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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Gospel Planted in Samaria.
The burial of Stephen and the hatred of Saul:
v. 1. And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
v. 2. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
v. 3. As for Saul, he made havoc of the Church, entering into every house, and, haling men and women, committed them to prison.
The young man Saul had been a witness of Stephen's stoning, and had considered it an honor to watch the clothes of the men that began the stoning, chap. 7:58. It is here expressly stated that Saul consented to Stephen's death; he felt great satisfaction, great pleasure over his death, he approved it with joy. And his feeling was shared by his fellow-Pharisees, who now started a persecution which involved the entire congregation, determined, if possible, to exterminate the Church of Jesus. The result was a general dispersal and scattering of the disciples from Jerusalem into the various Jewish provinces, especially Judea proper, the rural districts of the section about Jerusalem, but also to the regions of Samaria. See chap. 1:8. It was not the fear of martyrdom, of death, which caused these first disciples to flee, but the express command of Christ, Mat_10:23. "Had they fled through the fear of death, they would have taken care not to provoke persecution to follow them by continuing to proclaim the same truths that provoked it in the first instance. Only the apostles remained in Jerusalem. The small remnant of the congregation that was obliged to remain in Jerusalem very probably consisted of such as had the greatest need of the teaching and the comfort of the Word. For a pastor to leave his post in time of persecution, when the danger threatens his members as well as himself, in most cases amounts to plain unfaithfulness. Meanwhile, however, before the general scattering of the disciples took place, the burial of Stephen was attended to in a proper manner. Devout, pious men from among his fellow-believers carried him out to his last resting-place and attended to all the matters pertaining to his burial, They then made a great lamentation over him, probably beating their breasts and their heads in token of their deep grief. It is altogether pleasing to the Lord if Christians bury their dead in an honorable fashion, and the lamenting over the death of loved ones, if kept within proper bounds, has been hallowed by the tears of Jesus Himself at the grave of Lazarus. But all these facts, even if they were known to Saul and were, in part, intended in the nature of a protest against the murder of Stephen, made no impression upon him. If anything, he became all the more unreasonable and furious in his enmity toward Christ and the Church. Without ceasing, continually, he laid waste, devastated, the Church, like a hostile army spreading ruin and devastation in its wake, Psa_80:13. In so doing, he entered into every house which was known to belong to a Christian, particularly into those which served as places for Christian assembly. And both men and women whom he found at such times he dragged forth, he haled them out as though preparing them for trial, and committed them to prison, with the consent of the authorities gave them into the charge of the keepers of the prison. This persecution was the first real test to which the members of the congregation at Jerusalem were subjected. Till now it had all been peaceful growth; but now the storm was to test the strength of the young plant, and of every branch and shoot on the tender stem.