Ananias
(whom Jehovah has graciously given)
A high priest in (Acts 23:2-5; 24:1) He was the son of Nebedaeus. He was nominated to the office by Herod king of Chalcis in A.D. 48; was deposed shortly before Felix left the province and assassinated by the Sicarii at the beginning of the last Jewish war. A disciple at Jerusalem, husband of Sapphira.
(Acts 5:1-11) having sold his goods for the benefit of the church he kept back a part of the price, bringing to the apostles the remainder as if it was the whole, his wife being privy to the scheme. St. Peter denounced the fraud, and Ananias fell down and expired. A Jewish disciple at Damascus, (Acts 9:10-17) of high repute, (Acts 22:12) who sought out Saul during the period of blindness which followed his conversion, and announced to him his future commission as a preacher of the gospel.
Tradition makes him to have been afterwarded bishop of Damascus, and to have died by martyrdom.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible on Ananias
A 'disciple' who lived in Dama-scus, and to whom the Lord appeared in a vision, bid utation as a persecutor ; but, being encouraged by the Lord, went and laid his hands upon Saul, who received his sight, arose, and was baptized. Such is the account in Ac 9'°"". In St. Paul's speech to the multitude at Jems. (Ac 22""") we are told that A. was a man ' devout according to the law ' and one ' to whom witness was borne by all the Jews that dwelt' at Damas- cus ; and some further words of his to St. Paul are given in which he speaks of Christ as ' the Just One.' He is not mentioned in St. Paul's speech to Agrippa. The tnulitionB about htm are not of a primitive kind. In Pseudo-Itorotheus* liBt of the 72 disciplca (and also in the Hippo- lytean list) he occun* fifth in order, after ThafldmuB and before Stephen, and is represent^Kl aa Hishop of Damascus. In the Bk of the Uee by Solomon of liosra (1222), (c xlix. ed. Walhs Budife), A. is numbered amonp the seventy. He was the disciple of tile Baptist, and tau^'ht m DamoAcus and ArbCl, He was slain by I'ol, the jj^enernl of the annv of AreUis,…
Fausset's Bible Dictionary on Ananias
1. High priest (Act 23:2, etc.; Act 24:1). Son of Zebedaeus, succeeded Joseph, son of Camydus, and was followed by Ismael, son of Phabi Herod, king of Chalcis A.D. 48, appointed him. The prefect Ummidius Quadratus in A.D. 52 sent him to be tried before the emperor Claudius on the charge of oppressing the Samaritans. Cumanus the procurator, his adversary, was not successful but was banished; so that Ananias seems not to have lost office then, but lost it before Felix left the province; and was at last assassinated by the Sicarii (zealot assassins and robbers) early in the last Jewish war. Violent tempered to such a degree that he caused Paul to be smitten on the mouth for saying, "I have lived in all good conscience before God"; himself on the contrary "a whited wall." Compare Mat 23:27. 2. A disciple at Jerusalem, Sapphira's husband (Acts 5). Having sold his property for the good of the church professedly, he kept back part of the price, and handed the rest to the apostles. Peter stigmatized the act as "lying to the Holy Spirit," who was in the apostles, and whom notwithstanding he t…
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia