CHAPTER III.
ST PAUL’S FIRST VISIT TO JERUSALEM—PETER AT JOPPA.
A.D. 40.
WHATEVER was the precise object of this journey to Arabia, and whatever was its duration, certain it is that the Apostle returned thence to Damascus (Gal. i. 17), and preached boldly in the name of Jesus (Acts ix. 27). On this occasion, however, the Jews, unable to confute his arguments, resolved to assassinate him, but their design reached his ears, and every precaution was taken by the Christians that night to secure him from danger.
This, however, was a matter of no little difficulty. In consequence either of hostilities between the Romans and Herod Antipas on the one side and Aretas king of Petra on the other[789], or of the assignment of Damascus by Caligula, the successor of Tiberius, to Aretas, the city was held by the Ethnarch[790] of this monarch (2 Cor. xi. 32), and the Jews having won him and his soldiers over to their side, a strict watch was kept day and night to prevent the Apostle’s escape, and deliver him over to execution (Acts ix. 24). In this emergency, therefore, the disciples taking advantage of an unguarded part of the wall and the darkness of the night, let him down in a basket from a window, which opened on the outer country[791] (Acts ix. 25; 2 Cor. xi. 33). Thus delivered from circumstances of great peril, the Apostle turned his steps towards Jerusalem, being desirous, as he informs us, to become acquainted with Peter[792], and in the Holy City he arrived three years[793] after his conversion (Gal. i. 18).
But his escape had been too hurried to allow him to bring with him letters of commendation; when, therefore, he attempted to join himself to the disciples (Acts ix. 26), they were all afraid of him, and could not believe that he was united with them in the bonds of a common discipleship. But now it was that Barnabas, who, as we have seen[794], may have become acquainted with him at Tarsus, took him by the hand and brought him to the Apostles, and told them how he had seen the Lord on the road to Damascus, and how in that city he had already spoken boldly in His Name (Acts ix. 27). Thereupon Peter, and James the Lord’s brother[795] (Gal. i. 18, 19), in the absence of the other Apostles, probably on some mission to the churches of Judæa, Galilee, and Samaria (Acts ix. 31), gave him the right hand of fellowship, and for a period of 15 days[796] (Gal. i. 18) he was with them coming in and going out of Jerusalem (Acts ix. 28).
As might be expected, the chief sphere of his activity was in the synagogues of the Hellenists, where he had before distinguished himself as a zealous opponent of Stephen. Now, however, he disputed with the same energy and force in support of the very doctrines which he had then persecuted (Acts ix. 29), and brought down upon himself the same furious opposition which had caused the death of the first Martyr. A plot was formed to secure his assassination, and the disciples perceived that he must retire from the work he had commenced in Jerusalem. The Apostle, himself, was unwilling to quit a place, where his former zeal against the faith was so well-known, and his sincerity, as he hoped, would be appreciated (Acts xxii. 19, 20). But as he was one day praying in the temple, he fell into a trance (Acts xxii. 17), and saw his Lord, who said to him, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me; and when he hesitated to obey the command and pleaded his former zeal in persecuting the faith as a reason why he should stay, the injunction to leave the city was repeated, Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles (Acts xxii. 21).
Thus assured that Jerusalem was not to be the field of his labours, he allowed the brethren to convey him to Cæsarea-on-the-sea[797], whence he took ship and sailed to Tarsus, his native city, and there probably devoted himself to preaching in its synagogue, and to missionary activity[798] in the regions of Syria and Cilicia[799] (Gal. i. 21). His brief visit to Jerusalem had not been without some result. He had seen and was recognised by Peter and James, and though he remained for the present personally unknown to the churches of Judæa[800], yet the intelligence which reached them from time to time[801] that their persecutor of former days was now preaching the Faith, filled them with thankfulness, and they glorified God in him (Gal. i. 22–24).
While the Apostle was thus employed amidst the familiar scenes of his childhood, the churches throughout Judæa and Galilee and Samaria, lately disturbed by his unceasing animosity, had peace, increased in numbers, and walked in the fear of the Lord (Acts ix. 31). The rest, however, which they thus enjoyed, may perhaps be ascribed to another cause besides the conversion of their late persecutor[802]. In A.D. 36 Pontius Pilate, as we have already seen[803], was sent to Rome by Vitellius. Thereupon Marcellus was sent out as procurator of Judæa in his place, but on his arrival at Cæsarea was directed to make way for Marullus[804]. In the following year, A.D. 37, Vitellius was recalled from Syria, and was succeeded in that prefecture by Petronius, while Theophilus[805] succeeded his brother Jonathan in the office of high-priest. But a still more important event in the same year was the death of Tiberius[806], and the accession of Caligula. Releasing Herod Agrippa[807], the grandson of Herod the Great, from his prison at Rome, where Tiberius had confined him, he appointed him king of Trachonitis, which had belonged to Herod Philip’s tetrarchy, and bestowed upon him also the tetrarchy of Lysanias[808]. But the new emperor was scarcely seated on the throne, before in his insane vanity he ordered divine honours to be paid to himself throughout the empire[809], and directed that a golden colossal statue of himself should be placed in the Holy of Holies at Jerusalem. The execution of this mandate was entrusted to Petronius, and having ordered Sidonian workmen to make the statue, he moved up with his troops to Ptolemais, prepared to set it up by force. But no sooner did intelligence of what was intended reach the Jews than one universal feeling of horror pervaded the nation, and thousands assembled from all quarters without distinction of rank or age or sex, imploring the prefect to desist from carrying out his instructions. Shrinking from the horrible task of commencing a war of massacre and extermination which he saw was inevitable, if the statue was set up, Petronius hesitated, wrote to expostulate with his master, and put off the execution of the order. At the same time Herod Agrippa, then at Rome, implored his patron to pause, and a deputation from Alexandria, headed by the learned and venerable Philo, set forth the stern requirements of the Jewish Law. But Caligula was inexorable, and it is impossible to say what would have been the result[810], had he not been assassinated[811] on the 24th of January, A.D. 41. Thus the Jews were delivered from this terrible indignity.
The rest, then, which the Christians now enjoyed, may not improbably be ascribed to the distractions of Caligula’s reign, and to the fact that the Jewish authorities were wholly occupied with frustrating his mad designs. Taking advantage, therefore, of this period of repose the Apostle Peter made a visitation of the different churches founded in Palestine, and amongst other places went down to Lydda, anciently called Lod[812] (1 Ch. viii. 12; Neh. vii. 37), and afterwards Diospolis, situated about 9 miles from the sea-port of Joppa. Here finding a man afflicted with paralysis, who had kept his bed for upwards of 8 years, he addressed him in his Master’s name, Æneas, Jesus Christ healeth thee, whereupon he rose immediately, restored to perfect soundness. The cure of such a man was quickly noised abroad throughout his own town and the neighbouring plain of Sharon, and contributed in no small degree to the spread of the Church in those regions.
While still at Lydda the Apostle received intelligence that the Christian society at Joppa had sustained a grievous loss by the death of a widow of substance, named Tabitha[813] or Dorcas, who had been wont not only to minister with her own hands to the wants of the poor, but in providing clothing for them. The death of such a person caused great regret at Joppa, and the Apostle was no sooner informed of it by messengers, who intreated his presence, than he set out, and on his arrival was conducted to the upper chamber, where the body lay prepared for the burial (Acts ix. 37–39), surrounded by many widows, who stood by weeping, and shewed him the many proofs of the kindness of their benefactress.
Like his Master before him in the chamber of the daughter of Jairus[814], the Apostle thereupon put these mourners forth, and kneeling down[815] engaged in prayer. Then turning to the body he pronounced the words Tabitha, arise (Acts ix. 40), whereupon her eyes instantly were opened, and seeing Peter she sat up. Taking her by the hand the Apostle then raised her from the spot where she had lain prepared for burial, and calling in the widows presented her to them alive. The fame of this miracle, confirming as it did the impression already made at Lydda, quickly spread, and caused an accession of many to the Christian Church; and the Apostle perceiving an opportune field of usefulness thus opened to him, tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner (Acts ix. 43).