The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 290

8aul's escape. But he that keepeth Israel Ver. 28.-Going in for comin7 in, A.V. 11eithcr slumbered nor slept, and by his Ver. 29.-P,·caching boldly, etc., the ancl "atchful providence S:rnl esc.nped from their of the T.R. is omitted, o.nd this cla.use con- hancls. As rrgards the R.V., his disciples nected with the preceding one; the Lord for the discipl(',S, Alford adopts the reading for th6 Lord Jesus, A.V. and T.R.; h6 "A.af3dvns o• ol µa871-ral airrd,,, a.nd holds 1pake for he spak6 boldly, A.V. (The 1rap• aurnii of the n:r. to be simply a mistake for f,71<T1a(6µe1109 (translated preaching boldly) airr6v, causerl by the situation of a~-roP after l11 -rp dP6µan Kvplov, is in the Il.'r. separated "A.a/3dP.,-<>. 'i'he R.T. cannot be right. "The from i"A.cf"A.et) ; tlie G-recian Jews for the disciples " is St. Luke's regular expression G-recians, A.V., as in eh. vi. 1; to kill for to for '· CJ.nistiaus" (eh. vi. 1, 2, 7; ix. 10, 19, slay, A.V. The Grecian Jews; or, Hellenista 26; xiv. 22; xxi. 16), and is our Lord's (margin). St. Stephen wo.s a Hellenist, name for his follo,,ers, but is never used by and it was among the Hellenists tho.t hie an apostle of his own followers (see 1 Cor. i evangelical le.bou:ra chiefly lay a.nd from 12, 13; iii. 4-7). whose enmity he met his death. So.ul Ver. 2G.-He for Saul, A.V. and T.R.; showed his dauntless spirit, and perho.ps a.nd they were for but, etc., A.V.; not be- his deep compunction at the part he ha.d lict'ing for and believed not, A..V. The taken in Stephen's death, by thus encounter- nnrrntive thus far exactly agrees with Gal. ing their bitter and unrelenting enmity. i. 17, 18, which, however, supplies the Ver. 30.-And when the brethren lcnew it motive of the journey to Jerusalem., which for which when the brethren knew, A.V. St. is 11ot here mentioned, -viz. to see Peter. It Paa.l gives another reason for his hasty Feems strange to some commentBtors that departure from Jerusalem in hi.a speech from the news of Sa.uJ. having become a zealous the castle stairs ( eh. xxii. 17-21 ). C:Esa.rea, Christian should not ham reached Jerusalem when standingalone,meo.nsCaisareaStratonis, after e.n interval of three years. But first, or Ilapcf"A.109, or Sebaste, "the seaport and we do not know how much of those three Roman garrison of that nnme, as dis- years wa.s spent in Arabia., nor how much tinguished from Cmsarea · Philippi (see the unsettled sto.te of Damascus may ha.vein- Alford's note on eh. viii. 30), and is always terrupted the usual communication between so used by St. Luke (viii. 40; x. 1, 24: Jerusalem and Damascus, nor how suspicious xviii. 22; :ui. 8, 16; xxiii. 23; 33 ; x.xv. 1, of evil the poor peri;ecuted disciples at 4, 6; x.xvii. I, 2, showing it was e, see,port). Jerusalem may have been. They knew of There is no reasonable doubt that it means the fierceness of Saul's zeal as a persecutor the same place here. A sea.port, near to by their own experience; they kuew of him Jerusalem, and with RomBn protection, w; a disciple only by report. It may have affording access to Tarsus either by see, or !.ieen only an instanoe of the truth of land as should seem best, was the natural Horuce's maxim," Segnius irritant e.nimos place for Paul's friends to take him to. If <kmisea per a.u:res q = qWJ3 snnt occulis further proof were wanting, it could bt:1 found subjE:cta fidtlibus." in the phrase, "brought him down," e.s Ver. 27.-HOtD at Damascus he had compared with tho converse, "gone up" prcachtd l,oldly for how he had preached (eh. xviii. 22)," ascended" (oh. xxv. I), when l,oldly at Da,na6cus, A..V. AB regards the the journey was from Cmsaree, to Jerusalem. statement that Ila.me.bas took him, and To Tarsus. A glance at the map will show brcnght him to thti apostles, which some that, starting from Cmsarea, a person might hn.ve thought inconsistent with Gal i. 18, either go by land a.long the sea-coast of 19, it is oLvious to remark that St. Luke's Phcenioia, through Acre, Tyre, Bidon, account is fully justified by the fact that Beyrout, Tripolis, Antioch, Issue, to Tarn us: St. Paul did, on Barnaba.e's introduction, or by sea to any of the intennecliate ports make foe ocqua.inle.noe of Peter, and, as it between Cmsar~ e,ud '£arsus, or 1-:~~ber t~e 11H, Ill, 1-43,] THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 287