Acts 9:25

Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. THEN THE DISCIPLES. Lachmann and Tischendorf have 'his disciples' [ autou (G846) for - auton (G846) - with A B C E, and the cod. Amiat. of the Vulgate]. But strong as is the external evidence in its layout, that for the received reading is not inconsiderable [E G H, and both Syriac versions, both the Egyptian, etc.], while the internal evidence appears to us strongly to favour the Received Text. TOOK HIM BY NIGHT, AND LET HIM DOWN BY THE WALL IN A BASKET. The full extent of his danger appears only from his own account of it long after, in recounting to the Corinthians the perils he had come through for Christ's sake: "In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, kept the city...

25._The disciples having taken him by night. _There is a question moved here, whether it were lawful for the disciples to save Paul thus or no? and also, whether it were lawful for Paul to escape danger by this means or no? For the laws say that the walls of cities are holy, [sacred,] and that the gates are holy. Therefore, he ought rather to have suffered death, than to have suffered a public order to be broken for his sake. I answer, that we must consider why it is decreed by the laws that the walls should not be violated; to wit, that the cities may not be laid open to murders and robberies, and that the cities may be free (613) from treason. That reason ceaseth when the question is concerning the delivery of an innocent man. Therefore, it was no less lawful for the faithful to be let down in a basket, than it shall be lawful for any private person to leap over a wall, that he may avo...

23-31 When we enter into the way of God, we must look for trials; but the Lord knows how to deliver the godly, and will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape. Though Saul's conversion was and is a proof of the truth of Christianity, yet it could not, of itself, convert one soul at enmity with the truth; for nothing can produce true faith, but that power which new-creates the heart. Believers are apt to be too suspicious of those against whom they have prejudices. The world is full of deceit, and it is necessary to be cautious, but we must exercise charity, 1 Corinthians 13:5. The Lord will clear up the characters of true believers; and he will bring them to his people, and often gives them opportunities of bearing testimony to his truth, before those who once witnessed their hatred to it. Christ now appeared to Saul, and ordered him to go quickly out of Jerusalem, for he must...

Verse Acts 9:25. _LET_ HIM _DOWN, BY THE WALL_] Favoured, probably, by a house built against or upon the wall, through the window of which they could lower him in a basket; and by this means he made his escape. His escape was something similar to that of the spies at Jericho, Joshua 2:15....

TOOK HIM BY NIGHT ... - This was done through a window in the wall, 2 Corinthians 11:33. IN A BASKET - This word is used to denote commonly “the basket in which food was carried,” Matthew 15:37; Mark 8:8, Mark 8:20. It was in this way that Rahab let down the spies Joshua 2:15, and so David escaped from Saul, 1 Samuel 19:12. Probably this occurred in an unguarded part of the wall, where some overhang

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

THEN THE DISCIPLES TOOK HIM BY NIGHT,.... The Alexandrian copy reads, "his disciples"; the disciples of Saul, such as he had been instrumental in making at Damascus: but it is not usual for the saints to be called in Scripture the disciples of any man; therefore the common reading is best, and designs the disciples and followers of Christ; who being concerned for the preservation of so valuable a life, took Saul in the night season, AND LET HIM DOWN BY THE WALL IN A BASKET. Damascus was a walled city; hence we read of the wall of Damascus, Jeremiah 49:27. And the house where Saul was, and which very likely was one of the disciples, was built upon the wall, as the house of Rahab was upon the town wall of Jericho; and as she let down the spies from thence by a cord through the window, Joshua 2

Acts 9:1. _And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,-_ Notice that little word «yet.» «Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord;» but there was to be a point beyond which he could not go. I pray God that there may be such a «yet» as that put into the histories of any here who are opposing God and his Christ. «Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter,» as if they were his very breath, as if he only lived to blaspheme the name of Christ, and to persecute his followers, «went unto the high priest,» Acts 9:2. _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._

ACTS 9:25 oi` maqhtai. auvtou/ The oldest reading extant in the manuscripts appears to be oi` maqhtai. auvtou/ (î74 a A B C 81* vg _al_). This was altered (perhaps because in verses Acts 9:19 and Acts 9:26 maqhtai, is used absolutely) to oi` maqhtai. auvto,n (69 81c), or to auvto.n oi` maqhtai, (E H L P syrp, h copsa, bo arm _al,_ followed by the Textus Receptus), or to oi` maqhtai,...

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