Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Note 1: This Bible study is being created specifically for a friend of mine. It is not meant as an exhaustive study of the book of Acts. Please do your own research, using the commentary links as a starting point, for a better understanding of the book of Acts and other books of the Bible. Thank you for your dedication to studying the word of God!

Note 2: All Bible verse citations are from NKJV (New King James Version) unless otherwise stated.

Note 3: # This symbol will be used for any information from Dr.  Nunnally’s “A Commentary on the Book of Acts” (Source info below). This Bible study is heavily based on Dr. Nunnally’s work. I have not yet discovered if he has published his book, but I will post a link for his work if I find out that he has published it. Feel free to comment on this blog if you discover his published book (if it’s published) before I do!

- All notes that have this or no symbol in front of them are my interpretations of scripture.

*NIV Zondervan study Bible

+ other source (cited below if used)

Verse 2: “the WAY” is one of many references to the followers of Jesus. Here are a few other phrases and nicknames for followers of Jesus during this time in history, “brethren,” “the saints,” “the sect of the Nazarene,” “the disciples,” etc. (although in this study, I prefer to use the word “disciples” to refer to the original 12 chosen by Jesus, just to keep from getting confused with the larger group of the followers of Jesus).

Verse 5: According to Google Dictionary, “goads” are spiked sticks, used for driving cattle, so Jesus is saying that it’s hard for Paul to fight against Jesus. However, it is important to note that at least 2 of the original manuscripts for the Bible do not include this section of the verse. The other manuscript(s) reads, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, but arise and go.”

Verse 7: The obvious question is, “why didn’t the others see Jesus or even a light?”

#1: The original Greek can also be translated here to state, ‘“They did not understand the voice,’’’ because perhaps Jesus was speaking in Hebrew and the soldiers only spoke Greek. Saul would have spoken both Greek and Hebrew because the priests were required to read the scriptures in the original Hebrew during that period of history.

- It is important to note that the entire New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts etc) was originally written in Greek, the most common language at the time. However, the Jews and those who studied the Bible would have spoken Hebrew.

Verse 9: It may seem strange that Saul did not eat or drink during this time. However, many prophets in the Bible would “fast” (not eat) when they were troubled or seeking guidance from God. Jesus himself fasted for 40 days before he started his ministry, although in His case it was a test of His faith, not necessarily a time of seeking guidance. Below are a few examples of fasting in the Old and New Testament sections of the Bible (the times before or after Christ’s ministry). Look at the link in “sources” for this verse if you want to look at other verses about fasting.

New Testament: Joel 2:12,  Acts 13:2,

Old Testament: Exodus 34:28,  Esther 4:16,

Ananias Baptizes Saul

Verse 10: A “vision” is a dream or heavenly visit from God. Sometimes these dreams include messages from angels, but many visions (like this one) are direct messages from God.

Verse 14: To “bind” means to be arrested, just as people are often “bound” with handcuffs in police and military arrests in modern times.

Verse 16: This verse appears vindictive, but in fact God has the right to judge people, therefore it is appropriate for God to exact judgement on Saul. In fact, Saul was fortunate that God decided to speak to Him and save his life at all, otherwise he may have gone to hell after he died as a result of the murders he had been involved in (take a look at Acts 7:57-58 for some evidence of what Saul did before choosing to follow Jesus. Saul approved of the stoning (murder/corporate execution) of Stephen).

Verse 25: There were windows and doors built into the city wall.

Saul at Jerusalem

Verse 29: Other translations say, “Grecian Jews” (Jews from Greece).

Verse 30: “sent him out to Tarsus” means they sent him on a missionary journey in order to help keep him out of the hands of those who were trying to kill him.

Verse 31b: “they were multiplied” simply means that more people were joining them in following Jesus

Verse 32: Where is Lydda? #2: “Lydda is the [Greek] word for ‘Lod,’ a city that appears late the biblical narrative (1 Chron. 8:12; Ezra 2:33; Nehemiah. 7:37; Nehemiah 11:35). It was apparently settled by Jews returning form the Babylonian exile (cf. The New Unger’s Dictionary, ed. R. K. Harrison [check full citation below]). Later in this narrative, we are told that this lesser-known town was ‘near Joppa’ (9:38), which is a seaport.”

Here is a map of the area:

Joppa (click to zoom in, look between Samaria and Judea and you’ll find Joppa and Lydda)

Verse 37: It may seem strange that they washed her, but this was part of the burial customs at the time.

Verse 40: Peter told the women to leave the room because they were weeping loudly and continually showing him things Dorcas/Tabitha had made. Peter needed to focus and have a quiet space with Dorcas/Tabitha so he could pray for her without being distracted by these things.

Sources

W.E. Nunnally. A Commentary on the Book of Acts, 2008, Evangel University, 2008, Springfield, Missouri, 2017.

Verse 7: pg. 229, last paragraph

Verse 9: http://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-fasting/

Verse 32: #2: pg. 238, 1^st paragraph. Full citation used: The New Unger’s Dictionary, ed. R. K. Harrison, Chicago: Moody Press, 1988, p. 789.