Ananias

Three persons of this name—probably a Greek transliteration of the common Hebrew name chananeyah, "Yahweh is merciful"—are mentioned in the NT, all in the book of Acts:

1) Ananias of Jerusalem, the Christian who, . . .

with his wife Shapphira, sold their property and brought part of the proceeds to the apostles (Acts 5:1-11) The act itself would have been perfectly acceptable except that Ananias and his wife seemed to have intentionally given the impression that what they had set before the apostles was the whole amount. Peter, however, saw through the lie and confronted him, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." With that Ananias fell down dead. When Shappira came in later, not knowing what had happened, Peter asked her if the amount was what they had gotten for the property, and she said yes. Confronted by the apostle, she too fell down and died. It is significant that, though their act of lying was, from a human point of view, nothing out of the ordinary—such false reporting happens everyday everywhere—within the context of life in the community of faith, the pair had "lied to the Holy Spirit" (v3), "have not lied to men but to God" (v4), and "to test the Spirit of the Lord?" (v9).

2) Ananias of Damascus, the Christian who was

called in a vision by the Lord to go to the house where Saul had sequested himself after his encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, and to bring him into the fold of the kingdom of God (Acts 9:10-13). Ananias was, of course, already acquainted with Saul's reputation as a persecutor of the church. Nonetheless, assured by the Lord of His eternal plan for Saul, Ananias proceeded, and restored Saul's eye-sight. Saul was filled with the Spirit, and baptized, and brought into fellowship of the church. Later Saul/Paul was to testify that Ananias "was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there [Damascus]" (Acts 22:12).

3) Ananias, son of Nebedeus and the high priestduring the reigns of Emperors Claudius and Nero, who was present on the day Paul was brought out to be questioned by the Roman commander when he was accused of having brought Gentiles into the temple court (Acts 23:1-9). At one point in Paul's defence of himself, Ananias had ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth, to which "Paul said to him, 'God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!'" When it was pointed out to Paul that Ananias was the high priest, Paul apologized, but then took the opportunity to create an uproar with the divisions among the Sadducees and Pharisees that became so violent the Roman commander had to remove Paul to the barracks.

The subsequent plot/s to have Paul killed, no doubt, had Ananias tacit if not explicit approval (v14). When their conspiracy was uncovered and Paul was removed to Caesarea, Ananias came there with a delegate of elders and a lawyer to bring a charge against Paul. We hear no more of the high priest in Scriptures after this.

Josephus, however, informs us that

But as for the high priest, Ananias, he increased in glory every day, and this to a great degree, and had obtained the favor and esteem of the citizens in a signal manner; for he was a great hoarder up of money: he therefore cultivated the friendship of Albinus, and of the high priest, by making them presents; he also had servants who were very wicked, who joined themselves to the boldest sort of the people, and went to the thrashing-floors, and took away the tithes that belonged to the priests by violence, and did not refrain from beating such as would not give these tithes to them. So the other high priests acted in the like manner, as did those his servants, without any one being able to prohibit them; so that [some of the] priests, that of old were wont to be supported with those tithes, died for want of food.

Ananias did not survive the First Jewish Revolt. When the mob siezed Jerusalem, they razed Ananias house. Ananias escaped but was later captured hiding in an aquaduct and killed.