Note 1 at Ac 4:36: This Joses Barnabas became very prominent among the early believers. He was a leader in the selling of one's goods to meet the needs of other believers. Later, he was the first one in Jerusalem to accept the conversion of Saul and pleaded his case before the apostles (Ac 9:26-27). Barnabas was selected by the Jerusalem church to investigate the rumored conversion of Gentiles at Antioch, and the Scripture reports him as being "a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith" who led many people unto the Lord (Ac 11:20-24).

After his mission in Antioch was completed, Barnabas went to Tarsus and brought Saul (Paul) back to Antioch with him where they stayed for one year teaching the believers. Barnabas was the one the Lord used to bring the Apostle Paul out of his fourteen-year seclusion (Ga 2:1).

Barnabas and Saul were selected by the church in Antioch to carry their gifts to the church in Judea (Ac 11:29-30). Barnabas and Saul returned to Antioch where, through the direction of the Holy Spirit, they were sent out on Paul's first missionary journey (Ac 13:1-3). They visited Barnabas' home of Cyprus as well as cities in Asia Minor (Ac 13:13-14).

After returning to Antioch, the church there sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to settle a dispute about the Gentile believers having to be circumcised (Ac 15:1-2). Barnabas, as well as Paul, spoke to the elders about this matter (Ac 15:12). The church at Jerusalem then sent Barnabas and Paul, as well as others, back to Antioch with a decree from the apostles (Ac 15:30).

Barnabas and Paul again ministered in Antioch (Ac 15:35) until Paul asked Barnabas to accompany him as he went back to minister to the converts they had made on their first missionary tour (Ac 15:36). When Barnabas refused to go without John Mark, Paul and Barnabas parted company. Barnabas and John Mark went to Cyprus, and Paul and Silas went to Asia Minor.

Paul later mentioned Barnabas in his epistles (1Co 9:6 and Col 4:10), although there is no further mention of him in the book of Acts. Apparently, before Barnabas and Paul became companions, Barnabas, along with Peter and others, was moved away from his conviction of the liberty in Christ because of a fear of the legalistic Jews (Ga 2:13).

Note 2 at Ac 4:36: How is it that Barnabas, who was a Levite, owned land when Nu 18:20-24 forbade any Levite to have an inheritance among the children of Israel? There are at least three viable explanations for this.

First, Barnabas was from the island of Cyprus, and that was not in the land of Israel. Nu 18:20-24 had prohibited any Levite from owning any property in the nation of Israel. It is possible that the land he sold was not in Israel, and therefore he was not in violation of God's command.

Second, it is possible that this land actually belonged to Barnabas' wife before they were married, and if she was not from the tribe of Levi, then she could have come by it without violating the instructions of Nu 18.

Third, it is also possible that the Israelites had ceased to obey the command of Nu 18. Even before the captivity of Jerusalem, Jeremiah, who was a priest, was instructed by the Lord to buy a field (Jer 32:6-25), although this action cannot be taken as the Lord setting a new precedent but rather as an exception to illustrate a prophecy.

During the dispersion and the re-gathering of the Jews in Israel, there were long periods of time when they were without a temple, and therefore the Levites had no duties to perform and no offerings from the people. So, the system as God established it in Nu 18 had ceased to function, and there is no biblical record that it was ever reinstated.