Acts 13:3-12 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.… He was a Jew, well up in the literature and prejudices of his countrymen. That surely would be a great help to him as he passed from Jewry to Jewry. He was fairly well read in Greek, and tolerably fluent; speaking it, however, as a ready Englishman is apt to speak French, with a bad accent and a faulty construction, but rapidly, impetuously, and to good purpose. Greek was the passport language in those days as French is now. Then Saul was a Roman citizen — by that he saved his life more than once. And lastly Saul had a large heart, a great fund of humanity. This made him fit to treat on equal terms with princes like Agrippa, without being above slaves like Onesimus. Saul had, too, the restless enterprise of all Nature's great missionaries, explorers, and conquerors. In the early clays he was extraordinarily rash and reckless, and always utterly fearless, regardless of personal comfort and suffering — a perplexing and somewhat difficult person to work with, no doubt. In controversy unyielding, but subtle and full of tact in trying situations, and with an abnegation of self at all times perfect. In person, according to tradition, Saul was short in stature, with perhaps a stoop, rather bald, with black hair early streaked with grey, and a full beard; a defective eyesight, and perhaps a slight impediment in his speech. "His bodily presence," men said, "was mean, and his speech contemptible." But his soul made itself felt. People soon forgot what he looked like when he began to speak. There was a charm about him that few could resist. Such was Saul of Tarsus. Not man's conception of a popular preacher, but, taking him all in all, almost an ideal apostle to the Gentiles. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.WEB: Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. |
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