Who were the Ananias's of the bible?

Answer 1

1. Husband of Sapphira who played false to the holy spirit and to God. Ananias sold a field and donated part of the money to the fund. However, with his wife's full knowledge, he pretended that he had donated the entire proceeds. No doubt, this couple wanted to gain special honor within the congregation. But their act was deceitful. In a miraculous way, God revealed the fraud to the apostle Peter, who confronted Ananias with his error. At that, Ananias fell down and expired. Shortly thereafter, Sapphira also died. (Acts 5:1-11)

2. A Christian disciple of Damascus. Following the conversion of Saul, Ananias was given a vision in which Jesus gave him Saul's name and address with instructions to visit him. (Acts 9:10-18)

3. A Jewish high priest from about 48 to 58 C.E. He was the son of Nedebaeus and was appointed to office by Herod, king of Chalcis, the brother of Herod Agrippa I. (Josephus' Jewish Antiquities, XX, 103 [v, 2]) In about 56 C.E., while presiding at Paul's trial before the Sanhedrin, Ananias ordered Paul to be struck in the face. Paul reacted to this by predicting that God would repay such wrong action. (Acts 23:2-5)