Acts 5:36
For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.
The verse belongs to the account of the apostles' witness before the Sanhedrin, amid opposition to their preaching about Christ's cross and resurrection. It describes a former claimant whose movement came to nothing after he was killed. The fifth chapter in which the verse stands shows that God will just as surely punish deceptive, unstraightforward, oppressive and unjust dealings in His work in order that the truth shall triumph. That includes fraud and connivance, exacting exorbitant prices, diverting His means into a wrong channel, and using lawyers to take advantage of circumstances.
The speaker is Gamaliel, whom God raised up for the moment, a learned Pharisee and doctor of great reputation, learning, high position, extreme caution and clear intellect. He recognized the voice of God in the disciples' words. He intervened when the priests and rulers, enraged by Peter charging them with murdering Christ, decided without further trial and without authority from the Roman officers to take the law into their own hands and put the prisoners to death. Knowing the elements he dealt with, that the murderers of Christ would hesitate at nothing to carry out their purpose, and seeing with clear intellect that such violence would lead to terrible consequences, he had the prisoners removed and then spoke with great deliberation and calmness to the men of Israel to take heed what they intended to do. His warning was against using violence to suppress the apostles before the character of their movement was clear.
Theudas rose up before that time, boasting himself to be somebody and claiming importance for himself, to whom about four hundred men joined themselves. He was slain and killed, and all who obeyed and followed him were scattered and dispersed, and his cause and movement were brought to nothing and ended in failure. The example is the first proof that counsel and work begun by human beings comes to nothing and that human movements fail. It shows that a human-led movement can collapse when its leader is gone. It warns against hastily attacking a movement that may fail on its own.
Applied to the apostles, the council should refrain from them and let them alone and take care before knowing whether their work is from God. For if their counsel and work is of men it will fail in the same way, but if it is of God it cannot be overthrown. Opposing a work begun by God cannot overthrow it and may amount to fighting against God. His plea for the apostles prevailed and the priests saw the counsel as reasonable and agreed to it, though they still beat the disciples and repeatedly forbade them to preach in the name of Jesus before releasing them.