The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 286

EXPOSITION. OHAPTER IX. was the term by which the faith of Christ was spoken of chiefly, perhaps, among the Ver. 1.-;-But for and, A.V.; breaOiing Jews. Tho term mee.ne e. peculin.r doctrine for b,·eathing out, A.V.; Oireatening for or eeot. Its n.pplioation to Christians e.p- threatening•. A.Y. Threatening and &laugh- pnrently lasted only so long B.B Christianity ter. 'l'he phrase l/£'11'"'°'" a.,,.eaA-;)r, K .... A-., is wae considered to be n modiflontion or rat~er a d1ffioult one, e.nd is variously ex- peculiar form of Judaism, and its frequent plnmed. Schleusner takes the g<'nitivos in use in the Acts ie therefore an evidence of •· thl'<'atoning and slaughter" as genitives the early composition of tho book. Clf _tlie thing desired, "panting after throat- Ver. 11.-It came to pass that he d,·ew nigh emng e.nd slaughter" (comp. Amos ii. 7). unto for 7ie came near, A.Y.; shoi1s for Meyer explains it "out of tlie thre&tenings sl,ined, A.V.; Otlt of for jt"Om, A.V. and nnd murder [in his heart] breathing hard at T.R. the disciples "-an expression indicating Ver. 4.-Fell upon for Jell to, A.V. passion. Alford, tald.ng nearly the sense Some, as Lord Lyttcltou and Lewin(' Life of of the A.V., makes " threateniugs and St. Paul,' vol. i. p. 4S), from the l'Xpressions, slaughter" to be as it were tlie very material "fell to the ground,"·• foll to the earth," infer of his breath, whether breathed out or that Saul was "himself mounted, and his brenthed in. Considering that //£.,,.,,,.,, means followers some mounted and some on foot." "to breathe in,'· as distinguished from l1Mr11lo,, And Farrar also, for other reasons, sup- "to breathe out," nnd that these two are pose~ that Saul and his companions rode opposed to each otlicr in Hippocra.tes (see horses or mules. The journey, he says, WB8 Schleusner), the A.V. breathing out ca.nnot nearly e. hundred and fifty miles, and the be justified ; nor is it likely that "Luke the roads rough, bad, and steep; and Saul was phy~ician " would forget the distinction. travelling e.e the legate of the high priest. The difficulty is to explain the genitive case Still it is strB.nge that no one expression of "threa.tenings" and "slaughter." The should point distinctly to the party being l:.igh p:iest; probably the same person who on horstoback, which "fu.lling to the earth," is so described in eh. vii 1 (where see note). or "ground," certainly do not. While, on If the year with which we are now dealing the other hand, the phrases, "Arise," "stood "·as the year .&..D. 85, Oaiaphas was high speechless," "led him by the hand," seem priest.. But Alford, Lewin, Farrar, and rather to point to hie being on foot. others place Saul's conversion in A.D. 37, Lllilge well compares the double invocation, when Theophilus, son of Annas or Ananus, Se.nl, Saul! with those similar ones, was high priest (Chron. Table in .Alford's "AbrahBJD., Abraham I" "Samuel, Samuel!" 'l'roleg. to Acts'). "Jerusalem, J erusaJem I " " Simon, Simon I " Ver. 2.-.Aslred for de.sired, A.. V.; wnt.o for (Gen. xxii. 11; 1 Sam. iii. 10; Matt. xxili. 27.; tc, A..,. ; any that were of the Way for any Luke xxii. 31). • • of thu way, A.. V.; whetJ,er men, etc., for Ver. 5.-He for the Lord, .A..V. and T.R. whether tl,ey were men, etc., A. V. ; tc for The re;;t of ver. 5 in \he A.V., "ltis hard unto, A.V. To Damascus. No special for thee to kick against the pricks" and the reason is given why Damascus is singled :first part of ver. G, "And he trembling and out. But it is clen.r from vers. 10 and 13 astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have that there was already a considerable me to do? And the Lord said unto him," number of Christian J ewe at Damascus. .And are omitted in the R.T. They have, in fact, this, with the fact of there being a great no me.nuecript authority (Meyo1·; Alford); multitude of Jews settled there, was 11, b'llffi- and not much patristic authority, or from cient reason why Saul sL.ould ask for letters versioDB, and are omitted by 11.ll modern toe,;.ch of the synagoguesat Damascus, direct- editors. They seem to be taken from the ing them to send any Christ'ans who wjglit parallel narratives in eh. xxii. 8-10; x:xvi. be foU!ld amongst !hem bound to J crll.8alew to 14. The proverb, " It is hard," etc., is only be tried t.Ler~ before the Sa.nhedrim. There found in eh. x:.xvi. 14 (where se·e note). moy barn been thirty or forty synagogues Ver. 6.-Rise, a11d enter into the city for i.t De.we.scua, and net less than forty thousand Arise, and go, etc., A.V. resident Jews. Of tbe Way; i.e. holding Ver. 7.-Thatjourneyed for which journeyed the doctrine of Chri.;;t. Thus in eh. xviii. A.V.; the voice for a voice, A.V.; beholding 25. 2(;, the CLri>!tie.n fait1 i,; spoken of a.s for Beting, A.V. Speechle60; /1111<0( (or rather •· tLe wav of the Lord " and "the way of /11,ol) is found nowhere else in the New G,,d." f.u eh. xix. 9, 23; x.xii. 4; xxiv. 14, 'fcstament, but is not uncommon in the LXX, 22, it is called, as here, simply "tJie Way." (e.g. Isa. lvi. 10) and in classical Greek. Evidently, thioUlfure, for a time "the Way" Here it means speechless from terror, strnck on. IX, 1-43.] THE .A.OTB OF THE APOSTLES. 283