And they stirred up the people - They "excited" the people, or alarmed their fears, as had been done before when they sought to put the Lord Jesus to death, Matthew 27:20.

The elders - The members of the Sanhedrin, or Great Council.

Scribes - See the notes on Matthew 2:4.

To the council - To the Sanhedrin, or the Great Council of the nation, which claimed jurisdiction in the matters of religion. See the notes on Matthew 2:4.

And they - The Libertines, etc., mentioned before, stirred up the people - raised a mob against him, and, to assist and countenance the mob, got the elders and scribes to conduct it, who thus made themselves one with the basest of the people, whom they collected; and then, altogether, without law or form of justice, rushed on the good man, seized him, and brought him to a council who, though they sat in the seat of judgment, were ready for every evil work.

And they stirred up the people,.... The common people, who were easily wrought upon, and soon incensed and provoked, when at any time it was suggested to them that the rituals and ceremonies of the law of Moses were treated with any neglect or contempt; see Acts 21:27.

And the elders and the Scribes; who belonged to the sanhedrim, to whom they reported these things, as persons, under whose cognizance they properly came:

and came upon him; at an unawares, and in an hostile way:

and caught him; seized him with violence:

and brought him to the council; the great sanhedrim, then sitting at Jerusalem, to whom it belonged to judge of blasphemy.

They stirred up the people (συνεκίνησαν τὸν λαὸν)

The verb occurs only here in the New Testament. It implies to stir up as a mass, to move them together (σύν). This is the first record of the hostility of the people toward the disciples. See Acts 2:47.

Caught (συνήρπασαν)

Used by Luke only. Better as Rev., seized. See on Luke 8:29.

{9} And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,

(9) The first bloody persecution of the Church of Christ, began and sprang from a council of priests, by the suggestion of the university teachers.

6:12 They stirred up the people. By their misrepresentations. Thus far the gospel seemed to enjoy great popular favor. It was needful to arouse their hostility. This could be done by perversion of what was preached. The Pharisees, apparently neutral since Pentecost until now, were aroused by Stephen's attack on legalism.

And the elders, and the scribes. See PNT Ac 4:5.

Brought him to the council. The Sanhedrin.

6:8-15 When they could not answer Stephen's arguments as a disputant, they prosecuted him as a criminal, and brought false witnesses against him. And it is next to a miracle of providence, that no greater number of religious persons have been murdered in the world, by the way of perjury and pretence of law, when so many thousands hate them, who make no conscience of false oaths. Wisdom and holiness make a man's face to shine, yet will not secure men from being treated badly. What shall we say of man, a rational being, yet attempting to uphold a religious system by false witness and murder! And this has been done in numberless instances. But the blame rests not so much upon the understanding, as upon the heart of a fallen creature, which is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Yet the servant of the Lord, possessing a clear conscience, cheerful hope, and Divine consolations, may smile in the midst of danger and death.