Acts 1

12-14. a sabbath day's journey--about two thousand cubits.

13. went up into an upper room--perhaps the same "large upper room" where with their Lord they had celebrated the last Passover and the first Supper ( Luke 22:12 ).
where abode--not lodged, but had for their place of rendezvous.
Peter,

14. continued with one accord--knit by a bond stronger than death.
in prayer and supplication--for the promised baptism, the need of which in their orphan state would be increasingly felt.
and Mary the mother of Jesus--distinguished from the other "women," but "so as to exclude the idea of her having any pre-eminence over the disciples. We find her with the rest in prayer to her glorified Son" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON]. This is the last mention of her in the New Testament. The fable of the Assumption of the Virgin has no foundation even in tradition [ALFORD].
with his brethren--(See on Matthew 16:19 ).

15-26. in those days--of expectant prayer, and probably towards the close of them, when the nature of their future work began more clearly to dawn upon them, and the Holy Ghost, already "breathed" on the Eleven ( John 20:22 ), was stirring in Peter, who was to be the leading spirit of the infant community ( Matthew 16:19 ).
the number . . . about an hundred and twenty--Many, therefore, of the "five hundred brethren" who saw their risen Lord "at once" ( 1 Corinthians 15:6 ), must have remained in Galilee.

18. falling headlong, &c.--This information supplements, but by no means contradicts, what is said in Matthew 27:5 .

20. his bishopric--or "charge." The words are a combination of Psalms 69:25 and Psalms 109:8 ; in which the apostle discerns a greater than David, and a worse than Ahithophel and his fellow conspirators against David.

21. all the time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us--in the close intimacies of a three years' public life.

22. Beginning from the baptism of John--by whom our Lord was not only Himself baptized, but first officially announced and introduced to his own disciples.
unto that same day when he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection--How clearly is the primary office of the apostles here expressed: (1) to testify, from personal observation, to the one great fact of "the resurrection of the Lord Jesus"; (2) to show how this glorified His whole previous life, of which they were constant observers, and established His divine claims.

23. they appointed--"put up" in nomination; meaning not the Eleven but the whole company, of whom Peter was the spokesman.
two--The choice would lie between a very few.

24. prayed and said, Thou, Lord, &c.--"The word 'Lord,' placed absolutely, denotes in the New Testament almost universally THE SON; and the words, 'Show whom Thou hast chosen,' are decisive. The apostles are just Christ's messengers: It is He that sends them, and of Him they bear witness. Here, therefore, we have the first example of a prayer offered to the exalted Redeemer; furnishing indirectly the strongest proof of His divinity" [OLSHAUSEN].
which knowest the hearts of all men--See John 2:24 John 2:25 , 21:15-17 , Revelation 2:23 .

25. that he might go to his own place--A euphemistic or softened expression of the awful future of the traitor, implying not only destined habitation but congenial element.

26. was numbered--"voted in" by general suffrage.
with the eleven apostles--completing the broken Twelve.