Acts 9:1-3 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,… The city has the interest of being one of the oldest in the world. It appears in the history of Abraham (Genesis 14:15; Genesis 15:2), and was, traditionally, the scene of the murder of Abel. David placed his garrisons there (2 Samuel 8:6; 1 Chronicles 18:6), and, under Rezon, it resisted the power of Solomon (1 Kings 11:24). Its fair streams, Abana and Pharpar, were, in the eyes of the Syrian leper, better than all the waters of Israel (2 Kings 5:12). It was the centre of the Syrian kingdom in its alliances and wars with those of Israel and Judah (2 Kings 14:28; 2 Kings 16:9, 10; Amos 1:3, 5). Its trade with Tyre in wares, and wine of Helbon, and white wool is noted by Ezekiel (chap 27:16, 18). It had been taken by Parmenion for Alexander the Great, and again by Pompeius. It was the birth place of Nicolaos of Damascus, the historian and rhetorician who is conspicuous as the counsellor of Herod the Great (Jos. "Ant." 12:03, § 2; 16:02, § 2). At a later period it was the residence of the Ommiyad caliphs, and the centre of the world of Islam. The beauty of its site, the river which the Greeks knew as Chrysorrhoas, the "Golden Stream," its abounding fertility, the gardens of roses, made it, as Lamartine has said, a "predestined capital." Such was the scene which met the bodily eye of the fanatic persecutor. The historian does not care to dwell on its description, and hastens to that which met his inward gaze. Assuming the journey to have been continuous, the approach to Damascus would come on the seventh or eighth day after leaving Jerusalem. (Dean Plumptre.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, |
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