Acts 9:9

ἦν … μὴ βλέπων : on ἦν with participle, characteristic, see above on chap. Acts 1:10. Wendt (in seventh edition, not in eighth), and so Felten, Alford, Hackett, distinguish between μή and οὐ with ἔφαγεν and ἔπιεν, and see especially Winer-Moulton, Leviticus, 5. οὐ β. would have simply meant blind; μὴ β. is not seeing (not able to see) said of one who had been, and might appear to be again, possessed of sight; the not eating and not drinking are related simply as matters of fact; see the whole section. Blass regards μή with participle as simply = οὐ, so in Acts 9:7 μηδένα with participle = οὐδένα, ut alias (see also Lumby's note). οὐκ ἔφαγ. κ. τ. λ.: there is no reason why the words should not be taken literally, in spite of Wendt's objection as against Meyer in loco, as an expression of penitential sorrow and contrition for his perversity (so Weiss and Holtzmann, no less than Felten): “with what fervour must he then have prayed for ‘more light' ” (Felten). On Saul's blindness and its possibly lasting effects, see Plumptre, in loco, Felten, p. 196, and on the other hand Lightfoot on Galatians 6:11, and Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, etc., pp. 38, 39.