Brethren for men and brethren, A.V.; I may say unto you freely for let me freely speak unto you, A.V.; both died and was buried for is both dead and buried, A.V.; tomb for sepulcher, A.V. Brethren; literally, men who are my brethren.
Observe how gentle and conciliatory the apostle's language is; how exactly in accordance with his own precept (1 Peter 3:8, 1 Peter 3:9), "Not rendering railing for railing," etc. In addressing them as brethren, he silently claims the good will and fairness due to one who was a brother in blood and in the faith of the God of Israel.
The patriarch David. The term patriarch is elsewhere in Scripture applied only to Abraham and the twelve sons of Jacob (Hebrews 7:4; Acts 7:8, Acts 7:9). It is a title of dignity, signifying the head of a house.
It seems to be here applied to David, because he is spoken of as head of the family from which Christ sprang. Abraham was the head of the whole Hebrew race: "Abraham our father." The twelve patriarchs were the heads of their respective tribes.
The LXX. use the word πατριάρχης as the rendering of תוֹבאָהָ שׁוֹארֹ "chief of the fathers' houses" (1 Chronicles 24:31; 2 Chronicles 19:8; 2 Chronicles 26:12); which they elsewhere render by ἄρχων, or ἀρχὴ πατριᾶς (Exodus 6:25, etc.
). In common parlance, the term is also applied to those chief persons who lived before the time of Moses, and have their record in his books. His tomb is with us, etc. Josephus speaks of David's tomb (calling it, as St.
Peter here does, his μνῆμα) as consisting of several chambers, and relates how one of these chambers was opened by the high priest Hyrcanus, who took from it three thousand talents of gold to give to Antiochus Pins, who was at that time laying siege to Jerusalem.
He adds that another chamber was opened later by King Herod, who abstracted a great quantity of golden ornaments from it; but that neither of them penetrated to the vaults where the bodies of David and Solomon were deposited, because the entrance to them was so carefully concealed.
He further mentions that Herod, having been terrified by the bursting out of flames, which stopped his further progress, built a most costly marble monument at the entrance of the tomb ('Jud. Ant.,' 7.
Acts 15:3; Acts 13:1-52. Acts 8:4; Acts 16:1-40. Acts 7:1). For the sense, supply "and therefore he could not be speaking of himself." The explanation follows that he was a prophet, etc.