Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul.

“Ananias went his way, and putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul--How beautifully childlike is the obedience of Ananias to "the heavenly vision!" the Lord, even Jesus--This clearly shows in what sense the term "Lord" is used in this book.”

and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.

“Then was Saul certain days with the disciples at Damascus--making their acquaintance, in another way than either he or they had anticipated, and regaining his tone by the fellowship of the saints; but not certainly in order to learn from them what he was to…”

One night, however, his disciples took him and lowered him in a basket through a window in the wall.

“Then the disciples . . . by night let him down--"through a window" (2Co 11:33). by the wall--Such overhanging windows in the walls of Eastern cities were common, and are to be seen in Damascus to this day.”

When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

“As this was his first visit to his native city since his conversion, so it is not certain that he ever was there again.”

In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and charity.

“Doubtless the interpretation, as here given, is but an echo of the remarks made by the Christians regarding her--how well her character answered to her name. full of good works and alms-deeds--eminent for the activities and generosities of the Christian character.”

Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down and prayed, and turning toward her body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!”

“The kneeling became the lowly servant, but not the Lord Himself, of whom it is never once recorded that he knelt in the performance of a miracle.”

Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God.

“Thy prayers and thine alms--The way in which both are specified is emphatic. The one denotes the spiritual outgoing of his soul to God, the other its practical outgoing to men.”

When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his attendants.

“Who this "devout soldier" was, can only be matter of conjecture. DA COSTA [Four Witnesses] gives a number of ingenious reasons for thinking that, having attached himself henceforth to Peter--whose influence in the composition of the second Gospel is attested by the earliest tradition, and…”

“No, Lord!” Peter answered. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

“Not so, Lord--See Marginal reference. I have never eaten anything that is common--that is, not sanctified by divine permission to eat of it, and so "unclean." "The distinction of meats was a sacrament of national distinction, separation, and consecration" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].”

The voice spoke to him a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

“What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common--The ceremonial distinctions are at an end, and Gentiles, ceremonially separated from the chosen people (Ac 10:28), and debarred from that access to God in the visible ordinances of His Church which they enjoyed, are now on…”

The following day he arrived in Caesarea, where Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

“Cornelius . . . called together his kinsmen and near friends--implying that he had been long enough at Cæsarea to form relationships there and that he had intimate friends there whose presence he was not ashamed to invite to a religious meeting of the most…”

He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him.

“Ye know it is . . . unlawful . . . for . . . a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation, &c.--There was no express prohibition to this effect, and to a certain extent intercourse was certainly kept up.”

So when I was invited, I came without objection. I ask, then, why have you sent for me?”

“I ask therefore, &c.--The whole speech is full of dignity, the apostle seeing in the company before him a new brotherhood, into whose devout and inquiring minds he was divinely directed to pour the light of new truth.”

but welcomes those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.

“And since to such "He giveth more grace," according to the law of His Kingdom (Jas 4:6; Mt 25:29), He sends Peter, not to be the instrument of his conversion, as this is very frequently called, but simply to "show him the way of God…”

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because…

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth--rather, "Jesus of Nazareth (as the burden of that 'published word'), how God anointed Him." with the Holy Ghost and with power--that is, at His baptism, thus visibly proclaiming Him MESSIAH, "the Lord's Christ." See Lu 4:18-21.”

He will convey to you a message by which you and all your household will be saved.’

“Observe, "salvation" is here made to hang upon "words," that is, the Gospel message concerning Christ. But on the "salvation" of Cornelius, see on Ac 10:34, 35.”

When they heard this, their objections were put to rest, and they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

“To "grant repentance unto life"--that is, "such as issues in life" (compare 2Co 7:10, "repentance unto salvation")--is more than to be willing to pardon upon repentance [GROTIUS].”

Meanwhile those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews.

“"It was almost an Oriental Rome, in which all the forms of the civilized life of the empire found some representative; and through the two first centuries of the Christian era it was what Constantinople became afterwards, 'the Gate of the East'" [HOWSON].”

But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

“The Gospel had, from the first, been preached to "the Grecians" or Greek-speaking Jews, and these "men of Cyprus and Cyrene" were themselves "Grecians."”

The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

“(See on Ac 10:1.) Nay, we read of no influence which the accession of Cornelius and his house had on the further progress of the Gospel among the Gentiles; whereas there here open upon us operations upon the Gentiles from quite a different quarter, and…”

When news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

“Barnabas . . . as far as Antioch--implying that even on the way to Antioch he found churches to visit [OLSHAUSEN].”

One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would sweep across the whole world. (This happened under Claudius.)

“41 [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 20.2,5]. An important date for tracing out the chronology of the Acts. (But this subject is too difficult and extensive to admit of being handled here).”

About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

“He at this time ruled over all his father's dominions. PALEY has remarked the accuracy of the historian here.”

He arrested him and put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each.

“5, 6. prayer was made without ceasing--rather, "instant," "earnest," "urgent" (Margin); as in Lu 22:44; Ac 26:7; and 1Pe 4:8 (see Greek).”

On the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance to the…

“And when Herod would have brought him forth--"was going to bring him forth." the same night--but a few hours before the intended execution. Thus long were the disciples kept waiting; their prayers apparently unavailing, and their faith, as would seem from the sequel, waxing feeble.”