Acts 13:29

And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) When they had fulfilled all that was written of him.—The words are suggestive of much that lies below the surface. St. Paul, also, had studied in the same school of prophetic interpretation as the writers of the Gospels, and saw as they did, in all the details of the Crucifixion, the fulfilment of that which had been written beforehand, it might be, of other sufferers, but which was to find its highest fulfilment in the Christ.

They took him down from the tree.—In the brief summary which St. Paul gives, it was apparently deemed unnecessary to state the fact that our Lord was taken down from the cross and laid in the sepulchre by those who were secretly disciples, like Joseph and Nicodemus. It was enough that they too were among the rulers of the Jews, and that they, in what they did, were acting without any expectation of the Resurrection. On the use of the word “tree” for the cross, see Note on Acts 5:30.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:14-31 When we come together to worship God, we must do it, not only by prayer and praise, but by the reading and hearing of the word of God. The bare reading of the Scriptures in public assemblies is not enough; they should be expounded, and the people exhorted out of them. This is helping people in doing that which is necessary to make the word profitable, to apply it to themselves. Every thing is touched upon in this sermon, which might best prevail with Jews to receive and embrace Christ as the promised Messiah. And every view, however short or faint, of the Lord's dealings with his church, reminds us of his mercy and long-suffering, and of man's ingratitude and perverseness. Paul passes from David to the Son of David, and shows that this Jesus is his promised Seed; a Saviour to do that for them, which the judges of old could not do, to save them from their sins, their worst enemies. When the apostles preached Christ as the Saviour, they were so far from concealing his death, that they always preached Christ crucified. Our complete separation from sin, is represented by our being buried with Christ. But he rose again from the dead, and saw no corruption: this was the great truth to be preached.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They took him down ... - That is, it was done by the Jews. Not that it was done by those who put him to death, but by Joseph of Arimathea, and by Nicodemus, who were Jews. Paul is speaking of what was done to Jesus by the Jews at Jerusalem; and he does not affirm that the same persons put him to death and laid him in a tomb, but that all this was done by Jews. See John 19:38-39.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. they took him down … and laid him in a sepulchre—Though the burial of Christ was an act of honor and love to Him by the disciples to whom the body was committed, yet since His enemies looked after it and obtained a guard of soldiers to keep watch over it as the remains of their own victim, the apostle regards this as the last manifestation on their part of enmity to the Saviour, that they might see how God laughed all their precautions to scorn by "raising Him from the dead."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

All that was written of him; as the giving him vinegar to drink, piercing his side, &c, Psalm 69:21 John 19:28-30.

From the tree: see Acts 5:30.

They laid him in a sepulchre; Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, Matthew 27:60 John 19:39.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him,.... When they had vilified and reproached him in the most opprobrious manner; buffeted and scourged him, and pierced his hands and his feet, by nailing him to the cross; when they had crucified him between two thieves, and parted his raiment and cast lots on his vesture; when they had pierced his side, and it was sufficiently evident that his life was taken from the earth; all which were written of him in the Psalms and Prophets:

they took him down from the tree; the cross, on which he was crucified: it may be rendered impersonally, "he was taken down from the tree"; for not the same persons that desired he might be slain, and fulfilled all that was written of him, took him down, but others; though they were some of the rulers, as Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, yet such as did not consent to his death:

and laid him in a sepulchre; in a new one, in which never man lay; a sepulchre which Joseph had hewed out of a rock for himself, and which was both sealed and guarded.

Geneva Study Bible

And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 13:29. ὡς δὲ ἐτέλεσαν ἅπαντα: St. Paul was evidently acquainted with the details of the Passion as well as with the main facts of the death and burial, cf. 1 Corinthians 11:23; and for the verb used here Luke 18:31; Luke 22:37, John 19:28; John 19:30; only here in Acts, Weiss regards the subject of ἐτέλ., καθέλ., ἔθηκαν as presupposed as known in accordance with the Gospel history, but St. Paul may have been speaking in general terms of the action of the Jews, although not the enemies of Christ but His friends actually took Him down and buried Him. Taken literally, St. Paul’s statement agrees with the Gospel of Peter, 21–24, as Hilgenfeld noted. But Joseph of Arimathæa and Nicodemus were both Jews and members of the Council.—τοῦ ξύλου, cf. Acts 5:30, Acts 10:39. Jüngst, without any ground, as Hilgenfeld remarks, refers Acts 13:29 partly on account of this expression to a reviser, and so 34–37. On ξύλον, significant here and in Galatians 3:13, see Ramsay, Expositor, December, 1898.—εἰς μν., cf. 1 Corinthians 15:4, the death followed by the burial, and so the reality of the death, “ἐκ νεκρῶν,” was vouched for.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. all that was written of him] The Greek is rather more full, “all the things which were written of him,” meaning the various prophecies which received their fulfilment in the betrayal, harsh treatment, and the other circumstances that attended on the death of Jesus.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 13:29. Γεγραμμένα, all that was written) They could do no more (nothing beyond what was written). In Jesus all things that were written were fulfilled.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - All things that were for all that was, A.V.; tomb for sepulcher, A.V. The reference is to his being crucified between two thieves (Luke 23:32, 33), to parting his raiment among them (ibid. 34) to offering him vinegar (ibid. 36), to the commendation of his spirit to his Father (ibid. 46). The words καθελόντες and ἔθηκαν εἰς μνημεῖον are the same as Luke 23:53, 55 (μνῆμα and μνημεῖον being interchanged). Acts 13:29