Acts 9:1. Saul's mission to Damascus and his Conversion 1. _And_[But] _Saul, yet breathing out threatenings_[threatening] It is better to translate the conjunction adversatively here, as the new subject is not connected except with the first sentence of chap. 8. The verb in this clause should be re... [ Continue Reading ]
_and desired of him letters_ These are the papers which constituted his "authority and commission" (Acts 26:12). From that passage we learn that the issuing of these papers was the act of the whole body, for Paul there says they were "from the chief priests." _to Damascus_ Of the history of this mos... [ Continue Reading ]
_And as he journeyed_ There were two roads by which Saul could make his journey, one the caravan road which led from Egypt to Damascus, and kept near the coast line of the Holy Land till it struck eastward to cross the Jordan at the north of the Lake of Tiberias. To join this road Saul must have at... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he fell to the earth_ Dazzled by the intense brightness. From Acts 26:14 we find that not only Saul but his companions were struck down by the light, though there was more in the vision which he beheld than was made evident to them, and by reason of the greater glory which was manifested to him... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he said, Who art thou, Lord?_ Saul is sensible of the Divine nature of the vision, and shews this by his address. The appearance of Christ, though in a glorified body, must have been like that which He wore in His humanity, and since Saul does not recognize Jesus, we may almost certainly conclu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Arise_ The MSS. which omit the above words insert a conjunction here. Read, _But_arise. Saul had continued prostrate as he had fallen down at the first. _and go into the city_ A proof that the party of travellers had arrived very nearly at Damascus. Tradition here, as in many other instances, has... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless_ Cp. Daniel 10:7, "I Daniel alone saw the vision, for the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them." Saul was not only furnished with authority, but also with men who were to carry out his intentions and brin... [ Continue Reading ]
_and_[but] _when his eyes were opened, he saw no man_[nothing] The vision had struck him blind. He opened his eyes, but their power had been taken away. Thus his physical condition becomes a fit representation of the mental blindness which he afterwards (Acts 26:9) deplores: "I verily thought with m... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he was three days without sight_ During this time we cannot but think the illumination of his mind was being perfected by the Spirit. He had been convinced by the vision that Jesus was risen from the dead and ascended into heaven. But more than this was needed for the preparation of this mighty... [ Continue Reading ]
Saul's sight restored. He preaches in Damascus 10. _And_[Now] _there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias_ Of this disciple we have no further mention in Holy Writ except in chap. Acts 22:12, where St Paul describes him as "a devout man according to the Law, having a good report of all... [ Continue Reading ]
_into the street which is called Straight_ A long straight street still runs through Damascus, and is probably (so persistent is every feature of Oriental life) the same in which Ananias found Saul in the house of Judas.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and hath seen in a vision_ The oldest MSS. omit "in a vision." It could only have been in this wise that Saul had been informed, and the words are merely a gloss.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have heard by_[from] _many_, &c. These words seem to point to a longer residence of Ananias in Damascus than he could have made if he had only left Jerusalem after the death of Stephen; and so do the words (Acts 22:12) which speak of his good report among all the Jews that dwelt at Damascus. _ho... [ Continue Reading ]
_all that call on thy name_ To call on Christ is the same as to be a believer in Him. The expression is used as an apposition to "saints" in 1 Corinthians 1:2, and thence we see what in the Pauline language was meant by the word "saints.... [ Continue Reading ]
_he is a chosen vessel unto me_ Literally, "a vessel of election." This is a Hebrew form of expression, cp. Jeremiah 22:28, where King Coniah is called "a vessel wherein is no pleasure." So Jeremiah 51:34, "He hath made me [to be] an empty vessel," literally, "vessel of emptiness." _to bear my name... [ Continue Reading ]
_for I will shew him how great_[many] _things he must suffer_ Cp. Paul's own words (Acts 20:23), "The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me." The truth of this is borne out by that long list of the Apostle's sufferings which he enumerates in his letter to th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Brother Saul_ The Hebrew form of the name, see Acts 9:4, note. _the Lord, even Jesus_ Combining the name "Lord" used by Saul when the vision appeared, with that "Jesus" which Christ, speaking from His glory, uttered in answer to Saul's enquiry, Who art thou? _that appeared unto thee in the way_ T... [ Continue Reading ]
_And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales_ The word rendered "scales" is used as a technical term for a disease of the eye by Hippocrates, and the verb derived from it is found (Tob 11:13) used of the cure of a disease of similar character. "And the whiteness _pilled away_from... [ Continue Reading ]
_and when he had received_[taken] _meat_, &c. Needed after his three days fast, but (says Calvin) "he refreshed not his body with meat until his soul had received strength." _Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus_ The word Saul is not found in the oldest MSS. Read "And... [ Continue Reading ]
_And straightway he preached Christ_[proclaimed Jesus] _in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God_ The best MSS. read _Jesus_in this verse, and this naturally is correct. The preaching which was to be to the Jews a stumbling-block was that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, their long-expected Mes... [ Continue Reading ]
_But all that heard him were amazed_ Saul's fame as a persecutor of Christians was well known to the Jews of Damascus, and the authorities of the synagogues may have been instructed beforehand to welcome him as a zealous agent. If so their amazement is easy to understand. It is clear from what follo... [ Continue Reading ]
_But Saul increased the more in strength_ i.e. he became more and more energetic in his labours and the Holy Ghost gave him more power. His fitness for the labour on which he was entering was very great. He possessed all the Jewish learning of a zealous pupil of Gamaliel, and now that he had seen Je... [ Continue Reading ]
A Plot against Saul's Life. His Flight from Damascus 23. _And after that_[when] _many days were fulfilled_ As the visit to Jerusalem mentioned in Acts 9:26 seems to follow closely upon the events narrated in Acts 9:25, and as that visit was not made till after the retirement into Arabia of which St... [ Continue Reading ]
_but their laying await_[PLOT] _was known of Saul_ Perhaps from the information of some of the Christian disciples, who would be well disposed to Saul by what they had heard of him from Ananias, and who played the part of friends in aiding his escape from Damascus. _And they watched the gates day an... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then the disciples took him by night_ The oldest MSS. read "But his disciples, &c.," and this well-supported reading favours the explanation of the "many days" given in Acts 9:24. On his second visit Saul had remained long enough to nave gathered round him a party of followers who accepted him as t... [ Continue Reading ]
Saul visits Jerusalem. He is sent away to Tarsus. The Churches have rest 26. _And when Saul_[he] _was come to Jerusalem_ The oldest MSS. omit the proper name. Saul had never visited Jerusalem since the day when he set out on his inquisitorial journey to Damascus, and he could only be known at that... [ Continue Reading ]
_But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles_ i.e. to such of the Apostles as happened to be then in Jerusalem. During a short space of fifteen days it is easy to understand that all but Peter and James might be absent from Jerusalem. St Paul tells us he only saw these two during his visi... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he was with them_, &c. i.e. for the fifteen days during which his visit lasted he was received into the fellowship of the Church.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he spake boldly_, &c. The conjunction is left out in the best MSS. Read, "speaking boldly, &c." _in the name of the Lord Jesus_ The last word is omitted in the oldest MSS. _and disputed against the Grecians_ The Greek text says "and he spake and disputed, &c." These Grecians were the Greek-Je... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which when the brethren knew_ Lit. "And when the brethren knew it." The disciples were informed as those of Damascus had been of the plot in that city. _they brought him down to Cesarea_ i.e. to the seaport so called, not to Cæsarea Philippi, for the latter place was only touched by the road which... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then had the churches rest_, &c. Better, "So the CHURCH throughout all Judæa and Galilee and Samaria had PEACE." In the best texts the noun and all the verbs agreeing with it are in the singular number, and what is meant is the whole Christian body, not the various congregations. The cause of this... [ Continue Reading ]
Peter heals a paralytic at Lydda 32. _as Peter passed throughout all quarters_ The history now turns from Saul to Peter, to shew us that when the former had been prepared for his special work the latter was taught by revelation that the time had arrived for the next and complete extension of the Ch... [ Continue Reading ]
_which had kept his bed eight years_ There could therefore be no doubt cast upon the miraculous nature of his cure.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus Christ maketh thee whole_ As in the cure of the cripple at the Temple-gate (Acts 3:6), the Apostle makes known that he is but the messenger, and that the healer is Christ. We are not told that Æneas was a disciple, but it may be inferred that he was among "the saints," and that thus Peter was... [ Continue Reading ]
_all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him_ No doubt his case of eight-years-long paralysis was well known to the dwellers in the village and neighbourhood, and to see such a one about in their midst again would be a cause for general remark and enquiry into the manner of his restoration. "When the... [ Continue Reading ]
Dorcas Raised to life. Peter's stay at Joppa 36. _Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple_ For an account of Joppa, one of the great seaports on the coast of Palestine, see _Dictionary of the Bible_. Dorcas is called a _disciple_that it may be seen that under the gospel there is no distinction b... [ Continue Reading ]
_that she was_[FELL] _sick, and died_ The proceedings which followed on her death are evidence of its reality. The probable reason for deferring the burial was the knowledge that Peter was close at hand, and the hope of the disciples that the power of Jesus might be exercised through him for the res... [ Continue Reading ]
_desiring him that he would not delay to come to them_ The best MSS. give a more graphic form to the sentence by the use of the direct entreaty. Read, "intreating him, Delay not to come on to us." It is as though their supplication were "We have heard of the mighty works which Jesus has wrought by t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then_[AND] _Peter arose and went with them_ We may be sure that the Apostle knew, by the Spirit, that it would please God to do something for the help of the distress at Joppa, when he set out with the messengers. _and all the widows stood by him weeping_ These were the women who, with the dead Do... [ Continue Reading ]
_But Peter put them all forth_ As Christ had done (Matthew 9:25) at the raising of Jairus" daughter, on which occasion Peter had been present. _and kneeled down, and prayed_ Asking God that the consolation to be given to these mourners might be the restoration of the dead woman to life. _and turni... [ Continue Reading ]
_when he had called the saints and widows_ These words make it evident that the petition sent to Peter had been the supplication of the whole Christian Church of Joppa, "Come on unto us and help us.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and many believed in the Lord_ There seems to be intended by these words a fuller acceptance of the faith of Jesus than when it is said "they turned to the Lord" (see above, Acts 9:35). The belief here wrought by the resurrection of Dorcas is like that mentioned (John 11:45) of those who were won t... [ Continue Reading ]
_he tarried many days_ On the indefinite nature of the time indicated here see above, Acts 9:23, note. _with one Simon a tanner_ The trade of a tanner was held as abominable by the Jews. A wife, it is said, could claim a divorce from a husband who became a tanner (Mishna _Khethuboth_vii. 10, where... [ Continue Reading ]