as David did? Do we visit the temple, as David did, though in our modern times this would be church attendance?
GrowApp for Acts 5:17-22
1. David was called a man after God’s heart who does all of his will. This challenges you and me. Do we pursue God with all of our hearts and do his will? If not, how can we change?
RELATED
The Historical Reliability of the Book of Acts
Book of Acts and Paul’s Epistles: Match Made in Heaven?
SOURCES
For the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 