Actschapter 9
43 verses · BSBActs book hub →
Speaks with:Acts 9×8Acts 22×7Acts 8×6Acts 26×5Acts 4×4Galatians 1×5
Summary
Chapter summary
Saul on the Damascus road; blinded; Ananias lays hands; scales fall; Saul preaches Christ in the synagogues. Barnabas brings him to the apostles. Peter at Lydda (Aeneas healed) and Joppa (Dorcas raised).
Context
History · Luke — Acts overview
- A. 1–9 Light on the Damascus Road: Why Persecutest Thou Me?
- B. 10–19 Ananias Sent to a Chosen Vessel
- C. 20–31 Saul Preaches, and Escapes Over the Wall in a Basket
- D. 32–43 Aeneas Made Whole and Dorcas Raised at Joppa
The outline
A.Light on the Damascus Road: Why Persecutest Thou Me?vv. 1 to 9
Read vv. 1 to 9 →B.Ananias Sent to a Chosen Vesselvv. 10 to 19
Read vv. 10 to 19 →C.Saul Preaches, and Escapes Over the Wall in a Basketvv. 20 to 31
Read vv. 20 to 31 →D.Aeneas Made Whole and Dorcas Raised at Joppavv. 32 to 43
Read vv. 32 to 43 →
The world behind this chapter
Acts 9The history
Damascus lay about 135 miles from Jerusalem, a journey of roughly a week on foot. It had a large Jewish population and several synagogues, and the high priest's letters would have carried moral weight there even though the city sat outside Judea — Jewish communities abroad still looked to Jerusalem.
Straight Street was the city's main east–west colonnaded road, and part of its line is still the main bazaar street of old Damascus today. Naming it is the kind of detail a traveller supplies.
The escape over the wall in a basket fits a city where houses were built into the fortifications, with windows overlooking the outside. Paul himself later says the governor under King Aretas was watching the gates — Aretas IV of Nabatea ruled the desert kingdom southeast of Damascus until about AD 40, which helps anchor the date.
Tarsus, where Saul is finally sent, was a wealthy university city in Cilicia and his birthplace. He disappears there for years before Barnabas comes looking for him.
What it meant to them
For the first hearers the shock was total. The church's most effective persecutor is stopped by the risen Jesus asking why he is persecuting him — identifying himself with the people being dragged out of their homes.
Ananias's fear is left in the text on purpose. He knows the man's reputation and says so, and is told to go anyway. The church's most dangerous enemy is handed to a reluctant, ordinary disciple in Damascus, and that is how he is brought in.
Sources cited
- F. F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free
- Colin J. Hemer, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Acts 9. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.