Acts 4:6

6. Annas The same court, the same judges, are to be faced who arraigned their Divine Master some sixty days ago. (See notes on John 18:13; John 18:19.)

Caiaphas See notes on Matthew 26:3; John 11:49.

John, and Alexander However important these two characters were in their day, (and Luke intimates by mentioning them that they were weighty personages,) no other certain trace of them exists in any history besides this verse. They are indebted to their participation in the trial of these two humble apostles for all the sure record they have left on earth. Only some have conjectured that the first was Johanan Ben Tachai, famous in Jewish tradition; and others that Alexander was brother to Philo the Jew. (See notes on Luke 1:5; John 1:1.) But these were very ordinary names among the Jews; the former for its Old Testament odour and its propitious meaning, God favours; and the latter in honour of Alexander the Great, who was so gratefully remembered by the Jews for his kingly favour that they called all children of priestly rank born on the anniversary of his visit to Jerusalem by his name.

Kindred of the high priest Meaning probably the relatives of Annas and Caiaphas in the Sanhedrin.

Gathered… Jerusalem Coming in, perhaps, from their country homes to attend this session.

What gave this case such importance as to bring the highest dignitaries of the nation to the capital? They had a very grave case before them. A decisive miracle, attested and accredited by hundreds, had been performed within the very courts of the temple before the assembled crowds of worshipping Israel, and that in the name of the One claiming to be Messiah, whom their own high court, with these same high priests at its head, had sentenced to death. The question now to be decided is, Are these men prophets of Jehovah, or seducers to idolatry? Deuteronomy 13:1-5.