Acts 5:1

But. There is a sharp contrast between the kindly generosity of Barnabas (ch. 4:36, 37) and the cupidity of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11).

A certain man. Only a truthful narrator would tell the story of Ananias and Sapphira at this point. But just as there had been a Judas among the twelve disciples, so in the infant church, pure and zealous though it was, there were found two who preferred meanness to generosity and hypocrisy to honesty. Yet the story is told calmly and dispassionately, and the reader is instructed and moved by a recital of the plain facts.

Ananias. Meaning, “Jehovah is gracious.” This is a common name, belonging also to the man who befriended Saul of Tarsus when he was first converted (ch. 23:2; 24:1). It corresponds to the Hebrew Hananiah in Jer. 28:1; Dan. 1:6, 7.

Sapphira. This name probably represents the Aramaic shappira’, “beautiful,” although some derive it from the Greek sappheiros, “a sapphire.”

Possession. See on ch. 2:45. The property was land (see Acts 5:3).