Now the men were about twelve in all. Acts 19:7

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The previous verse noted what occurred after Paul baptized the disciples introduced in verse 19:1. He subsequently laid hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them. When this occurred, they were speaking in tongues and prophesying. With that remembered, Luke provides detail about them as a group, saying, “Now the men were about twelve in all.”

It is a curious verse because the word “about” leaves one to wonder. How simple it would be to just say, “there were eleven of them,” or “there were twelve of them.” However, this misses the point of what is being said. To get what is being presented, there are a few things to consider.

First, this is something Luke does elsewhere, such as –

“Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age.” Luke 3:23

&

“For there were about five thousand men.
Then He said to His disciples, ‘Make them sit down in groups of fifty.’” Luke 9:14

In the first example, Luke – under inspiration of the Holy Spirit – appears to have been purposefully making a connection to Genesis 41:46 which would then tie his ministry into the typology set forth in the life of Joseph.

In the second example, one could argue that it would be much harder to be definitive about five thousand than it would be about twelve. But the point is not the number at all. Rather, it is that these are men.

In other words, the counting of numbers in this manner is focused on the men alone. Therefore, including women and children, the number would probably have been between fifteen and twenty thousand people. In this case, it can be assumed that these disciples, being fully grown people who had been to Israel and heard John and received his baptism, also included women, whether wives, sisters, daughters, mothers, etc.

The people may have gone as a group on a pilgrim feast and while in the land heard John’s words and became his disciples. This is all speculation, but the matter that there were certainly women included is valid. Therefore, the number was probably between thirty-five and fifty in total.

The “about twelve” makes complete sense when considered from this perspective. The man is the head of the household. Saying “about twelve men” would be equivalent to saying, “about twelve households.”

One can see Luke talking to Paul and asking him about the event so that he could record it in his ongoing narrative, “Well how many were there?” Paul responds, “Oh, about a dozen men.” Thus, Luke wrote down what he heard, “Now the men were about twelve in all.” These men, along with any family that held to the baptism of John, would have made a rather sizeable addition to the body of Christ in Ephesus.

Life application: Despite the brevity of the verse, there are quite a few variations in the translation. All say essentially the same thing, but some contain commas for clarity, one version makes this verse parenthetical, various translations change the order of the words, etc.

Taking the older translations and considering what they say, it is good that newer translations have rearranged the words. Versions such as the Coverdale (1535), the Bishop’s Bible (1568), the Geneva Bible (1587), and the KJV (1611) say, “And all the men were about twelve.”

Though the translation is acceptable, it leaves an unnecessary ambiguity in the predicate. Saying that “all the men were about twelve” can actually mean that their age is about twelve. With a little thought, this could have been easily corrected.

In other words, someone could say, “That is the age of the bar mitzvah! The disciples were just young men.” As crazy as that may sound, even more ludicrous ideas about Scripture are set forth on any given day. A humorous, if not incredibly sad, example of this is using Ezekiel 13:20 as rendered by the KJV to deny the doctrine of the rapture –

“Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.”

Yes, really.

If there is one thing man is inclined to do, it is to abuse Scripture to make it fit presuppositions and biases. Faulty or ambiguous translations naturally lead to this type of thing. Be sure to not jump to hasty conclusions without doing a thorough study of what is being presented. The word of God is far too precious to abuse just to supposedly prove one’s presuppositions.

Lord God, it is so wonderful to be a part of Your church. It is a church that has had previous souls added to it for two thousand years. People who have lived in darkness have been brought into Your marvelous light through the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Help us to continue to spread the word. May we be willing to share this good news with any and all who cross our paths. Amen.