Sides: Acts 9

Slide 1

9:2

Saul initiates (thus peace in 9:31)

Letters of recommendation

High priest

-       Caiaphas

-       Access?

. Young man (7:58)

. But advancing (Gal1:14)

. Wealthy family (22:3)

-       High priest respected by Jewish communities outside Palestine

-       Diaspora synagogues would thus cooperate

Slide 2

“the way”: Essenes: preached divine path

Damascus:

-       135 mi/220 km N. of Jerusalem

-       6 days on foot

-       Essenes

-       “synagogues” plural: over 20,000 Jews there

-       as many as 18,000 Jews massacred there in AD 66

Slide 3

9:3

Light from heaven= shekinah (as at Sinai, elsewhere)

Theophany with divine call: Ex 3; Isa 6; Ezek 1

Slide 4

9:4

Fall to ground at divine or angelic revelations (OT and Jewish lit.)

Doubled names: Gen 22:11; 46:2; Exod 3:4; 1 Sam 3:10

Persecuting followers= persecuting Jesus

His representatives (Luke 10:16)

Slide 5

9:5

“Who are you, Lord?”

Obvious theophany but… how can Saul have persecuted God?

9:6

“What must you do” – cf. 2:37; 16:30

9:8

Blinded

-       to prevent evil purpose (Gen 19:11; 2 K 6:18-20)

-       cf. Zechariah mute (Lk 1)

Slide 6

9:9

3 days not uncommon for a fast

w/o water would cause dehydration

Judaism: often mourning or repentance

Usually conjoined with prayer in NT

Slide 7

9:10

Here am I: 1 Sam 3:10; Isa 6:8

9:11

Ancient Jewish hospitality

Some: Straight Street= long E-W street (fits tradition)

Tarsus

-important city (21:39)

prosperous: representatives for its merchants elsewhere

capital of Cilicia

major university center; philosophy

many Jews there

Slide 8:

9:12

paired visions

-       confirmed divine coordination

-       also in Ac 10

9:13-14

objections to “absurd” commands: e.g., Ex 3:4; 4:10

9:15-16

resembles OT call or commissioning narratives

9:17

figurative kinship language

probably means; fellow-believer

Slide 9:

9:18

Scales from eyes: language recalls Tobit

Baptism: perhaps Barada River

- ran through Damascus

- near traditional Straight Street

Slide 10

9:19b-31 Confrontation in Damascus and Jerusalem

parallel responses to Saul in Jerusalem, Damascus

similar to response to Jesus’ opening message in Lk 4

9:19b-21

9:22

Saul already expert in the Scriptures

God often uses parts of our backgrounds (fishers, shepherds of people)

Slide 11

9:24-25

plot known to Saul: plots often leaked

watching gates: closed at night, limiting those exiting

2Cor 11:32-33: Nabatean ethnarch cooperating with Jewish community

-       preached in Nabatean cities? (GAL 1:17)

-       Aretas IV of Nabatea (9 BC-AD 40)

Escape

-       Houses sometimes built into city walls

-       Tradition: Anania’s house, nabatean quarter

-       Biblical precedent (Josh 2:15; 1 Sam 19:12)

-       Habitation around walls; baskets lowered

Slide 12

Only apostles he got to know well were Peter and James (Gal 1:18-19)

Appears headed for martyrdom like Stephen

Possibly relatives in Tarsus (22:3)

Long period before fulfilling full calling

Slide 13

9:32-43 Continuing Miracles Through Peter

Lydda (9:32)

11 miles (17:5 km) from Joppa (v.36)

Joppa and Lydda: the major Jewish coastal cities (Caesarea had more Gentiles)

Slide 14

“Sharon” = coastal plain

Lydda on S. end of plain

Chr. Presence still notable in Lydda in 2d cent

Slide 15

Joppa:

Profitable port city

30 miles (48km) S of Caesarea

Jewish control until direct Roman authority in AD 6

“Tabitha”

-       Semitic for “Gazelle”

-       Dorcas Greek for “Gazelle”

Women patrons

-       Maybe benefactor of the widows mentioned in v. 41

Slide 16

9:37

Jewish dead always washed before burial

Only women prepared women’s bodies for burial

Slide 17

9:38

burial normally before sunset, so urgent

11 miles (17.5 km) between Joppa and Lydda

maybe 4 hours’ travel each way

9:39

upper rooms usually small, on flat rooftops

well-to-do Roman matrons had maids to do it, but still responsible

Slide 18

9:40

body covered before Peter was brought into room

sending others out, cf. 2 K 4:33: Elisha for Shunammite’s son

9:41-42

present raised person (2K 17:23; 2 K 4:36; Lk 7:15)

Slide 19

Tanner (9:43)

Strong odors, so lived outside cities

Later rabbis: wives could divorce tanners because of smell

Many more lenient if tannery near water, as here in 10:6

Slide 20

10:1-8 Cornelius’ Vision

Cf. paired visions of Paul and Ananias in 9:12: confrontations

Slide 21

Caesarea Maritima (10:1)

Different Caesarea Phillippi

Strato’s Tower, renamed by Herod the Great

Herod built there best harbor on Judean coast

Theater: seated 4000

Residence of the roman governor of Judea (23:23-24)

5 auxilliary cohorts and calvary

-       Cohort: c 480-600 (?: 6000, 10 cohorts)

-       1 cohort in Jerusalem

Syrian soldiers there sided with Syrians vs Jews

Slide 22

Generations

-       commanded 80 men

-       unlike aristocrat tribunes or legates, usually worked up through ranks

-       “Italian” cohort

-       - original cohort maybe from Italy, but may be Syrians now

-       known in Judea in AD 69

-       Cornelius prob. retired (by age 60) by the war of 66-70)

Military Service

-       Preferred occupation

-       Roughly ½ enlisters survived the 20 years of service

. ages 17-37

. became 25 yrs later in 1^st cent.

Noncitizens

-       Couldn’t join legions

-       But: auxiliary troops (citizenship at discharge)

Oaths of allegiance to the “divine” Emperor

Lk 3; 7; 23; Acts 27