أعمال الرسل ٩:٩

And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink--that is, according to the Hebrew mode of computation: he took no food during the remainder of that day, the entire day following, and so much of the subsequent day as elapsed before the visit of Ananias. Such a period of entire abstinence from food, in that state of mental absorption and revolution into which he had been so suddenly thrown, is in perfect harmony with known laws and numerous facts. But what three days those must have been! "Only one other space of three days' duration can be mentioned of equal importance in the history of the world" [HOWSON]. Since Jesus had been revealed not only to his eyes but to his soul (see on Gal 1:15-16), the double conviction must have immediately flashed upon him, that his whole reading of the Old Testament hitherto had been wrong, and that the system of legal righteousness in which he had, up to that moment, rested and prided himself was false and fatal. What materials these for spiritual exercise during those three days of total darkness, fasting, and solitude! On the one hand, what self-condemnation, what anguish, what death of legal hope, what difficulty in believing that in such a case there could be hope at all; on the other hand, what heartbreaking admiration of the grace that had "pulled him out of the fire," what resistless conviction that there must be a purpose of love in it, and what tender expectation of being yet honored, as a chosen vessel, to declare what the Lord had done for his soul, and to spread abroad the savor of that Name which he had so wickedly, though ignorantly, sought to destroy--must have struggled in his breast during those memorable days! Is it too much to say that all that profound insight into the Old Testament, that comprehens…

In this chapter we have, I. The famous story of St. Paul's conversion from being an outrageous persecutor of the gospel of Christ to be an illustrious professor and preacher of it. I. How he was first awakened and wrought upon by an appearance of Christ himself to him as he was going upon an errand of persecution to Damascus: and what a condition he was in while he lay under the power of those convictions and terrors (Act 9:1-9). 2. How he was baptized by Ananias, by immediate directions from heaven (Act 9:10-19). 3. How he immediately commenced doctor, and preached the faith of Christ, and proved what he preached (Act 9:20-22). 4. How he was persecuted, and narrowly escaped with his life (Act 9:23-25). 5. How he was admitted among the brethren at Jerusalem: how he preached, and was persecuted there (Act 9:26-30). 6. The rest and quietness which the churches enjoyed for some time after this (Act 9:31). II. The cure wrought by Peter on Eneas, who had long been laid up with a palsy (Act 9:32-35). III. The raising of Tabitha from death to life, at the prayer of Peter (Act 9:36-43).