Acts 9:2

ᾐτήσατο, see on Acts 3:2, with παρά, in Acts 3:3, we have the imperfect, but “inest in aoristo quod etiam accepit,” Blass; on the use of the verb in N.T., see also Blass, Gram., p. 182, and Grimm-Thayer, sub v. ἐπιστολὰς, cf. Acts 22:5; Acts 26:12; on the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrim, see above on Acts 4:5; Weber, Jüdische Theol., p. 141 (1897); O. Holtzmann, Neutest. Zeitgeschichte, pp. 174, 175; and Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. i., p. 185, E.T.: only within the limits of Judæa had the Sanhedrim any direct authority, although its orders were regarded as binding over every Jewish community. But the extent to which this obligation prevailed depended on the disposition of the Jewish communities towards the Sanhedrim. Δαμασκὸν : “In the history of religion,” writes Dr. G. A. Smith, “Damascus was the stage of two great crises. She was the scene of the conversion of the first Apostle of Christianity to the Gentiles; she was the first Christian city to be taken by Islam. It was fit that Paul's conversion, with his first sense of a mission to the Gentiles, should not take place till his journey had brought him to Jewish soil.” If Damascus was not the oldest, it may at all events be called the most enduring city in the world. According to Josephus, Ant., i., 6, 4, it was founded by Uz, the grandson of Shem, whilst a Moslem tradition makes Eliezer its founder, and Abraham its king (see also Jos., Ant., i., 7, 2). Here, too, was the traditional scene of the murder of Abel (Shakespeare, 1 King Henry VI., i., 3). Damascus was situated some seventy miles from the seaboard (about six or eight days' journey from Jerusalem), to the east of Anti-Lebanon in a great plain, watered by the river Abana with her seven streams, to which the city owes her beauty and her charm. Travellers of every age and of every nationality have celebrated the gardens and orchards, the running waters and the fountains of Damascus, and as the Arab passes from the burning desert to its cooling streams and rich verdure, it is not surprising that he hails it as an earthly paradise. From a commercial point of view Damascus has been called the meeting-place and mart of the nations, and whilst the armies of the ancient world passed through her streets, she was also the great avenue of communication for the wealth of north and south, east and west (cf. the significant passage, Ezekiel 27:16; Ezekiel 27:18, and Amos 3:12, R.V., from which it seems that the city was known at an early date for her own manufactures, although the passing trade of the caravans would be its chief source of income). For its political position at the period of Acts, see below on Acts 9:24, and for its history in the O.T., its after struggles, and its present position as still the chief city of Syria, see G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog., p. 641 ff.; Hamburger, Real-Encyclopädie des Judentums, i., 2, p. 220, B.D. 2; and Hastings' B.D., Conybeare and Howson (smaller edition, p. 67 ff.); Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. i., p. 96, E.T. πρὸς τὰς συναγωγάς, cf. Acts 6:9, as at Jerusalem the number of Jews dwelling in Damascus was so numerous that in a tumult under Nero ten thousand were put to death, Jos., B. J., vii., 8, 7; ii., 20, 2; as at Jerusalem, the Christians of Damascus may not as yet have formally separated from their Jewish brethren; cf. the description of Ananias in Acts 22:12; but as communication between Damascus and the capital was very frequent, refugees from Jerusalem would no doubt have fled to Damascus, and it is difficult to believe that the views advocated by Stephen had in him their sole representative. There is no reason to question with Overbeck the existence in Damascus of a community of believers in the claims of Jesus at this early date; but whilst those Christians who devoutly observed the law would not have aroused hostility hitherto, Saul came armed with a commission against all who called on the name of Christ, and so probably his object was not only to bring back the refugees to Jerusalem, but also to stir up the synagogue at Damascus against their own fellow-worshippers who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ. ἐάν τινας εὕρῃ : the phrase does not mean that the existence of Christians was doubtful, but whether Saul would succeed in finding them out (Weiss). ὄντες τῆς ὁδοῦ : the genitive with εἶναι or γίγνεσθαι, very common in N.T. (as in classical Greek); may be explained as the genitive of the class to which a man belongs, or as the genitive of the property in which any one participates, expessed by the genitive singular of an abstract noun, and also, as here, of a concrete noun, Winer-Moulton, xxx., 5, c. (and Winer-Schmiedel, pp. 269, 270). “The Way,” R.V., all E.V [222], “this way,” except Wycliff, who has “of this life,” apparently reading vitæ instead of viæ in the Vulgate; see Humphry on the R.V., in loco. (In Acts 18:25 we have τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ Κ. of the instruction given to Apollos, cf. the common metaphorical use of the word in LXX.) In the text (as in Acts 19:9; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:14; Acts 24:22) the noun is used absolutely, and this use is peculiar to St. Luke (cf. ὁ λόγος, sc., τοῦ θ., Acts 10:44; Acts 14:25, etc., and τὸ ὄνομα, Acts 5:41). The term may have originated amongst the Jews who saw in the Christians those who adopted a special way or mode of life, or a special form of their own national belief, but if so, the Christians would see in it nomen et omen in Christ they had found the Way, the Truth, the Life, John 14:6 (so Holtzmann points out the parallel in St. John, and thus accounts for the article τῆς ὁδοῦ there is only one way of salvation, viz., Christ). Chrysostom (so Theophylact) thinks that the believers were probably so called because of their taking the direct way that leads to heaven (Hom., xix.): see also Dean Plumptre's interesting note. The expression seems to point to the early date of Acts. As it is used thus, absolutely, and with no explanation in the context, Hilgenfeld sees in chap. 9 the commencement of a third source (see Introd., p. 29). γυναῖκας, see above on Acts 8:3. Although no doubt the women referred to were Jewesses, yet it is of interest to note the remark of Josephus, B. J., ii., 20, 2, viz., that the women of Damascus were addicted to the Jewish religion. Their mention also indicates the violence of Saui. “quod nullum sexus respectum habuit, cui etiam armati hostes in medio belli ardore parcere solent” Calvin.

[222] English Version.