But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren. And he departed, and went into another place.
But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace. A lively touch this. In the hubbub of joyful and wondering interrogatories there might mingle reflections, thrown out by one against another, for holding out so long against the testimony of Rhoda; while the emotion of the apostle's own spirit would be too deep and solemn to take part in such demonstrations, or to utter a word until, with his hand, he had signified his wish for perfect silence.
Declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go show these things unto James, and to the brethren. Whether this was James the Less, the son of Alphaeus, or "James the Lord's brother," or whether these were the same or two different perseus-the latter an extremely difficult question-see the note at Acts 15:13. However these questions be answered, the James here meant must have been singled out as being then at the head of the Church in Jerusalem, which we find him to be both in Acts 15:13 and in Acts 21:18.
And he departed, and went into another place - according to his Lord's express command (Matthew 10:23). When told, on a former miraculous liberation from prison, to go and speak unto the people (Acts 5:20), he did it; but in this case, to present himself in public would have been to tempt God by rushing upon certain destruction. To what place the apostle retired is quite uncertain. Romish critics conjecture (as might be supposed) that he went to Rome-an exceedingly improbable conjecture. Bengel's is much more likely, that it was some place that lay at no great distance. But, be this as it may, it is to be observed that here all history of the apostle Peter terminates in the Acts. He re-appears at Acts 15:1-41 as a principal speaker in the council at Jerusalem; but of his apostolic proceedings no further account is given. Another has come upon, the stage, whose proceedings it is our historian's chief object to relate.