Acts 9:19

ὁ Σαῦλος omitted with אABCE. Not in Vulg.

19. καὶ λαβὼν τροφήν, and when he had taken meat. Needed after his three days’ fast, but (says Calvin) ‘he refreshed not his body with meat until his soul had received strength.’

ἐλένετο δὲ … ἡμέρας τινάς, and he was certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus, ἡμέρας τινάς is found again Acts 10:48; Acts 15:36; Acts 16:12; Acts 24:24 and Acts 25:13, and in all cases the time indicated by them must have been brief. It was for this amount of time that Peter tarried with Cornelius; the words are applied to a short period spent by Paul and Barnabas at Antioch, to the time of St Paul’s stay at Philippi, to the short time during which Paul was detained at Cæsarea before his hearing by Felix, and to a like period between the arrival of Festus and the visit which Agrippa made to salute him as the new governor. In most of these instances the time intended must have been very brief, and it is important to notice this here, because in Acts 9:23 we shall find another expression, ἡμέραι ἰκαναί, which is translated ‘many days’ and seems designed by the writer to indicate a somewhat longer period. It is clear, from the way in which ‘disciples’ are here mentioned, that there was a numerous body of Christians in Damascus at this early period. Saul dwelt with them now not as an enemy but as a brother, by which name Ananias had been directed to greet him.