seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Acts 8:1 And Saul approved of their killing him.
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
I'm still working with a commentary, since I'm an old woman who never went to seminary, and all I have is some online scripture and commentary.And devout men: Seemingly, these Jews were horrified at Stephen’s murder. Perhaps this was Luke’s way of reminding us that not all Jewish people of that time were enemies of Christianity.
Made great lamentation over him: Since Jewish law prohibited open mourning for someone that had been executed, Luke’s record suggests that these devout men publicly repented of Stephen’s murder.
The author of the commentary goes on to describe Saul's work to "clean the temple".
He made havoc: This uses an ancient Greek word that could refer to an army destroying a city or a wild animal tearing at its meat. He viciously attacked Christians, including women.
i. “Not only did he not spare the women, but he did not stop short of seeking — and securing — his victims’ death.” (Stott)
ii. “The tense of that verb, whether ‘ravage’ or ‘destroy,’ is imperfect, which means that he ravaged it and kept on ravaging it.” (Boice)
I'm going to stop right there.
Saul and company went door to door pulling Christians out of their homes and putting them in prison. I'm reminded of the Passover, when everyone hid in their homes from the Angel of Death, who took the first born of any family that did not spread the blood of the lamb across the top of their door. Now those who Believed are being drug from their homes to be thrown in prison.... because they Believe.
The Bible doesn't say.... but I will ask.... What happened to the children? Were they imprisoned with their parents? Or were they orphaned and hated?
The story will shift now from the wickedness of Saul to the changes that happened when the disciples were scattered. I just wanted to make sure it is clear that Saul of Tarsus.... the Saul in these verses.... was no friend of anyone who Believed. No doubt he would have been delighted to beat Jesus to death. He would have considered it his duty and honor to drive the nails into the hands of our Messiah. He would have thrown the first stone at the adulterous woman Jesus saved, and considered it part of his job to save the Temple from those protestors plaguing the Temple.
Do you think the Christian Jews would have gotten up and moved if Saul wasn't on their heels? Would they have fled so quickly if Saul hadn't been dragging people out of their homes and imprisoning whole families in front of everyone?
Saul caused the people to run, taking their testimonies with them.
He drug them out of their homes!
Were they kicking and screaming?
