Acts 2:26

Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(26) My tongue was glad.—The Hebrew gives “my glory,” a term which was applied to the mind of man, perhaps also to his faculty of speech (Psalm 57:8; Psalm 62:7), as that by which he excelled all other creatures of God’s hand. The LXX. had paraphrased the word by “tongue,” and St. Peter, or St. Luke reporting his speech, follows that version.

Also my flesh shall rest in hope.—Literally, shall tabernacle, or, dwell as in a tabernacle. We may, perhaps, trace an echo of the thought in 2Peter 1:13-14.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:22-36 From this gift of the Holy Ghost, Peter preaches unto them Jesus: and here is the history of Christ. Here is an account of his death and sufferings, which they witnessed but a few weeks before. His death is considered as God's act; and of wonderful grace and wisdom. Thus Divine justice must be satisfied, God and man brought together again, and Christ himself glorified, according to an eternal counsel, which could not be altered. And as the people's act; in them it was an act of awful sin and folly. Christ's resurrection did away the reproach of his death; Peter speaks largely upon this. Christ was God's Holy One, sanctified and set apart to his service in the work of redemption. His death and sufferings should be, not to him only, but to all his, the entrance to a blessed life for evermore. This event had taken place as foretold, and the apostles were witnesses. Nor did the resurrection rest upon this alone; Christ had poured upon his disciples the miraculous gifts and Divine influences, of which they witnessed the effects. Through the Saviour, the ways of life are made known; and we are encouraged to expect God's presence, and his favour for evermore. All this springs from assured belief that Jesus is the Lord, and the anointed Saviour.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Therefore - Peter ascribes these expressions to the Messiah. The reason why he would exult or rejoice was, that he would be preserved amidst the sorrows that were coming on him, and could look forward to the triumph that awaited him. Thus, Paul says Hebrews 12:2 that "Jesus ..."for the joy that was set before him," endured the cross, despising the shame," etc. Throughout the New Testament, the shame and sorrow of his sufferings were regarded as connected with his glory and his triumph, Luke 24:26; Philippians 2:6-9; Ephesians 1:20-21. In this our Saviour has left us an example that we should walk in his steps. The prospect of future glory and triumph should sustain us amidst all afflictions, and make us ready, like him, to lie down in even the corruptions of the grave.

Did my heart rejoice - In the Hebrew this is in the prescott tense, "my heart rejoices." The word "heart" here expresses "the person," and is the same as saying "I rejoice." The Hebrews used the different members to express the person. And thus we say, "every soul perished; the vessel had 40 hands; wise heads do not think so; hearts of steel will not flinch," etc. (Prof. Stuart on Psalm 16:1-11). The meaning is, because God is near me in time of calamity, and will support and deliver me, I will not be agitated or fear, but will exult in the prospect of the future, in view of the "joy that is set before me."

My tongue was glad - Hebrew, My glory or my honor exults. The word is used to denote "majesty, splendor, dignity, honor." It is also used to express the heart or soul, either because that is the chief source of man's dignity, or because the word is also expressive of the liver, regarded by the Hebrews as the seat of the affections, Genesis 49:6, "Unto their assembly, mine honor," that is, my soul, or myself, "be not thou united"; Psalm 57:8, "Awake up, my glory," etc.; Psalm 108:1, "I will sing ...even with my glory." This word the Septuagint translated "tongue." The Arabic and Latin Vulgate have also done the same. Why they thus use the word is not clear. It may be because the tongue, or the gift of speech, was what chiefly contributes to the honor of man, or distinguishes him from the brutal creation. The word "glory" is used expressly for "tongue" in Psalm 30:12; "To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent."

Moreover also - Truly; in addition to this.

My flesh - My body. See Acts 2:31; 1 Corinthians 5:5. It means here properly the body separate from the soul; the dead body.

Shall rest - Shall rest or repose in the grave, free from corruption.

In hope - In confident expectation of a resurrection. The Hebrew word rather expresses confidence than hope. The passage means, "My body will I commit to the grave, with a confident expectation of the future, that is, with a firm belief that it will not see corruption, but will be raised up." It thus expresses the feelings of the dying Messiah; the assured confidence which he had that his repose in the grave would not be long, and would certainly come to an end. The death of Christians is also in the New Testament represented as a sleep, and as repose Acts 7:60; 1 Corinthians 15:6, 1 Corinthians 15:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:13, 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 2 Peter 3:4; and they may also, after the example of their Lord, commit their bodies to the dust, in hope. They will lie in the grave under the assurance of a happy resurrection; and though their bodies, unlike his, will moulder to their native dust, yet this corruptible will put on incorruption, and this mortal will put on immorality, 1 Corinthians 15:53.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. was not possible he should be holden of it—Glorious saying! It was indeed impossible that "the Living One" should remain "among the dead" (Lu 24:5); but here, the impossibility seems to refer to the prophetic assurance that He should not see corruption.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Therefore, because of God’s nearness to or presence with him,

did my heart rejoice; Christ’s and his people’s joy is solid and true, real and inward, and may bear the test, res severa est verum gaudium.

My tongue; in Psalm 16:9, it is my glory, as the tongue is frequently called; communicating our thoughts or apprehensions by speech, being the excellency of a reasonable creature.

My flesh; or my body.

Shall rest; or be in the grave, as in a tabernacle, ordinarily a movable, always no durable abiding place.

In hope; that is, of the resurrection, and going out of that tabernacle of the grave.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Therefore did my heart rejoice,.... Because that he had always the truth, faithfulness, and power of God in his view, and the presence and protection of God with him; and which are sufficient to make the hearts of his people, as well as of him, to rejoice:

and my tongue was glad: in the Hebrew text it is, "my glory"; and so the Syriac version renders it here; which Kimchi explains of the soul, because that is the glory of the body; but our apostle rightly interprets it of the tongue, which is so called, Psalm 30:12 and Psalm 57:8 and Psalm 108:1 because it is both the glory of man, for that being endowed with the faculty of speaking, gives him a glory above the brute creatures; and because it is that by which he glorifies God, by ascribing greatness to him, speaking of his marvellous works, and singing his praises, as Christ did, in the great congregation, among his apostles, a little before his death,

Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope, or "safely"; meaning, that his body should lie quietly in the grave, as in its resting place from all toil and labour, pains and sorrows, and be secure from worms, or any corruption. Or this may be understood of his person being in a quiet, firm, and full hope of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal life and glory.

Geneva Study Bible

Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Acts 2:26. Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue exulted. The aorists denote an act of the time described by προωρώμην κ.τ.λ., the joyful remembrance of which is here expressed.

ἡ καρδία μου, לִכִּי: the heart, the centre of personal life, is also the seat of the moral feelings and determinations of the will: Delitzsch, Psych. p. 248 ff.

Instead of ἡ γλῶσσά μου, the Hebrew has כְבוֹדִי, i.e. my soul (Psalm 7:6; Psalm 30:12, et al.; see Schoettgen, p. 415), in place of which the LXX. either found a different reading or gave a free rendering.

ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἡ σάρξ μου κ.τ.λ.] but moreover also my flesh (body) shall tabernacle, that is, settle itself by way of encampment, on hope, by which the Psalmist expresses his confidence that he shall not perish, but continue in life—while, according to Peter, from the point of view of the fulfilment that has taken place in Christ, these words εἰς Χριστόν (Acts 2:25) prophetically express that the body of Christ will tarry in the grave on hope, i.e. on the basis of the hope of rising from the dead. Thus what is divinely destined for Christ

His resurrection—appears in poetic mould as the object of the hope of His body.

ἔτι δὲ καί] Comp. Luke 14:26; Acts 21:28; Soph.O. R. 1345.

ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι] as in Romans 4:18.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

26. my tongue was glad] The Heb. has my glory. Cp. Psalm 108:1, where the A. V. has, according to the Hebrew, “I will give praise even with my glory,” while the Prayer-book Version renders “with the best member that I have.”

shall rest] Lit. shall tabernacle.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 2:26. Ἡ γλῶσσά μου, my tongue) So the LXX. have translated כבוד in Hebrew poetry; the signification of which may be gathered from Ps. 30:13, “My glory (i.e. my tongue or my soul) may sing praise,” with which comp. Acts 2:9, where the words in antithesis are, dust and glory; just as in Psalm 7:5, “Lay mine honour in the dust;” also, from Psalm 57:7-8, “My heart is fixed,” etc. “Awake up, my glory; awake up, psaltery and harp” wherein glory stands midway between the heart and the instruments; also, from this very saying, Psalm 16:9, wherein the glory is put midway between the heart and the flesh. Therefore it denotes the very flower of nature, which even especially puts itself forth through the tongue, the voice, or singing; for glory is to the flesh the same that the flower is to the grass or herb; 1 Peter 1:24, “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass:” or the beauty of its look, Jam 1:11, “The sun withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace (or beauty) of the fashion (or look) of it (ἡ εὐπρέπεια τοῦ προσώπου) perisheth.”—ἔτι δὲ, moreover indeed) also, so therefore. Epitasis [an emphatic addition to a previous enunciation. Append.].

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 26. - My heart was glad for did my heart rejoice, A.V.; rejoiced for was glad, A.V.; my flesh also for also my flesh, A.V.; dwell for rest, A.V. Acts 2:26

Vincent's Word Studies

Rejoiced (ἠγαλλιάσατο)

Rev., was glad. See on 1 Peter 1:6.

Shall rest (κατασκηνώσει)

See on nests, Matthew 8:20. Better, as Rev., dwell. Lit., dwell in a tent or tabernacle. Rendered lodge, Matthew 13:32; Mark 4:32; Luke 13:19. It is a beautiful metaphor. My flesh shall encamp on hope; pitch its tent there to rest through the night of death, until the morning of resurrection.

In hope ( ἐπ' ἐλπίδι)

Lit., on hope: resting on the hope of resurrection; his body being poetically conceived as hoping.