Acts 9:19

And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. AND WHEN HE HAD RECEIVED MEAT, HE WAS STRENGTHENED - for the bodily exhaustion occasioned by his three days' fast would be not the less real, though unfelt during his mental struggles; and now that these were over, the sensation of hunger (as in the case of our Lord after His forty days' fast) would come upon him in all its keenness (see the note at ). THEN WAS SAUL CERTAIN DAYS WITH THE DISCIPLES WHICH WERE AT DAMASCUS - making their acquaintance in another way than either he or they had anticipated, and regaining his tone by the fellowship of the saints; but not certainly in order to learn from them what he was to teach, which he expressly disavows (Gal. 12:16 )....

10-22 A good work was begun in Saul, when he was brought to Christ's feet with those words, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And never did Christ leave any who were brought to that. Behold, the proud Pharisee, the unmerciful oppressor, the daring blasphemer, prayeth! And thus it is even now, and with the proud infidel, or the abandoned sinner. What happy tidings are these to all who understand the nature and power of prayer, of such prayer as the humbled sinner presents for the blessings of free salvation! Now he began to pray after another manner than he had done; before, he said his prayers, now, he prayed them. Regenerating grace sets people on praying; you may as well find a living man without breath, as a living Christian without prayer. Yet even eminent disciples, like Ananias, sometimes stagger at the commands of the Lord. But it is the Lord's glory to surpass our scanty expec...

Verse Acts 9:19. _WHEN HE HAD RECEIVED MEAT, HE WAS STRENGTHENED_] His _mind_ must have been greatly worn down under his three days' conviction of sin, and the awful uncertainty he was in concerning his state; but when he was baptized, and had received the Holy Ghost, his _soul_ was Divinely invigorated; and now, by taking food, his _bodily_ strength, greatly exhausted by three days' fasting, was renewed also. The _body_ is not supported by the _bread of life_, nor the _soul_ by the _bread that perisheth_: each must have its proper aliment, that the whole man may be invigorated, and be enabled to perform all the functions of the animal and spiritual life with propriety and effect. _THEN WAS SAUL CERTAIN DAYS WITH THE DISCIPLES_] Doubtless under _instructions_, relative to the doctrines of Christianity; which he must learn...

HAD RECEIVED MEAT - Food. The word “meat” has undergone a change since our translation was made. It then meant, as the original does, food of all kinds. WITH THE DISCIPLES - With Christians, compare Acts 2:42. ORDER? CERTAIN DAYS WITH THE DISCIPLES? - Certain days: How long is not known. It was long enough, however, to preach the gospel, Acts 9:22; Acts 26:20. It might have been for some months, as he did not go to Jerusalem under three years from that time. He remained some time at Damascus, and then went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus, and then went to Jerusalem,...

EXPOSITION ACTS 9:1 _But _for _and, _A.V.; _breathing _for _breathing out, _A.V.; _threatening _for _threatenings, _A.V. THREATENING AND SLAUGHTER. The phrase ἐμπνέων ἀπειλῆς κ.τ.λ., is rather a difficult one, and is variously explained. Schleusner takes the genitives in "threatening and slaughter" as genitives of the thing desired, "punting after threatening and slaughter" (comp. Amos 2:7). Meyer explains it "out of the threatenings and murder [in his heart] breathing hard at the disciples"—an expression indicating passion. Alford, taking nearly the sense of the A.V., makes "threatenings and slaughter" to be as it were the very material of his breath, whether breathed out or breathed in. Considering that ἐμπνέω means "to br

AND WHEN HE HAD RECEIVED MEAT,.... Which was set before him when he had received his sight, and after he was baptized, of which he had not tasted for three days: HE WAS STRENGTHENED; in body, being before very weak and feeble; not so much through fatigue of his journey, as through the fear and surprise the appearance of Christ to him, and his words, threw him into; as also through his fasting so long, and his continuance and constancy in prayer all this while, and the attention he gave to the divine instructions which were communicated to him, internally and externally: THEN WAS SAUL CERTAIN DAYS WITH THE DISCIPLES WHICH WERE AT DAMASCUS; who came from Jerusalem upon the persecution raised against them there; with these Saul continued some few days after his conversion and baptism, for quickly after he went into Arabia, as appears from Galatians 1:17

Acts 9:1. _And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem._ His very breath was hot with malice against the saints, he could not live without venting his spite upon the disciples of Christ. He showed this by the fact that he not only sought to arrest men, but he was equally cruel towards women, who, from their weakness, one would have thought might have been let alone but he expressly desired it to be written in the letters that, «whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.» Acts 9:3. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and sudden

ACTS 9:19 h`me,raj tina,j The reading of î45 h`me,raj i`kana,j (compare ith _dies plurimos_) is a scribal modification, introduced perhaps under the influence of the similar phrase in ver. Acts 9:23....

CHAPTER 9 __ 1. The vision of Glory on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1). 2. Instructions given to Ananias (Acts 9:10). 3. Saul filled with the Spirit, is baptized and preaches that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts 9:17). 4. Saul persecuted and back in Jerusalem (Acts 9:23). 5. Further Acts of Peter (Acts 9:32). The previous chapter must be looked upon in its main part as a parenthesis. The record now leads us back to the close of the seventh, and the person who was connected with the great tragedy enacted there is prominently brought n

PAUL'S CONVERSION. This belongs geographically to the field of the Hellenist mission, which was announced in Acts 8:4, and occupied that whole chapter. We heard of that mission at Samaria and Cæ sarea, now we hear of people at Damascus who belong to the Way. Saul's persecuting zeal (Acts 8:3) was not aimed at the apostles, but sought to protect the Jewish communities of the Dispersion from the poison of the Gospel. He is said to have applied to the High Priest for letters to the synagogues accrediting him as a special inquisitor. The High Priest had no authority over the synagogues of foreign towns, and under the Roman procurators the powers of the Sanhedrin were also much restricted (Schü rer, II. i. 185); the Roman Government would have defended a believer who appealed to it from the designs here imputed to Paul, and we do n