Acts 9:30

Acts 9:30. Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Cæsarea. The writer of the ‘Acts' tells us, it was in consequence of the enmity of the Jews, who feared the able and powerful arguments of their former associate, that Paul departed from Jerusalem. Years later, however, Paul himself assigns another reason for his leaving the Holy City: ‘It came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, while I prayed in the Temple, I was in a trance; and saw Him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.... Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles' (Acts 22:17-21). It is not unlikely that, in spite of the dangerous hostility of the Jews which threatened his life, Saul in his enthusiasm would have remained in the city had he not received, as he tells us, a direct warning from heaven.

To Tarsus. There, and in the district of which Tarsus was the chief city, Saul remained until summoned to Antioch by Barnabas for other and grander work (Acts 11:25). We have no record of his labours during this period, the duration of which has been variously estimated. Howson (St , Paul) suggests ‘that, in the synagogues of his native city, Saul was neither silent nor unsuccessful. In his own family one may well imagine that some of those Christian kinsmen whose names are handed down to us (Romans 16:7; Romans 16:11; Romans 16:21), possibly his sister, the playmate of his childhood, and his sister's son, who afterwards saved his life (Acts 23:17-23), were by his exertions gathered into the fold of Christ.'