Acts 4:28 commentary: What was predestined to take place?

Acts 4:28 is one of those pro-Calvinism proof texts. It is invoked to show that God predestined all the terrible things that happened to Jesus in The Passion events.

Act 4:27-28 (NRSV)

27 For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

It sure smells like this passage means to say the terrible things that happened to Jesus were predestined. If a person wants to quote this passage to show that The Passion was predestined, there are several problems with the argument.

(1) It is risky exegesis to draw critical doctrine out of something the Bible quotes someone as saying if the person is not speaking by divine inspiration. The exegetical method is more common than we might think. Consider John 9:31. A man was born blind and Jesus healed his sight. Jesus did not introduce himself; but the man was able to conclude that Jesus was a righteous man. He said that God does not listen to sinners. It is terrible exegesis to conclude that God does not hear the prayers of sinners based upon what this man said. He was not speaking from divine inspiration (Acts 10:31. See also 1 Kings 8:41-45). On a similar note, Peter's personal judgment in Acts 1:21-22 is frequently quoted as proof of the qualifications of an apostle. Peter was not speaking from divine inspiration. He decided on his own to set a precedent that there should be twelve apostles. He offered his short list of qualifications was a suggested rubric for selecting replacement apostles. Bad exegesis, although Paul seems to agree with qualification #2, that an apostle must have seen the risen Lord (1 Corinthians 9:1).
(2) It is not clear how this passage should be punctuated. Greek scholar Adam Clark believes verse 28 should be read as parenthetical (see below).

Adam Clarke:

There is a parenthesis in this verse that is not sufficiently noticed: it should be read in connection with Ac 4:28, thus: For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, (for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done,) both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and people of Israel, were gathered together.
It is evident that what God's hand and counsel determined before to be done was not that which Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, (Romans,) and the people of Israel had done and were doing; for, then, their rage and vain counsel would be such as God himself had determined should take place, which is both impious and absurd; but these gathered together to hinder what God had before determined that his Christ or Anointed should perform; and thus the passage is undoubtedly to be understood.

Clark suggests that verse 28 ought to be read parenthetically; but watch what happens when we remove the verse numbers and two commas.

For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.^*

I believe this reading is how these two verses should be understood. We might even understand that Herod, et. al., actually worked to subvert Jesus' work that God had predestined. In other words, Jesus had more work to do and Herod, et. al., resisted that work.

In conclusion, this passage proves nothing regarding the existence of a divinely predetermined program for Herod's, Pilate's, the Romans' and the Jews' bad behavior.

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* In fairness, the word order in Greek does not permit adding or dropping of punctuation in the way I have done with this NRSV quote (and is also possible with CSB, NET and Wycliffe). The word order in Greek is more closely followed in the ESV which reads a follows:

27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

Adam Clarke's view that 28 likely refers to Jesus' work rather than the actions of Herod, et. al., ought to be taken seriously. Even in ESV, it is not clear whose actions are in view in verse 28.

For more commentaries on confusing verses that are often invoked as proof texts, see https://godisopen.com/resources/verse-quick-reference/.