And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
And they gave forth their lots, х edookan (G1325) kleerous (G2819) autoon (G846)] - rather, 'lots for them,' according to the true reading х autois (G846)]. Of this mode of decision we have some notable examples in Scripture (Joshua 7:14-18; 1 Chronicles 24:6; Jonah 1:17; Luke 1:6). But which of the several ways in which the lot was taken was adopted on the present occasion, is hardly worth inquiring.
And the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered, х sungkatepseefisthee (G4785)]. The word strictly means to 'vote down' or 'condemn;' but here it evidently means to 'vote in:'
With the eleven apostles - the whole assembly thus deciding that the broken Twelve had now been divinely filled up.
Remarks:
(1) It surely is not for nothing that we are told here of the "prayer and supplication" with which the disciples filled up the interval between the ascension of their Lord and the descent of the Spirit. Never, probably, has there been any copious effusion of the Spirit on any portion of the Church, or any portion of the Lord's vineyard, which has not been preceded, as here, by a season of special "prayer and supplication," and in most cases (it may be added) by active preparation for it.
(2) How touching is Peter's way of speaking of Judas here-as "guide to them that took Jesus;" who "was numbered with the apostles" (as if never of them); as "this man," the reward of whose iniquity perpetuated his deed in a field of blood; whose wretched end and vacated office had been held up of old in the prophetic Word-how touching is all this from the lips of one who himself had so foully dishonoured his Lord! But as Peter was from the first a very different character from Judas, so the "look" of Jesus and Peter's own bitter weeping were enough to show that both his sin and his sorrow were those of one truly and tenderly attached to his Lord; the meeting of the risen Lord and his broken-hearted disciple on the morning of the resurrection doubtless sealed their reconciliation and cemented them more closely than ever; and the public manifestation of this in the presence of the other apostles, with the renewing to him of the commission to feed Christ's lambs and sheep, doubtless completed all that remained to be done for his conscious and acknowledged restoration to the position assigned him from the first, as leader of the great work of the kingdom about to be begun. In this character, accordingly, Peter rises in the upper room to lay down what had now to be done; and in the discharge of this duty Judas is spoken of, not as a fallen disciple, but as from the first a dead branch on the Tree of life, a stranger in the Lord's house, an alien from the true commonwealth of Israel, as one never in "his own place," until by his own act and deed he "went to" it. And if there was one such in the selectest of all sacred circles, can it be doubted that in the great day there will be found many who have "eaten and drunk in Christ's presence" to whom He will say, "I never knew you"?
(3) How very far from a priestly attitude toward his fellow-believers is that of Peter here! He leads, indeed, but associates the brethren with himself-asking them to choose one or more candidates for the office of the apostleship; he accepts their nomination of two; and before the Lord he lays these two for final decision: here, also, acting only as their spokesman in prayer. And is it not in this humble spirit that we find him acting in all his subsequent recorded procedure?-so little ground is there for the lordly assumptions in his name of those who call themselves his successors, and for that ecclesiastical ambition which has proved the bane and blight of many who repudiate Roman pretensions. (On the extension of the apostolate beyond the limits of the Twelve, and its perpetuation in the Church under the form of a prelatical Episcopate, see the notes at Acts 14:1-28, Remark 8 at the close.)
Acts 2:1-47 ; Acts 3:1-26 ; Acts 4:1-37 ; Acts 5:1-42 ; Acts 6:1-15 ; Acts 7:1-60 - "YE SHALL BE MY WITNESSES IN JERUSALEM"(cf. Acts 1:8 )