1 AND Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, [ So the High Priests held some kind of authority or where at least consulted when it came to dealing with the Jews. ]

2 And desired of him [ The high priest vs 1. Caiphas, the high priest of the Jerusalem Temple, had found in Saul, the perfect instrument to wipe out Christianity: a resolute man, well-educated, seething with zeal. Caiphas had given him a packet of official letters, waxed and imprinted with the seal of the high priest, and addressed to all the synagogues to the north.] letters to Damascus to the synagogues, [ Saul desires an introduction from the high priests into the local synagogues. ] that if he found any of this way, [ Sauls assignment was to scour the land as far north as the great desert, in which he had promised Caiphas he would bring back, bound and captive, every Christian that he found.] whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. [ So intent was he on opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth (Acts 26:9) that in raging fury, he breathed threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. Here was a man who truly hated Christ and all who were associated with Him. He had at his disposal a troop of foot soldiers at his command with the whole goal to pursue the Christians who had fled Jerusalem, and destroy them. ]

3 And as he journeyed, [ He was not alone in this journey, he had at his disposal a troop of foot soldiers at his command with the whole goal to pursue the Christians who had fled Jerusalem, and destroy them. ] he came near Damascus: [ Most ancient cities had their gardens just outside the city walls. Much like we saw in Ephesus. ] and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: [ Kind of what happened with Alma in the Book of Mormon. Damascus was governed by Aretas, a local king given rule under the direction of the Roman Emperor. Saul, covered with dust, his throat dry, from the trail anticipated something to eat and a good night's sleep at the principal inn under the roofed bazaar of the "Street That Is Called Straight." Saul at the border of the town was not more than half a mile away when his horse grew restless, and Saul became very uneasy. Everything he could see, hear and feel around him was undergoing a change. There was a chill wind blowing at him, a blinding light shining on him from the heavens, and the roar of great waters in his ears. Saul clutched at the reins but his palsied hands could not hold them. He pushed with his heels against the stirrups, but his ankles quaked and all power had gone out of his legs. With a great gasp he realized he had no strength to help himself. He fell to the ground and lay there helpless. ]

4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? [ I can see Saul asking the question, "What? When did I persecute you?" It seems that the Lord takes the persecution of his saints very personally. And as much as you have done unto the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me. Why are you persecuting me? In persecuting them you have persecuted me. ]

5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? [ Groaning, and not daring to lift his face from the earth, Saul replied: "Lord, who are you?" ] And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. [ A large percentage of people in the first century were tillers of the soil. Oxen were used to work the soil. The prick or goad was a necessary devise. The prick was usually a wooden shaft with a pointed spike (prick) at one end. The man working the ox would position the goad in such a way as to exert influence and control over the ox. You see, if the ox refused the command indicated by the farmer, the goad would be used to jab or prick the ox. sometimes the ox would refuse this incentive by kicking out at the prick. As result, the prick would be driven deeper into the flesh of the rebellious animal. The more the animal rebelled, the more the animal suffered. Hence, the statement to Saul: "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." (Saul was rebelling against God.) Do you think that you are being successful in what you are doing? President David O. McKay said something beautiful about what we were just talking about. It's hard for thee. He said, "Perhaps during those few days of comparative leisure, Saul began to wonder whether what he was doing was right or not. Perhaps the shining face of the dying Stephen and the martyr's last prayer began to sink more deeply into his soul than it had done before. Little children's cries for their parents whom Saul had bound began to pierce his soul more keenly and make him feel miserably unhappy, as he looked forward to more experiences of that kind in Damascus. Perhaps he wondered whether the work of the Lord, if he were really engaged in it, would make him feel so restless and bitter. He was soon to learn that only the work of the evil one produces those feelings, and their true service for the Lord always brings peace and contentment." ]

6 And he trembling and astonished said, [ Saul says now that I know that thou aret Jesus Christ what do you want me to do now? There could be no answer to that. Saul knew what the words meant, especially in relation to himself. As a young boy I was taught very early on that in working with animals there were places that you could stand and places that you should not stand in relation to an animal. One of the most noted was right behind an animal - that is were they would deliver the greatest kick. Papa almost killed by the kick from a cow going up the loading chute. So we used a stick or hot shot from the side. Earlier days they used a goad or prick which was a long stick about nine feet in length, sharpened at one end for poking at cattle. And the cattle could not kick against it, for the herdsman was nine feet away. Saul knew he was helpless now. He sensed, dimly, that that same futile rebellion had been at the root of his emotional storms in the weeks since Stephen's death. Trembling and astonished, Saul faltered the question that spelled his immediate, instantaneous surrender: "Lord, what will You have me to do?" ] Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

7 And the men which journeyed with him [ His foot soldiers. ] stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. [ Then voice of the Lord replied to the man lying face down in the dust: "Arise and go into the city and there it shall be told you what you must do." And the Voice seemed to pale away in the wind. Saul raised his head, drew himself together, and sit up. His soldiers stood, amazed and troubled, in a great circle. They, too, had heard the Voice; and yet they had seen no man speak except Saul, their captain. They stood in silence that was like a spell. Then two of them took Saul by the armpits and raised him to his feet. But Saul's groping hands, as they made to let go of him, told them a shocking truth. Saul was blind! Of this event Skeptics still scoff at this encounter. While now a few thousand years away from evidence, with no testimony for their own theories, they dismiss Saul's conversion as an epileptic fit. The line of years from then to now quakes with countless epileptics, not one of whom has written a single letter that affected the world, nor converted peoples, nor captured the imagination of posterity. Only Saul did that; Saul, of whom no fit was reported before Damascus or since. No skeptic can dispute the complete change in life of Saul, or what suffering he endured for it. In that one blinding, falling moment Saul became another man. The hunter of Christians, the heresy detective became in one instant full of yearning to be a Christian. He had seen God, and he knew it and he knew that God knew it. And trembling before that glory, stripped naked of his intellectual pretenses, he had cried out in the hope and fear of all believers: "Lord, what would You have me to do?"]

8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: [ As a matter of fact he could see nothing - he was totally blind. ] but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. [ Imagine a man with the power of Saul. Feared by the entire Christian world, now lead by the hand. Helpless. Saul let his soldiers lead him slowly toward the open gate of Damascus. Strangely, he felt no humiliation in being blind, helpless in the hands of underlings. He was going into the city, as the Lord had commanded him, to wait to be told what next he must do. To him nothing else mattered. Of this encounter Saul never doubted that he had actually seen Jesus, and years later, recounted in the first letter he wrote to the Corinthians, as he rehearsed the familiar history of Christ's death, burial, and Resurrection. He would remind the people of Corinth that the risen Christ had appeared to Peter and the rest of the twelve, that He had been seen by more than five hundred disciples at once, many of whom were still alive when that letter was being written. And then he added, with fervent humility and thanksgiving: 1 Cor 15:8; "And last of all, He was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time. "For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. "But by the grace of God, I am what I am; and His grace in me hath not been void, but I have laboured more abundantly than all they: yet not I, but the grace of God with me." ]

9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. [ For three days, Saul was a problem in the house of a Christian who bore the unfortunate name of Judas. The infamous reputation of the betrayer of Jesus had been such that this second Judas, this good man, has not fared well in the memories of the faithful, yet here he has opened his doors to the greatest fear of any Christian - the man called Saul. His act was one of sublime charity. He knew that Saul was the Christians' worst enemy. He also knew that Saul had met with some sudden accident outside the city gate. Judas was not so gullible as to hope that kindness would appease Saul; mercy in the eyes of the anti-Christians was a weakness. Judas had nothing to expect and much to fear when he opened the door of his house, behind the Street That Is Called Straight, and allowed the weakened Saul to be laid in his own bed. For three days and three nights the soldiers of Saul stood guard over Judas' house while their captain lay in bed. "Saul talks to himself," they said to one another. "He is a very sick man." But none of the advice or the weird prescriptions of Damascus doctors were of help. Saul was blind. He ate nothing and he drank nothing. His lips moved, and he whispered softly. ]

10 ¶ And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, [ One man in Damascus knew what Saul was trying to say. His name was Ananias and he is not to be confused with the liar of the same name. Here was a new part of Christian history with a new Judas and a new Ananias, accidentally serving as symbols of a better future. To this second and admirable Ananias the Lord spoke directly, in a vision: ] Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. [ How do we answer? How would we answer to such a call? Would we give the Lord all the reasons why not? Not unlike devout men of the Old Testament, Ananias replied "Behold, I am here, Lord!" And the Voice continued. ]

11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: [ A name that would ignite panic in any Christian heart, Saul of Tarsus! Ananias was probably the presiding officer of the church in Damascus, since the Lord came to Ananias and instructed him to seek out Saul, teach him the gospel and heal his blindness. Ananias must have been the person in charge of the church in that area. It is likely that he was the man Saul would've desired most to imprison. It is an ironic turn of events that the very disciples Saul wished to silence should become the one who taught, healed, and baptized him." ] for, behold, he prayeth,

12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

13 Then Ananias answered, [ Ananias had been instructed in the mercy and forgiveness of God. He knew that God will forgive trespasses only as we forgive them who trespass against us. But Saul was a living terror, "breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." And even while Ananias was cowering in the presence of such fearful instructions, a kind of vision came at the same time, halfway across the city, to the distracted mind of blinded and helpless Saul. He saw someone entering the bedroom of Judas' house, a stranger who laid pale and trembling hands over Saul's eyes. At the instant of that vision, Ananias was already pale and trembling. "Lord," he protested, overwhelmed with his terror, "I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And right here in Damascus he has authority from the chief priests of the Temple to bind everybody who dares to invoke Your Name. ] Lord, I have heard by many of this man, [ It is kind of funny how Ananias responds to the Lord here. He says a do you know much about this man because I have heard a lot about him and he is not one who is helpping your cause. ] how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: [ Are you sure you want me to go to this man and heal him? ]

14 And here he [ Saul ] hath authority from the chief priests [ Ananias continues on saying that this man has authority to destro any christian, are you really sure her? Saul comes with soldiers, and letters and seals to bring any christian back to meet their final judgement. ] to bind all that call on thy name.

15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: [ There was a moment's silence, and then the Lord spoke with a firmness of command not to be mistaken: "Ananias!" "Lord?" "Go and do what I have asked. For this man is to Me a vessel of election, to carry My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him what great things he must suffer for My Name's sake." ] for he is a chosen vessel unto me, [ Well we might ask then when was he chosen? MOst likely in the pre-mortal world. So we get a glimpse of pre-earth life here. Maybe this is a foreordination. This is something that has been in the works since before Saul was born. Elder McConkie said that this was clearly a foreordination of Paul, and he needed to be stopped on the path he was on to go fulfill his mission. ] to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

17 And Ananias went his way, [ There could be no reply except instant obedience. A minute later, Ananias set off down the narrow and deserted paths of early morning, to look for Saul in the house of Judas. ] and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, [ Look at how Ananias addresses Saul. He says: Brother Saul, he's his brother, even though he's the worst persecutor he knows he still calls him brother. ] the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. [ The sun was not yet up, and the room was dim as the messenger of Christ stood by the bed and spoke to the tossing, blinded man of Tarsus: "Brother Saul." The hands of Ananias, pale and trembling, touched the eyelids of the stricken man. "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus has sent me." A sound like a groan came from the lips of Saul, weighted with profound and grateful relief, as if he had waited in anguish for this call. "The Lord Jesus has sent me," Ananias repeated; "He that appeared to you in the way as you came; that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost." To see again. Oh, yes, please, merciful Lord! And to be filled with the Holy Ghost! The Holy Ghost that I had sworn to drive from the hearts of men in the name of God and the Sanhedrin. ]

18  And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: [ How do we as members get the scales to fall from our eyes so to speak? ] and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. [ Saul baptized! Now, there was a tale the Christians back in Judaea would find it hard to believe. By the grapevine that passed from Damascus to Joppa, from Nazareth and Capernaum even to Jericho, and through Galilee into Samaria and wherever the Christians were hiding in the underground, the word would go out that Saul, the persecutor, had been stricken blind near the western gate of Damascus; had seen the Lord Jesus and heard His Voice, had been healed of his blindness by a Syrian Christian, and that now he was himself a Christian. Who could be expected to believe a wild story like that? Yet it was literally true. Barely able to stand in the weakness of joints and waist and thighs that was the aftermath of his fall, Saul nevertheless held himself stubbornly erect and suffered Ananias to pour the water over him in the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Ghost. Saul could see the room filled with sunrise; the bed, the chairs, the table, and the sweating candle; he could see the face of his new friends, Judas and Ananias. In that moment Saul became truly, irrevocably, a new man. He was born again. And he chose to mark that hour of transformation by shedding the Hebrew name Saul, by which all men knew him. He chose instead to be known by the name he had seldom used, his official name as a Roman citizen. ]

19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.

20  And straightway he preached Christ [ What a turn of events. What would you think of this man who was so against you and then is testifing of Christ? Would you believe him? ] in the synagogues, that he is the son of God. [ Saul now had testimony of who Christ was The literal son of God. ]

21 But all that heard him were amazed, [ Shocked that he had gone from the most revile persecutor of Christians to one who taught of Christ, his life, his power, his will. ] and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?

22  But Saul increased the more in strength, [ His testimony grew, his ability to teach with boldness the Gospel grew. ] and confounded the Jews [ Well that is an understatement here. They were absolutely shocked. ] which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.

23 ¶ And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him: [ So now the High Priests hav yet another problem on their hands, how now are they going to get rid of Saul. Man we cannot win for losing here they must have thought. Same pattern as before because if we don't do something what will become of us? ]

24 But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.

25 Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. [ The brethren knew that the high priests had posts on all of the gates of the city, in an effort to catch Saul as he trys to leave. So the brethren let him down in a basket on one of the outside walls. he goes to Jerusalem. What a story, Saul goes into Damascus as a blind man, is healed, and then has to escape out of a basket. ]

26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. [ Rightfully so I suppose that they were suspicious, they thought maybe he was a spy. ]

27 But Barnabas took him, [ Saul/Paul. ] and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, [ Barnabas was there to say, no, he's not trying to enter in incognito, I watched him and he really did change. He's not a double agent, he's the real deal. But it does speak to his reputation among the saints that when he shows up in Jerusalem it's not a yay. It's a, are you for serious? Are you sure about this guy? sometimes we can't see what miracles the Lord can do and conversion in people's lives. And we maybe need to recognize people's potential a little bit more than we do. ] and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

28 And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.

29 And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: [ In other words, this guy is so onboard with the gospel he'll take on anybody anywhere, so much so that the disciples of Jerusalem have to bundle him off and send him home because he's getting them in trouble. ] but they went about to slay him.

30  Which when the brethren knew, [ Again the brethren know the plan and send Saul away from trouble. ] they brought him down to Caesarea, [ Caesarea was a port city so maybe they put him on a boat. ] and sent him forth to Tarsus. [ southern central Turkey, his hometown. So he is home but the members don't trust him and the non-believers see him as a traitor so everyone is against him. ]

31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

32 ¶ And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda.

33 And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy.

34 And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately.

35 And all that dwelt at Lydda [ The begining of the gospel going to all people Jews and gentiles. ] and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord.

36 ¶ Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.

37 And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber. [ She dies and they put her in the upper chamber hoping that they could get Peter to come heal her since she was such a good woman. ]

38 And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, [ About 6 to 8 miles apart. Joppa is on the coast. ] and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them.

39 Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them. [ These items were used as a testament to Peter of how good this woman was. ]

40 But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. [ She opens her eyes, sees Peter and gets up. ]

41 And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive.

42 And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord.

43 And it came to pass, that he [ Peter. ] tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner. [ It does not say that this is where Tabitha was staying,but it was where Peter was staying. This is where Peter will be when he receives the vision in the next chapter that the gospel is to go to all of the world. A tanner needs lots of water as a result the tanner would have had his house on the outskirts of the city, in part because it stinks so much. It(the tannary) would be on the eastern or down wind side of the town. ]