The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 287

dumb. The description hero given by St. I Mllln Jesus Christ?" and a.gain (1 Col". Lulte seams to bo contra<lictnry in two xv. 8), '' Lo.et of a.II, he wo.s seen of me also," po.rtioulo.rs to St. Po.ul's own o.ccount in eh. w_here he puts this appearance of J esuH to xxii. 9 e.nd xxvl. 14. For St. Paul's com- himself on e. par with tbose to Peter and po.nione e.re so.id horo to have "stood spooch- Jamee o.nd the other aposUcH, which mode lees ; '' but in eh. xxvi. 14 they were " e.11 them competent witnesses of the resu1Tection Co.lion to the eo.rth." Here thoy •• heo.r the of Christ. And so in ver. 17 of this chap'cr voice," but in oh. xxii. 9 they " hco.rd not Ananias says, "The Lord Jesus whicl1 was the voioe of him tho.t spo.ke." It is obvious, seen by thee" (~ o~6,ls cro,); and Barnabas however, tbo.t in such descriptions o.11 (ver. 27), when he brought Saul to the depends upon the p11rtioulo.r moment of the apostles, related "how he had seen the Lord tro.nso.ction described which happens to be in the wo.y." And in eh. xxii. 14 Ananias uppermost in the mine! of the speaker or says, "God bath o.ppointed thee to see the writer 11t the time, o.nd the po.rticulo.r pur- Righteoll.B One." Moreover the description pose in relo.tion to whioh he is giving the in ver. 7 of Saul's fellow-travellera, that they description. Thus at one moment the "so.w no man," implies, by contrast, that spcctatorn might be standing dwnfounded, Saul did. The reticence of both St. Paul and and at the next they might be prostrate on St. Luke o.s to who.the saw, and what was the the g1:ound, or vice verBa. Either description o.ppearance of the Lord Jesus, seems to a.rise of their attitude would be a true one, though from profound reverence and o.we, such o.e not true with regard to the so.me moment. St. Po.ul speaks of in 2 Cor. xii. 4. It may Again, if the purpose of the speaker was to be also worth remarking how this appearance affirm that the whole company were con- of Christ we.s deferred till he was quite close scious of both the vision e.nd the sound of to Damascus, o.ccording to one tradition only a voice speaking, but tho.t only Saul se.w a quo.rte:r of a mile from the gates, but the Di vine Speaker, the description "bee.ring o.ccording to Porter, whom Farrar and Lewin the voice, but beholding no mo.n" would be follow, e.t e. di.stance of about ten miles, at the nature.I one. Whereas, if the purpose a village called Caucab. So the intervention wo.s to express tho.t So.ul o.lone heard the of the angel by which Isaac's life was spared words spoken to him by the Lord, the de- we.a not till Abraham ho.d the knife in his scription of his compo.nions," They so.w indeed hand to slo.y his son; o.nd Peter's prison the light . . . but they heard not the voice doors were opened not till the very night of him tbo.t spake to me," would be equo.lly before he was to have been brought forth natural to deo.th. Fo.ith and patience a.re thus Ver. 8.-Nothing for no man, A.V. and strengthened, and God's intervention is T.R.; and for but, A.V. Nothing (obli~" for more marked. There is not the sligi1tcst oblieva). So the best manuscripts and trace in the narrative of what the fancy of editions. Th, idea is, not like tho.t in mo.ny has suggested, tho.t Saul's uneasy Matt. xvii. 8 th11t when he opened his conscience wo.s wrought up into a paro:s:ysm eyes the person seen in vision had disap- I\S he o.pproachcd Damascus, and so prepared peD.1·ed, but simply that his eyesight was the wo.y for the vision of Clrrist. Even Canon gone, "for the glory of that light," o.nd he Farro.r's eloquent description of what he could see nothing, but had to be led like a supposes to have. been the thoughts which blind man (see eh. xxii. 11). agito.ted Saul's mind 011 his eventful jo1ll"ney Ver. 9.-Did neitJ.er for neither did, A.V. seems hardly to rest on any solid base (see The same reo.son, we mo.y ventUl"e to think, 'Life of St. Paul,' vol. i. eh. x.). which co.used the interposition of three days' Ver. 10.-Now for and, A.V.; and the blindness between So.ul's conversion o.nd his Lord said unto him for and to him said the baptism, led So.ul himself to pass those days Lord, A.V. Behold, I am here. The regular in a voluntary self-abasement. Bis sin in Hebrew o.nswer (Gen. xxii. 1; 1 Sam. iii. persecuting the Church of God o.nd its 4, 6, 8, eto. ). Divine Head, his guilt in assistiug o.t the Ver. 11.-To for into, A.V.; named for death of God's saints, o.nd in rejectiug the called, A. V. ; a man of Tarsus for of Tarsus, testimony to Christ's resurrection, ho.d been A.V. The street; ~6µ.11, usually the narrower very greo.t. These tb ree days of blindness lo.nes in e. town o.s distinguished from tho and of fa.sting were therefore a. fitting pre- "ll"Att-reuu, or wide sti·eets. So Luke xiv. 21, paration for the grace of forgiveness about "The streets and lanes of the city," o.nd th., to be so freely 11nd fully given to him (1 Tim. LXX. in Isa. xv. 3, couple 1rAaTE,a1 o.nd i. 12-lli). Who.t thought. must have passed p6µ.a,. Here, however, the terw applies to through So.ul's mind during those three the principal street of the city, which runs do.ye I Before p11ssing on, it mo.y be well to quite straif;ht frow the ee,st to the west observe tho.t it is to thii1 o.ppea.rance to him gate, o.nd is a mile long. It still exists, of Jesus Christ tho.t St. Paul undoubtedly and is calll'd the Snltr.uy Street; but inste,id refers when he says (1 Cor. ii:. 1), "Ho.ve not of being the wiue and spleudid street it wu.s 28-i THE ACTS O:F Ttm APOSTtES.