Acts 9

Ac 9:1-25.

CONVERSION OF

SAUL, AND

BEGINNINGS OF

HIS

MINISTRY.

1. Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the

disciples of the Lord, &c.--The emphatic "yet" is intended to note

the remarkable fact, that up to this moment his blind persecuting rage

against the disciples of the Lord burned as fiercely as ever. (In the

teeth of this, NEANDER and

OLSHAUSEN picture him deeply impressed with

Stephen's joyful faith, remembering passages of the Old Testament

confirmatory of the Messiahship of Jesus, and experiencing such a

violent struggle as would inwardly prepare the way for the designs of

God towards him. Is not dislike, if not unconscious disbelief, of

sudden conversion at the bottom of this?) The word "slaughter" here

points to cruelties not yet recorded, but the particulars of which are

supplied by himself nearly thirty years afterwards: "And I persecuted

this way unto the death"

(Ac 22:4);

"and when they were put to death, I gave my voice [vote] against

them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to

[did my utmost to make them] blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad

against them, I persecuted them even unto strange [foreign] cities"

(Ac 26:10, 11).

All this was before his present journey.

2. desired . . . letters--of authorization.

to Damascus--the capital of Syria and the great highway between

eastern and western Asia, about one hundred thirty miles northeast of

Jerusalem; the most ancient city perhaps in the world, and lying in the

center of a verdant and inexhaustible paradise. It abounded (as appears

from JOSEPHUS, Wars of the Jews, 2.20,2) with Jews, and with Gentile

proselytes to the Jewish faith. Thither the Gospel had penetrated; and

Saul, flushed with past successes, undertakes to crush it out.

that if he found any of this way, whether men or women--Thrice are

women specified as objects of his cruelty, as an aggravated feature

of it

(Ac 8:3; 22:4;

and here).

3. he came near Damascus--so

Ac 22:6.

Tradition points to a bridge near the city as the spot referred to.

Events which are the turning points in one's history so imprint

themselves upon the memory that circumstances the most trifling in

themselves acquire by connection with them something of their

importance, and are recalled with inexpressible interest.

suddenly--At what time of day, it is not said; for artless simplicity

reigns here. But he himself emphatically states, in one of his

narratives, that it was "about noon"

(Ac 22:6),

and in the other, "at midday"

(Ac 26:13),

when there could be no deception.

there shined round about him a light from heaven--"a great light (he

himself says) above the brightness of the sun," then shining in its full

strength.

4-6. he fell to the earth--and his companions with him

(Ac 26:14),

who "saw the light"

(Ac 22:9).

and heard a voice saying unto him--"in the Hebrew tongue"

(Ac 26:14).

Saul, Saul--a reduplication full of tenderness [DE

WETTE]. Though

his name was soon changed into "Paul," we find him, in both his own

narratives of the scene, after the lapse of so many years, retaining the

original form, as not daring to alter, in the smallest detail, the

overpowering words addressed to him.

why persecutest thou me?--No language can express the affecting

character of this question, addressed from the right hand of the Majesty

on high to an infuriated, persecuting mortal. (See

Mt 25:45,

and that whole judgment scene).

5. Who art thou, Lord?--"Jesus knew Saul ere Saul knew Jesus"

[BENGEL].

The term "Lord" here is an indefinite term of respect for some unknown

but august speaker. That Saul saw as well as heard this glorious

Speaker, is expressly said by Ananias

(Ac 9:17; 22:14),

(Ac 9:27),

and by himself

(Ac 26:16);

and in claiming apostleship, he explicitly states that he had

"seen the Lord"

(1Co 9:1; 15:8),

which can refer only to this scene.

I am Jesus whom thou persecutest--The "I" and "thou" here are

touchingly emphatic in the original; while the term "JESUS"

is purposely

chosen, to convey to him the thrilling information that the hated name

which he sought to hunt down--"the Nazarene," as it is in

Ac 22:8

--was now speaking to him from the skies, "crowned with glory and

honor" (see

Ac 26:9).

It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks--The metaphor of an

ox, only driving the goad deeper by kicking against it, is a classic

one, and here forcibly expresses, not only the vanity of all his

measures for crushing the Gospel, but the deeper wound which every such

effort inflicted upon himself.

6. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have

me to do? And the Lord said--(The most ancient manuscripts and

versions of the New Testament lack all these words here [including

the last clause of

Ac 9:5];

but they occur in

Ac 26:14

and Ac 22:10,

from which they appear to have been inserted here). The question, "What

shall I do, Lord?" or, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" indicates

a state of mind singularly interesting (see on

Ac 2:37).

Its elements seem to be these: (1) Resistless conviction that "Jesus

whom he persecuted," now speaking to him, was "Christ the Lord." (See

on

Ga 1:15, 16).

(2) As a consequence of this, that not only all his religious views,

but his whole religious character, had been an entire mistake; that he

was up to that moment fundamentally and wholly wrong. (3) That though

his whole future was now a blank, he had absolute confidence in Him who

had so tenderly arrested him in his blind career, and was ready both to

take in all His teaching and to carry out all His directions. (For

more, see on

Ac 9:9).

Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee,

&c.--See on

Ac 8:26-28.

7. the men . . . stood speechless--This may mean

merely that they remained so; but if the standing posture be

intended, we have only to suppose that though at first they "all fell

to the earth"

(Ac 26:14),

they arose of their own accord while Saul yet lay prostrate.

hearing a--rather "the"

voice--Paul himself says, "they heard not the voice of Him that spake

to me"

(Ac 22:9).

But just as "the people that stood by heard" the voice that

saluted our Lord with recorded words of consolation and assurance, and

yet heard not the articulate words, but thought "it thundered"

or that some "angel spake to Him"

(Joh 12:28, 29)

--so these men heard the voice that spake to Saul, but heard not

the articulate words. Apparent discrepancies like these, in the

different narratives of the same scene in one and the same book of

Acts, furnish the strongest confirmation both of the facts themselves

and of the book which records them.

8. Saul arose . . . and when his eyes were opened, he saw

no man--after beholding the Lord, since he "could not see for the

glory of that light"

(Ac 22:11),

he had involuntarily closed his eyes to protect them from the glare;

and on opening them again he found his vision gone. "It is not said,

however, that he was blind, for it was no punishment" [BENGEL].

9. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor

drink--that is, according to the Hebrew mode of computation:

he took no food during the remainder of that day, the entire day

following, and so much of the subsequent day as elapsed before the

visit of Ananias. Such a period of entire abstinence from food, in that

state of mental absorption and revolution into which he had been so

suddenly thrown, is in perfect harmony with known laws and numerous

facts. But what three days those must have been! "Only one other space

of three days' duration can be mentioned of equal importance in the

history of the world" [HOWSON]. Since Jesus had

been revealed not only to his eyes but to his soul

(see on

Ga 1:15, 16),

the double conviction must have immediately flashed upon him, that his

whole reading of the Old Testament hitherto had been wrong, and that

the system of legal righteousness in which he had, up to that moment,

rested and prided himself was false and fatal. What materials these

for spiritual exercise during those three days of total darkness,

fasting, and solitude! On the one hand, what self-condemnation, what

anguish, what death of legal hope, what difficulty in believing that in

such a case there could be hope at all; on the other hand, what

heartbreaking admiration of the grace that had "pulled him out of the

fire," what resistless conviction that there must be a purpose of love

in it, and what tender expectation of being yet honored, as a chosen

vessel, to declare what the Lord had done for his soul, and to spread

abroad the savor of that Name which he had so wickedly, though

ignorantly, sought to destroy--must have struggled in his breast during

those memorable days! Is it too much to say that all that profound

insight into the Old Testament, that comprehensive grasp of the

principles of the divine economy, that penetrating spirituality, that

vivid apprehension of man's lost state, and those glowing views of the

perfection and glory of the divine remedy, that beautiful ideal of the

loftiness and the lowliness of the Christian character, that large

philanthropy and burning zeal to spend and be spent through all his

future life for Christ, which distinguish the writings of this chiefest

of the apostles and greatest of men, were all quickened into life

during those three successive days?

10-16. a certain disciple . . . named Ananias--See on

Ac 22:12.

to him said the Lord--that is, Jesus. (See

Ac 9:13, 14, 17).

11. go into the street . . . called Straight--There is still a street

of this name in Damascus, about half a mile in length, running from east

to west through the city [MAUNDRELL].

and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus--There

is something touching in the minuteness of these directions. Tarsus was

the capital of the province of Cilicia, lying along the northeast coast

of the Mediterranean. It was situated on the river Cydnus, was a "large

and populous city" (says XENOPHON, and see

Ac 21:39),

and under the Romans had the privilege of self-government.

behold, he prayeth--"breathing out" no longer "threatenings and

slaughter," but struggling desires after light and life in the

Persecuted One. Beautiful note of encouragement as to the frame in which

Ananias would find the persecutor.

12. And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias, &c.--Thus, as in

the case of Cornelius and Peter afterwards, there was a mutual

preparation of each for each. But we have no account of the vision which

Saul had of Ananias coming unto him and putting his hands upon him for

the restoration of his sight, save this interesting allusion to it in

the vision which Ananias himself had.

13. Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man,

&c.--"The objections of Ananias, and the removal of them by the Lord,

display in a very touching manner the childlike relation of the

believing soul to its Redeemer. The Saviour speaks with Ananias as a man

does with his friend" [OLSHAUSEN].

how much evil he hath done to thy saints--"Thy saints," says

Ananias to Christ; therefore Christ is God [BENGEL]. So, in

Ac 9:14,

Ananias describes the disciples as "those that called on Christ's

name." See on

Ac 7:59, 60;

and compare

1Co 1:2.

14. here he hath authority, &c.--so that the terror not only of the

great persecutor's name, but of this commission to Damascus, had

travelled before him from the capital to the doomed spot.

15. Go thy way--Do as thou art bidden, without gainsaying.

he is a chosen vessel--a word often used by Paul in illustrating

God's sovereignty in election

(Ro 9:21-23;

2Co 4:7;

2Ti 2:20, 21

[ALFORD]. Compare

Zec 3:2).

16. I will show him--(See

Ac 20:23, 24; 21:11).

how great things he must suffer for my name--that is, Much he has

done against that Name; but now, when I show him what great things he

must suffer for that Name, he shall count it his honor and privilege.

17-19. Ananias went his way, and putting his hands on him, said,

Brother Saul--How beautifully childlike is the obedience of Ananias

to "the heavenly vision!"

the Lord, even Jesus--This clearly shows in what sense the term

"Lord" is used in this book. It is JESUS that is meant, as almost

invariably in the Epistles also.

who appeared unto thee in the way--This knowledge by an inhabitant

of Damascus of what had happened to Saul before entering it, would show

him at once that this was the man whom Jesus had already prepared him to

expect.

and be filled with the Holy Ghost--which Ananias probably, without

any express instructions on that subject, took it for granted would

descend upon him; and not necessarily after his baptism [BAUMGARTEN,

WEBSTER and

WILKINSON]--for Cornelius and his company received it before

theirs

(Ac 10:44-48)

--but perhaps immediately after the recovery of his sight by the laying

on of Ananias' hands.

18. there fell from his eyes as it were scales--"This shows that the

blindness as well as the cure was supernatural. Substances like scales

would not form naturally in so short a time" [WEBSTER and

WILKINSON].

And the medical precision of Luke's language here is to be noted.

was baptized--as directed by Ananias

(Ac 22:16).

19. when he had received meat, he was strengthened--for the

exhaustion occasioned by his three days' fast would not be the less

real, though unfelt during his struggles. (See on

Mt 4:2).

Then was Saul certain days with the disciples at Damascus--making their

acquaintance, in another way than either he or they had anticipated, and

regaining his tone by the fellowship of the saints; but not certainly in

order to learn from them what he was to teach, which he expressly

disavows

(Ga 1:12, 16).

20-22. preached Christ . . . that he is the Son of

God--rather, "preached Jesus," according to all the most ancient

manuscripts and versions of the New Testament (so

Ac 9:21,

"all that call on this name," that is, Jesus; and

Ac 9:22,

"proving that this Jesus is very Christ").

23. And after many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to

kill him--Had we no other record than this, we should have

supposed that what is here related took place while Saul continued at

Damascus after his baptism. But in

Ga 1:17, 18

we learn from Paul himself that he "went into Arabia, and returned

again unto Damascus," and that from the time of his first visit to the

close of his second, both of which appear to have been short, a period

of three years elapsed; either three full years, or one full year

and part of two others. (See on

Ga 1:16-18).

That such a blank should occur in the Acts, and be filled up in

Galatians, is not more remarkable than that the flight of the Holy

Family into Egypt, their stay there, and their return thence, recorded

only by Matthew, should be so entirely passed over by Luke, that if we

had only his Gospel, we should have supposed that they returned to

Nazareth immediately after the presentation in the temple. (Indeed in

one of his narratives,

Ac 22:16, 17,

Paul himself takes no notice of this period). But wherefore this

journey? Perhaps (1) because he felt a period of repose and partial

seclusion to be needful to his spirit, after the violence of the change

and the excitement of his new occupation. (2) To prevent the rising

storm which was gathering against him from coming too soon to a head.

(3) To exercise his ministry in the Jewish synagogues, as opportunity

afforded. On his return, refreshed and strengthened in spirit, he

immediately resumed his ministry, but soon to the imminent hazard of

his life.

24, 25. they watched the gates night and day to kill him--The full

extent of his danger appears only from his own account

(2Co 11:32):

"In Damascus, the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the

Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me"; the exasperated

Jews having obtained from the governor a military force, the more surely

to compass his destruction.

25. Then the disciples . . . by night let him

down--"through a window"

(2Co 11:33).

were common, and are to be seen in Damascus to this day.

Ac 9:26-31.

SAUL'S

FIRST

VISIT TO

JERUSALEM AFTER

HIS

CONVERSION.

26. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem--"three years after" his

conversion, and particularly "to see Peter"

(Ga 1:18);

no doubt because he was the leading apostle, and to communicate to him

the prescribed sphere of his labors, specially to "the Gentiles."

he assayed to join himself to the disciples--simply as one of them,

leaving his apostolic commission to manifest itself.

they were all afraid of him, &c.--knowing him only as a persecutor

of the faith; the rumor of his conversion, if it ever was cordially

believed, passing away during his long absence in Arabia, and the news

of his subsequent labors in Damascus perhaps not having reached them.

27. But Barnabas . . . brought him to the apostles--that is, to Peter

and James; for "other of the apostles saw I none," says he fourteen

years after

(Ga 1:18, 19).

Probably none of the other apostles were there at the time

(Ac 4:36).

Barnabas being of Cyprus, which was within a few hours' sail of

Cilicia, and annexed to it as a Roman province, and Saul and he being

Hellenistic Jews and eminent in their respective localities, they may

very well have been acquainted with each other before this [HOWSON]. What is here said of Barnabas is in fine

consistency with the "goodness" ascribed to him

(Ac 11:24),

and with the name "son of consolation," given him by the apostles

(Ac 4:36);

and after Peter and James were satisfied, the disciples generally would

at once receive him.

how he had seen the Lord . . . and he--the Lord.

had spoken to him--that is, how he had received his commission direct

from the Lord Himself.

28, 29. And he was with them, coming in and going out at Jerusalem--for

fifteen days, lodging with Peter

(Ga 1:18).

29. disputed against the Grecians--(See on

Ac 6:1);

addressing himself specially to them, perhaps, as being of his own

class, and that against which he had in the days of his ignorance been

the fiercest.

they went about to slay him--Thus was he made to feel, throughout his

whole course, what he himself had made others so cruelly to feel,

the cost of discipleship.

30. they brought him down to Cæsarea--on the coast (see on

Ac 8:40);

accompanying him thus far. But Paul had another reason than his own

apprehension for quitting Jerusalem so soon. "While he was praying in

the temple, he was in a trance," and received express injunctions to

this effect. (See on

Ac 22:17-21).

and sent him forth to Tarsus--In

Ga 1:21

he himself says of this journey, that he "came into the regions of

Syria and Cilicia"; from which it is natural to infer that instead of

sailing direct for Tarsus, he landed at Seleucia, travelled thence to

Antioch, and penetrated from this northward into Cilicia, ending his

journey at Tarsus. As this was his first visit to his native city since

his conversion, so it is not certain that he ever was there again.

(See on

Ac 11:25).

It probably was now that he became the instrument of gathering into the

fold of Christ those "kinsmen," that "sister," and perhaps her "son,"

of whom mention is made in

Ac 23:16,

&c.; Ro 16:7, 11, 21

[HOWSON].

Ac 9:31.

FLOURISHING

STATE OF THE

CHURCH IN

PALESTINE AT

THIS

TIME.

31. Then had all the churches rest--rather, "the Church," according

to the best manuscripts and versions. But this rest was owing not so

much to the conversion of Saul, as probably to the Jews being engrossed

with the emperor Caligula's attempt to have his own image set up in the

temple of Jerusalem [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 18.8.1, &c.].

throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria--This incidental notice

of distinct churches already dotting all the regions which were the

chief scenes of our Lord's ministry, and that were best able to test the

facts on which the whole preaching of the apostles was based, is

extremely interesting. "The fear of the Lord" expresses their holy

walk; "the comfort of the Holy Ghost," their "peace and joy in

believing," under the silent operation of the blessed Comforter.

Ac 9:32-43.

PETER

HEALS

ENEAS AT

LYDDA AND

RAISES

TABITHA TO

LIFE AT

JOPPA.

The historian now returns to Peter, in order to introduce the

all-important narrative of Cornelius

(Ac 10:1-48).

The occurrences here related probably took place during Saul's sojourn

in Arabia.

32-35. as Peter passed throughout all quarters--not now fleeing from

persecution, but peacefully visiting the churches.

to the saints which dwelt at Lydda--about five miles east of Joppa.

34. And Peter said unto him, Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee

whole--(See on

Ac 3:6).

make thy bed--(See on

Joh 5:8).

35. all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron--(or "Sharon," a rich vale

between Joppa and Cæsarea).

saw him, and turned to the Lord--that is, there was a general

conversion in consequence.

36-39. at Joppa--the modern Jaffa, on the Mediterranean, a very

ancient city of the Philistines, afterwards and still the seaport of

Jerusalem, from which it lies distant forty-five miles to the northwest.

Tabitha . . . Dorcas--the Syro-Chaldaic and Greek names for

an antelope or gazelle, which, from its loveliness, was frequently

employed as a proper name for women [MEYER,

OLSHAUSEN]. Doubtless the

interpretation, as here given, is but an echo of the remarks made by the

Christians regarding her--how well her character answered to her name.

full of good works and alms-deeds--eminent for the activities and

generosities of the Christian character.

37. when they had washed--according to the custom of civilized nations

towards the dead.

in an--rather, "the"

upper chamber--(compare

1Ki 17:19).

38. the disciples sent unto Peter--showing that the disciples generally

did not possess miraculous gifts [BENGEL].

39. all the widows--whom she had clad or fed.

stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas

had made--that is, (as the tense implies), showing these as specimens

only of what she was in the habit of making.

40-43. Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down--the one in imitation

of his Master's way

(Lu 8:54;

and compare

2Ki 4:33);

the other, in striking contrast with it. The kneeling became the

lowly servant, but not the Lord Himself, of whom it is never once

recorded that he knelt in the performance of a miracle.

opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up--The graphic

minuteness of detail here imparts to the narrative an air of charming

reality.

41. he gave her his hand, and lifted her up--as his Lord had done to

his own mother-in-law

(Mr 1:31).

43. with one Simon a tanner--a trade regarded by the Jews as half

unclean, and consequently disreputable, from the contact with dead

animals and blood which was connected with it. For this reason, even by

other nations, it is usually carried on at some distance from towns;

accordingly, Simon's house was "by the seaside"

(Ac 10:6).

Peter's lodging there shows him already to some extent above Jewish

prejudice.