<p>1:23 <i>And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus; and Matthias</i>- The problem with democracy and choices by lot is the selection of the candidates. &ldquo;Put forward&rdquo; is the word for &ldquo;appointed&rdquo;. They decided on the candidates. Perhaps they were the only two who fitted the criteria of :22; but it seems it was the disciples themselves who chose those parameters for choice. The whole incident seemed unnecessary; we never hear of these brethren again in the record. We do note however that Peter is described as &ldquo;standing up with the eleven&rdquo; (2:14), suggesting they stood as a group of twelve and therefore the replacement disciple stood with them at that point.</p>