Acts 9:2

9:1-9 So ill informed was Saul, that he thought he ought to do all he could against the name of Christ, and that he did God service thereby; he seemed to breathe in this as in his element. Let us not despair of renewing grace for the conversion of the greatest sinners, nor let such despair of the pardoning mercy of God for the greatest sin. It is a signal token of Divine favour, if God, by the inward working of his grace, or the outward events of his providence, stops us from prosecuting or executing sinful purposes. Saul saw that Just One, ch. 22:14; 26:13. How near to us is the unseen world! It is but for God to draw aside the veil, and objects are presented to the view, compared with which, whatever is most admired on earth is mean and contemptible. Saul submitted without reserve, desirous to know what the Lord Jesus would have him to do. Christ's discoveries of himself to poor souls are humbling; they lay them very low, in mean thoughts of themselves. For three days Saul took no food, and it pleased God to leave him for that time without relief. His sins were now set in order before him; he was in the dark concerning his own spiritual state, and wounded in spirit for sin. When a sinner is brought to a proper sense of his own state and conduct, he will cast himself wholly on the mercy of the Saviour, asking what he would have him to do.

Of this way (τῆς ὁδοῦ) Rev., more correctly, "the way." A common expression in the Acts for the Christian religion: "the characteristic direction of life as determined by faith on Jesus Christ" (Meyer). See Acts 19:9; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:22. For the fuller expression of the idea, see Acts 16:17; Acts 18:25. Women Paul three times alludes to his persecution of women as an aggravation of his cruelty (Acts 8:3; Acts 9:2; Acts 22:4).

To the synagogues; this council, though it sat at Jerusalem, had a power (whether commanding or recommending) over all the synagogues within or without Judea. Of this way; this was eminently so called, being the way of God, and the way of life, and the only right and true way: any profession, persuasion, or manner of life, is called a way frequently in Scripture, 1 Kings 15:26 Psalm 91:2 . Men or women; it speaks their extraordinary rage, that would not spare the weaker sex, who are generally spared on that account. Bring them bound; which shows that he carried many with him, to the further aggravation of his sin. Unto Jerusalem; where they had power to judge of such things, and out of which it was impossible that a prophet should perish, Luke 13:33 .

Acts 9:2 . Εἰς Δαμασκὸν , to Damascus ) There was a great harvest of believers to be gathered there.— τῆς ὁδοῦ , of the way ) Religion is the way ; and in it we must walk, not loiter.— δεδεμένους , bound ) The civil power at Damascus gave much indulgence to the Jews: Acts 9:14 ; Acts 9:24 .

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).

Verse 2. - Asked for desired , A.V.; unto for to , A.V.; any that were of the Way for any of this way , A.V.; whether men , etc., for whether they were men , etc., A.V.; to for unto , A.V. To Damascus . No special reason is given why Damascus is singled out. But it is clear from vers. 10 and 13 that there was already a considerable number of Christian Jews at Damascus. And this, with the fact of there being a great multitude of Jews settled there, was a sufficient reason why Saul should ask for letters to each of the synagogues at Damascus, directing them to send any Christians who might be found amongst them bound to Jerusalem to be tried there before the Sanhedrim. There may have been thirty or forty synagogues at Damascus, and not less than forty thousand resident Jews. Of the Way ; i.e. holding the doctrine of Christ. Thus in Acts 18:25, 26 , the Christian faith is spoken of as "the way of the Lord" and "the way of God." In Acts 19:9, 23 ; Acts 22:4 ; Acts 24:14 , was the term by which the faith of Christ was spoken of chiefly, perhaps, among the Jews. The term means a peculiar doctrine or sect. Its application to Christians apparently lasted only so long as Christianity was considered to be a modification or peculiar form of Judaism, and its frequent use in the Acts is therefore an evidence of the early composition of the book. Acts 9:2

2 . 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 most ancient ( Genesis 14:15 ) city in the world, see the Dictionary of the Bible . It had from the earliest period been mixed up with the history of the Jews, and great numbers of Jews were living there at this time, as we can see from the subsequent notices of their conduct in this chapter. We are told by Josephus ( B. J . ii. 20. 2) that ten thousand Jews were slaughtered in a massacre in Damascus in Nero’s time, and that the wives of the Damascenes were almost all of them addicted to the Jewish religion. to the synagogues ] As at Jerusalem, so in Damascus the synagogues were numerous, and occupied by different classes and nationalities. Greek-Jews were sure to be found in so large a city. that if he found any of this way ] Better, “any that were of the Way.” The name “the Way” soon became a distinctive appellation of the Christian religion. The fuller expression “the way of truth” is found 2 Peter 2:2 ; and the brief term is common in the Acts.

See Acts 19:9 ; Acts 19:23 , Acts 22:4 , Acts 24:14 ; Acts 24:22 . whether … men or women ] We can mark the fury with which Saul raged against the Christians from this mention of the “women” as included among those whom he committed or desired to commit to prison. Cp. Acts 8:3 and Acts 22:4 . The women played a more conspicuous part among the early Christians than they were allowed to do among the Jews. See note on Acts 1:14 . he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem ] That the whole authority of the Great Sanhedrin might be employed for the extinction of the new teaching.

(2) And desired of him letters to Damascus. —We learn from 2Corinthians 11:32-33 , that Damascus was at this time under the government of Aretas, the king of Arabia Petræa. How it came to be so, having been previously under Vitellius, the Roman president of Syria (Jos. Ant. xiv. 4, § 5), is not clear. It is probable, however, that in the war which Aretas had declared against Herod Antipas, in consequence of the Tetrarch’s divorcing his daughter in order that he might marry Herodias (see Notes on Matthew 14:3 ; Luke 3:14 ), he had been led, after defeating the Tetrarch (Jos. Ant. xviii. 5, § 1), to push his victories further; and, taking advantage of the absence of Vitellius, who had hastened to Rome on hearing of the death of Tiberius (A.D. 37) had seized on Damascus. In this abeyance of the control of the Roman power, Aretas may have desired to conciliate the priestly party at Jerusalem by giving facilities to their action against the sect which they would naturally represent as identified with the Galileans against whom he had been waging war. The Jewish population at Damascus was, at this time, very numerous. Josephus relates that not less than 10,000 were slain in a tumult under Nero ( Wars, ii. 25), and the narrative of the Acts ( Acts 9:14 ) implies that there were many “disciples of the Lord” among them. Many of these were probably refugees from Jerusalem, and the local synagogues were called upon to enforce the decrees of the Sanhedrin of the Holy City against them.

On the position and history of Damascus, see Note on next verse. If he found any of this way.—Literally, of the way. We have here the first occurrence of a term which seems to have been used familiarly as a synonym for the disciples of Christ (Acts 19:9; Acts 19:23; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:14; Acts 24:22). It may have originated in the words in which Christ had claimed to be Himself the “Way,” as well as the “Truth” and the “Life” (John 14:6); or in His language as to the “strait way” that led to eternal life (Matthew 7:13); or, perhaps, again, in the prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3) cited by the Baptist (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3), as to preparing “the way of the Lord.” Prior to the general acceptance of the term “Christian” (Acts 11:26) it served as a convenient, neutral designation by which the disciples could describe themselves, and which might be used by others who wished to speak respectfully, or, at least, neutrally, instead of the opprobrious epithet of the “Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5). The history of the term “Methodists,” those that follow a distinct “method” or “way” of life, offers a partial but interesting analogue. Whether they were men or women.—The mention of the latter has a special interest. They too were prominent enough to be objects of the persecution.