I will show wonders - It is likely that both the prophet and the apostle refer to the calamities that fell upon the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem, and the fearful signs and portents that preceded those calamities. See the notes on Matthew 24:5-7 ; (note), where these are distinctly related. Blood, fire, and vapour of smoke - Skirmishes and assassinations over the land, and wasting the country with fire and sword. read more
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood - These are figurative representations of eclipses, intended most probably to point out the fall of the civil and ecclesiastical state in Judea: see the notes on Matthew 24:29 . That the Sun is darkened when a total eclipse takes place, and that the Moon appears of a bloody hue in such circumstances, every person knows. read more
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved - The predicted ruin is now impending; and only such as receive the Gospel of the Son of God shall be saved. And that none but the Christians did escape, when God poured out these judgments, is well known; and that All the Christians did escape, not one of them perishing in these devastations, stands attested by the most respectable authority. See the note on Matthew 24:13 . read more
A man approved of God - Αποδεδειγμενον , celebrated, famous. The sense of the verse seems to be this: Jesus of Nazareth, a man sent of God, and celebrated among you by miracles, wonders, and signs; and all these done in such profusion as had never been done by the best of your most accredited prophets. And these signs, etc., were such as demonstrated his Divine mission. read more
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel - Bp. Pearce paraphrases the words thus: Him having been given forth; i.e. sent into the world, and manifested by being made flesh, and dwelling among you, as it is said in John 1:14 ; see also Acts 4:28 . Kypke contends that εκδοτον , delivered, does not refer to God, but to Judas the traitor "the Jews received Jesus, delivered up to them by Judas; the immutable counsel of God so permitting." By the determinate counsel, ὡρισμενῃ... read more
Whom God hath raised up - For, as God alone gave him up to death, so God alone raised him up from death. Having loosed the pains of death - It is generally supposed that this expression means, the dissolving of those bonds or obligations by which those who enter into the region of the dead are detained there till the day of the resurrection; and this is supposed to be the meaning of מות חבלי chebley maveth , in Psalm 116:3 , or שאול חבלי chebley sheol , in Psalm 18:5 , and in... read more
For David speaketh concerning him - The quotation here is made from Psalm 16:8-11 ; (note), which contains a most remarkable prophecy concerning Christ, every word of which applies to him, and to him exclusively. See the notes there. read more
And my tongue was glad - In the Hebrew it is כבודי ויגל vaiyagel kebodi , "And my glory was glad:" but the evangelist follows the Septuagint, in reading και ηγαλλιασατο ἡ γλωσσα μου , what all the other Greek interpreters in the Hexapla translate δοξα μου , my glory. And what is to be understood by glory here! Why the soul, certainly, and not the tongue; and so some of the best critics interpret the place. read more
Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell - Εις Ἁιδου , in hades, that is, the state of separate spirits, or the state of the dead. Hades was a general term among the Greek writers, by which they expressed this state; and this Hades was Tartarus to the wicked, and Elysium to the good. See the explanation of the word in the note on Matthew 11:23 ; (note). To see corruption - Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return, was a sentence pronounced on man after the fall: therefore this... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 2:18
On my servants and on my handmaidens - This properly means persons of the lowest condition, such as male and female slaves. As the Jews asserted that the spirit of prophecy never rested upon a poor man, these words are quoted to show that, under the Gospel dispensation, neither bond nor free, male nor female, is excluded from sharing in the gifts and graces of the Divine Spirit. read more