It is the more important to place the crime of Ananias and his wife in its true light because un just reflections have been cast upon the apostle Peter (Wolfenb. Frapm. Zweck Jcsu, p. 256) for his conduct in the case. Whatever that conduct may have been, the misdeed was of no trivial kind, either in itself or in its possible conse quences. If, then, Peter reproves it with warmth, he does no more than nature and duty alike re quired; nor does there appear in his language on the occasion any undue or uncalled for severity.
With strange inconsistency on the part of those who deny miracles altogether, unbelievers have accused Peter of cruelly smiting Ananias and his wife with instant death. The sacred narrative, however, ascribes to Peter nothing more than a spirited exposure of their aggravated offense. Their death, the reader is left to infer, was by the hand of God; nor is any ground afforded in the narrative (Acts v :I-t 1) for holding that Peter was in any way employed as an immediate in strument of the miracle. On the other hand, J. A. Selbie (Hastings' Bib. Dict.) says: "As to its cause, whatever this may have been from a secondary point of view, there can be no doubt that in Acts it is traced to the deliberate will and intention of St. Peter. (Note especially v. 9. and compare the parallel ca,e of St. Paul and Ely mas in Acts xiii:11.) 3. A Christian of Damascus (Acts ix :to-t7; xxii:t2), held in high repute, to whom the Lord appeared in a vision, and bade him proceed to 'the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for, behold, he prayeth.' Ananias had difficulty in giving credence to the message, re membering how much evil Paul had done to the saints at Jerusalem, and knowing that he had come to Damascus with authority to lay waste the church of Christ there. Receiving, however, an assurance that the persecutor had been converted and called to the work of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, Ananias went to Paul, and, put ting his hands on him, bade him receive his sight. when immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and, recovering the sight which he had lost when the Lord appeared to him on his way to Damascus, Paul, the new convert, arose, and was baptized, and preached Jesus Christ.
Tradition represents Ananias as the first that published the Gospel in Damascus, over which place he was subsequently made bishop, but having roused, by his zeal, the hatred of the Jews, he was seized by them, scourged and finally stoned to death in his own church. There is a very fine church where he was interred, and the Turks, who have made a mosque of it, preserve a great respect for his monument.
ANAPHA (Heb. (Hi-ay./10as/, Vulg. caradryon and caradrium; Eng. Vers. heron, Lev. xi :19, and Deut. xiv :18), an unclean bird, but the particular bird denoted by the Hebrew word has been much disputed. The kite, woodcock, curlew, peacock• parrot, crane, lapwing and several others have been suggested. Since the word occurs but twice, and in both instances is isolated, no aid can be derived from a com parison of passages.
Recourse has consequently been had to etymol ogy. The root anaph signifies to breathe, to snort, especially from anger, and thence, fig uratively, to be angry. Parkhurst observes that 'as the heron is remarkable for its angry dispo sition, especially when hurt or wounded, this bird seems to be most probably intended.' But this equally applies to a great number of different species of birds. Bochart supposes it may mean the mountain falcon, called avoraia by Homer (Odys. i :320), because of the similarity of the Greek word to the Hebrew. But if it meant any kind of eagle or hawk, it would probably have been reckoned with one or other of those species mentioned in the preceding verses.
On the whole, the preponderance of evidence derived from an unbroken chain of well ascer tained facts seems in favor of the conclusion that the Hebrew word anapha designates the numerous species of the plover (may not this be the genus of birds alluded to as the fowls of the mountain, Ps. I:11; Is. xviii :6?) Various spe cies of the genus are known in Syria and Pales tine as the C. Nurialls (golden plover), C. arelicuemus (stone-curlew), and C. spinosus (lap wing). (Kitto's Physical Mist, of Palestine, p. to6.) And, in connection with some of the pre ceding remarks, it is important to observe that in these species a yellow color is more or less marked. (See HERON.)