Acts 4:15

15 But [after they] had ordered them to go outside the Sanhedrin, they began to confer with one another,

Acts 4:15 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 4:15

But when they had commanded them
That is, when the sanhedrim had ordered the apostles; or "commanded that both", as the Arabic version reads, both Peter and John; and, it may be, the man that was healed too: to go aside out of the council;
or place where the council, or sanhedrim sat; which, whether it was in the chamber "Gazith", in the temple where they used to sit F7, or in the shops, or in the city, whither they removed, is not certain. We are told F8, that

``the sanhedrim removed from the chamber Gazith, to the shops, and from the shops to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem to Jabneh;''
that is, after the destruction of the city. And the first remove was much about this time; for it is said F9, that
``forty years before the destruction of the temple, the sanhedrim removed, and sat in the shops.''
Not in the shops where things were sold for the use of the temple, but in a court adjoining to them, which took its name from them. They conferred among themselves;
what was proper to be done, the apostles being withdrawn.
FOOTNOTES:

F7 Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 10. sect. 2. & Middot. c. 5. sect. 3.
F8 T. Bab. Roshhashana, fol. 31. 1.
F9 T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 8. 2.

Acts 4:15 In-Context

13 Now [when they] saw the boldness of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were astonished, and recognized them, that they had been with Jesus.
14 And [because they] saw the man who had been healed standing there with them, they had nothing to say in return.
15 But [after they] had ordered them to go outside the Sanhedrin, they began to confer with one another,
16 saying, "What should we do with these men? For that a remarkable sign has taken place through them [is] evident to all those who live [in] Jerusalem, and we are not able to deny [it]!
17 But in order that it may not spread much [further] among the people, let us warn them to speak no more in this name {to anyone at all}."

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. *Here "[after]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("had ordered") which is understood as temporal
  • [b]. Or "council"
  • [c]. *The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here ("began to confer")
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