2 Corinthians 11:33

διὰ θυρίδος. Literally, ‘a little door, small opening,’ dim. of θύρα; elsewhere in the N.T. only Acts 20:9. An aperture in the wall is still shown as the place. “In the traditions of Damascus the incidents of this escape have almost entirely eclipsed the story of his conversion” (Stanley). Comp. the cases of the spies (Joshua 2:15), and of David (1 Samuel 19:12), in both of which διὰ τῆς θυρίδος occurs.

ἐν σαργάνῃ. In Acts 9:25 we have ἐν σφυρίδι, the word invariably used of the ‘baskets’ at the Feeding of the 4000 (Matthew 15:37; Matthew 16:10; Mark 8:8; Mark 8:20), while κόφινος is equally invariably used of the 5000 (Matthew 14:20; Matthew 16:9; Mark 6:43; Mark 8:19; Luke 9:17; John 6:13). The σφυρίς or σπυρίς, and also the rare word used here, seem to have meant a basket made of twisted or braided material, a rope-basket or wicker basket. In Aesch. Suppl. 788 σαργάνη means a plait or braid; elsewhere a basket. Theodoret remarks, τὸ τοῦ κινδύνου μέγεθος τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς φυγῆς παρεδήλωσεν. But the incident could be made to look laughable, and it had probably been used as a means of ridiculing the Apostle. This letter shows that years afterwards he regarded it as a humiliation, a typical instance of τὰ τῆς�, marking the very outset of his career, and turning the persecutor into the persecuted in the very place of his intended persecution. Possibly it was because he found the recollection of such things so painful that he gave no more instances. Nevertheless, if it was in his mind to add the σκόλοψ ἐν τῇ σαρκί (2 Corinthians 12:7) as another example, the account of the Rapture is required as an introduction to it. Thus we get a sequence; the flight from Damascus, the σκόλοψ, and the summary in 2 Corinthians 12:10. But the Rapture seems to be introduced for its own sake, and not as a mere explanation of the σκόλοψ. For χαλάω comp. Acts 9:25; Acts 27:17; Acts 27:30; Mark 2:4; Luke 5:4 ff.; Jeremiah 45[38]:6. For διὰ τοῦ τείχους comp. Acts 9:25; 2 Samuel 20:21.

The flight from Damascus probably took place, not immediately after his conversion, as the narrative in Acts might lead one to suppose, but after the return from Arabia (Galatians 1:17). S. Luke omits the retirement into Arabia altogether. But there is room for it in the middle of Acts 9:19, where Ἐγένετο δέ (so frequent in Luke, and peculiar to him in the N.T.) marks a fresh start in the story. See the division of paragraphs in the R.V. and in WH.