Acts 1:24,25 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And they prayed With great seriousness and solemnity, and in faith, persuaded their prayer would be answered; Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men With all the counsels, the designs, and desires thereof, with every secret sentiment of the soul, and all the future circumstances of every one's life; show whether of these two thou hast chosen They do not say, which of the seventy, for in the opinion of all present, none could stand in competition with these; but, which of these two, for they were persuaded Christ would appoint one of them, and it was determined to acquiesce entirely in his choice. It is fit God should choose his own servants, and so far as, by the disposals of his providence, the gifts of his Spirit, or in any other way, he shows whom he hath chosen, or what he hath chosen for us, we ought readily to comply with him, and to be perfectly satisfied. It is a comfort to us to be assured, in all our prayers for the welfare of the church and its ministers, that the God we pray to knows the hearts of all men, and hath them not only under his eye, but in his hand, and can turn them which way soever he will; can make them fit for his purpose if he do not find them so, by giving them another spirit. That he may take part of this ministry The ministry of the gospel, the apostleship; may join with us in the work of serving Christ and his church; and glorifying God in saving the souls of men, and may share with us in the honour and happiness thereof; from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place His own, that is, says Grotius, “qui ipsi melius conveniebat quam apostolica functio,” which was more suitable for him than the apostolic office. The expression evidently means a place worthy of him, and which he had deserved by his sin. Hence some manuscripts, instead of ιδιον, his own, read δικαιον, just; that he might go to his just or proper place, a place agreeable to his actions, and therefore assigned him by the righteous judgment of God; namely, a place of punishment in hell. But it is objected, that it belonged not to Peter to pass sentence on Judas, or to affirm any thing of God's secret counsels, such as Judas's being consigned to future punishment. “This,” says Dr. Whitby, “is wonderful; that when Christ had pronounced him a devil; (John 6:71;) a son of perdition; (John 17:12;) and declared that it had been better for him that he had never been born; (Matthew 26:24;) it should be thought a diving into God's secrets, to say he went into a place prepared for, or due to, such miscreants. Moreover, doth not our Saviour say, this fall of the son of perdition was foretold in the Scripture? John 17:12. Does not Peter here apply those Scriptures to him, which foretel the most dreadful things? And does not Luke show the dreadful issue of his iniquity upon his body? And after all this, might he not say, he went to a place proper for him? Whosoever betrays an Israelite into the hands of the Gentiles, say the Jews, hath no part in the world to come; how much less he who betrays the Messiah, the king of Israel, into the hands of the Gentiles, or of his enemies? Matthew 20:19; and Matthew 26:24.”