There are many pictures of law and grace contrasted in the stories in the Gospels. I have written about a few of them. I will share links to some of those at the bottom of this post. I believe that is what we are seeing yet again in the story with Ananias and Sapphira.
The name Ananias is of Hebrew origin and means, “Yah has been gracious.” He is a picture of the grace of God. Sapphira’s name comes from the word for the jewel sapphire or lapis lazuli. I believe she is a picture of the law.
The Jewish Talmud teaches that the ten commandments were written on sapphire, not stone. The Talmud is not Scripture, but a collection of commentary compiled by Jewish rabbis from A.D. 250-500.
Since the Talmud is not Scripture, but commentary, let’s look at some Biblical support for the idea of the ten commandments being written on sapphire or a blue stone.
In Exodus 24, right before God gives the ten commandments to Moses, we see the word sapphire in reference to what was under God’s feet.
Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was a work like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. But God did not lay His hand on the nobles of Israel; they saw Him, and they ate and drank.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, so that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.-Exodus 24:9-12
God gives Moses the first set of tablets of stone. Moses breaks those when he goes down the mountain and finds the Israelites worshipping the golden calf. When he goes back to God and gets the second set, Moses chisels those out of stone himself.
Another thing that would support the idea of the first set of the ten commandments being sapphire is the tekhelet.
As I understand it, Jewish men wore tassels on the four corners of their garments. If there were no corners, they had no tassels. Those tassels were called the tzitzit and had a blue thread woven in called the tekhelet.
Numbers 15 says this,
Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined,-Numbers 15:38-39
Because the thread was blue, that connects with the idea that the ten commandments were made from Sapphire, and further connects with the idea of Sapphira being a picture of the law in Acts 5.
In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul spends some time comparing the ministry of the law or the ten commandments to the ministry of the Spirit.
And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?- 2 Corinthians 3:6-8
If you read the book of Galatians, you will find Paul discussing the law and grace throughout most of the book.
I believe we can safely say that the story of Ananias and Sapphira is another picture the Holy Spirit wanted to paint for us, of law and grace, and what happens when you combine the two.
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