he was accompanied by others. The only solution possible is, that the event really took place; that Jesus of Nazareth, the Risen One, revealed Himself as the Messiah to Paul when on his way to Damascus; and that this revolutionized his entire character and conduct, and converted him from Saul the Jewish persecutor, to Paul the champion of the Christian faith.

SECTION XIX.

PAUL'S MINISTRY AT DAMASCUS.-ACTS IX. 19-30.

19 And he was certain days with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And immediately he preached Jesus in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. 21 But all who heard him were amazed, and said, Is not this he who destroyed in Jerusalem those invoking this name, and came hither for this purpose, that he might bring them bound to the chief priests? 22 But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ. 23 But when many days were fulfilled, the Jews conspired to kill him: 24 But their plot was known to Saul: and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. 25 Then his disciples, having taken him by night, let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket.

26 And when he was come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join himself to the disciples: and all were afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and related to them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly in Damascus in the name of Jesus. 28 And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 And he spoke and disputed with the Hellenists: but they went about to slay him. 30 And the brethren having learned it, brought him down to Cæsarea, and sent him to Tarsus.

CRITICAL NOTES.

Ver. 19. 'O Lauλos, the commencement of a church lesson, is wanting in A, B, C, E, s, and rejected by recent critics. Ver. 20. Instead of Xpioτóv, A, B, C, E, & read 'Iŋooûv, which is undoubtedly the true reading. Ver. 25. The textus receptus has avròv oi pantai, the reading of E, G, H; whereas A, B, C, & read oi pantai auroû: this latter reading has been preferred by Tischendorf, Lachmann, and Meyer; on the contrary, Alford and De Wette prefer the former. (See Exegetical Remarks.) Ver. 26. 'O Zaûλos,

found in G, H, and omitted in A, B, C, x, is rejected by all recent critics. Instead of eis 'Iep., found in A, B, C, x, Tischendorf, Lachmann, and Meyer read ev 'Iep., found in E, G, H. Ver. 28. Here, on the contrary, the reading eis 'Tep., found in A, B, C, E, G, , is best attested. Kupiov Ἰησοῦ is the reading of G, H; whereas Κυρίου alone is found in A, B, E, s, and is the reading adopted by Tischendorf and Lachmann.

EXEGETICAL REMARKS.

Paul, after his Without doubt, acted the same

Ver. 19. 'Huépas Tivás — certain days. conversion, associated with the disciples. Ananias would introduce him to them; he part at Damascus which Barnabas afterwards did at Jerusalem. By "certain days" are here meant a few days-a short period.

Ver. 20. Καὶ εὐθέως ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς ἐκήρυσσεν—and immediately he preached in the synagogues. Paul, immediately after his conversion, commenced to preach with the zeal of a new convert. He appeared in the synagogues, but for a different purpose from that for which he came up from Jerusalem not to deliver his letters of authority from the chief priest, and to arrest the Christians; but to proclaim that faith which he came to Damascus to destroy. Τον Ἰησοῦν, ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ-Jesus, that He is the Son of God. Ἰησοῦν, and not Χριστόν, is the correct reading (see Critical Note)—that the individual person Jesus was the Son of God. The Jews did not deny that Christ was the Son of God; but what they strongly contested was, that Jesus of Nazareth was so. This is the only passage in the Acts where the phrase ó viòs Toû coû occurs. It was one of the Messianic titles used by the Jews; so that the phrases "Jesus is the Son of God" (ver. 20), and "Jesus is the Christ" (ver. 22), are equivalent. Thus Nathanael expresses his belief in the Messiahship of Jesus in these terms: "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel" (John i. 49). And Peter in his confession says, "Thou art

the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. xvi. 16); which in the other Gospels is merely, "Thou art the Christ."

Ver. 21. 'Eğioтavтo dè Távтes-all who heard him were astonished. Paul's preaching Jesus as the Christ would doubtless create great astonishment in the synagogues. The report of his coming to Damascus as a persecutor of the Christians had preceded him; but instead of putting his letters of authority into execution, he had been transformed from a persecutor to a Christian evangelist, and publicly avowed his belief in the Messiahship of Jesus. The astonishment here spoken of was that of the unbelieving Jews, not that of the Christians, who had already been informed of Paul's conversion. Τοὺς ἐπικαλουμένους τὸ ὄνομα τοῦτο those invoking this name. This name, namely Jesus: those who believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah.

Ver. 22. Συμβιβάζων ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός—proving that this was the Christ. At first Paul merely announced that Jesus was the Messiah; but as he became bolder, he commenced to reason with the Jews: he proved from the correspondence between the life of Jesus and the prophecies of the Old Testament, that He was the Messiah. ZvußiBálov, joining together, putting things together; hence proving, demonstrating. His past knowledge of the Scriptures, having now found the true key to their interpretation, peculiarly fitted him to be a skilful disputant. As Chrysostom observes: "They thought they were rid of disputation in such matters in getting rid of Stephen; but they found another more vehement than Stephen."1

By "

Ver. 23. 'Huépaι ikavaí-many days. According to Paul's own statement, he went immediately after his conversion to Arabia, and returned to Damascus; and it was not until three years after, that he went to Jerusalem (Gal. i. 16, 17). many days," then, are here meant these three years, spent partly in Arabia, and partly in Damascus. Of course, unless we had been elsewhere informed to the contrary, we should naturally have concluded that Paul had never left 1 Chrysostom's Homilies on the Acts, Hom. xx.

Damascus. 'Ikavós is often used to signify great, considerable; and hence, in connection with χρόνος or ἡμέραι, it signifies a long period. We have a similar expression in the Old Testament (in the Hebrew, not in the Septuagint), where "many days" are actually used to denote three years: "And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days (D' D'?). And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away" (1 Kings ii. 38, 39).1

Ver. 24. IIapeτnpoûvto tàs túλas-they watched the gates; i.e. the unbelieving Jews did so. Paul, alluding to this occurrence, says: "In Damascus, the governor (ethnarch) under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me" (2 Cor. xi. 32). It is not difficult to reconcile this difference between the accounts. Either the Jews, by the permission of the ethnarch, watched the gates themselves; or, at their instigation, the ethnarch employed his soldiers to do so. Lewin supposes that by the ethnarch is meant a Jewish magistrate appointed by Aretas. Anger thinks that an officer of Aretas happened accidentally to be present in Damascus, and that he used his influence with the Roman government on behalf of the Jews; but this is at variance with 2 Cor. xi. 32, which asserts that the ethnarch kept the city with a garrison. Others suppose that Aretas in Corinthians is not the Arabian king of that name, but the name of the ethnarch, and read the passage thus, "The ethnarch Areta of the king," i.e. of the Roman emperor; but 'Apéra is the genitive of 'Apéτas, the name of the kings of Arabia Nabatæa, and the Roman emperor is never called in Scripture Baoiλeús, but Καίσαρ.

Still, however, the fact of the occupation of Damascus is a historical difficulty. There is no mention of it in Josephus, or elsewhere in history. Damascus was under the Roman government, having been added to the empire by Pompey. Aretas,

1 See Lange's Bibelwerk: Apostelgeschichte, p. 166.

2 And yet, as Paley observes, there is such a difference between the two accounts as renders it utterly improbable that the one should be derived from the other.