Verse 36
36. Joses Joseph.
Barnabas Where a man had so ordinary a name as Joseph he needed a second name to individualize him. But this surname honoured as well as individualized its receiver.
Son of consolation Perhaps more properly son of prophecy or preaching. Acts 13:1, he is called a prophet. The epithet was probably a testimony from the apostles to his sacred eloquence. Eusebius says he was one of the seventy. An Epistle said to be by Barnabas, and certainly of very early antiquity, is still extant.
A Levite The Levites had no share in the division of Canaan to the twelve tribes, yet could own land within the precincts of the Levitical cities. But Barnabas may have owned land in his native Cyprus and have sold it in Jerusalem.
Of the country of Cyprus Literally, by birth a Cyprian Barnabas, the Cyprian, with his Levitical rank and training, his sacred eloquence, his wealth, and his noble presence, that made the Lystrans identify him with Jove, is here signalized among the many both on account of his future eminence, and for the purpose of picturing him in contrast with the unhappy pair next to be narrated. Barnabas becomes a star of the firmament, while Ananias goes down in darkness.
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