And when he had received meat
Which was set before him when he had received his sight, and
after he was baptized, of which he had not tasted for three days:
he was strengthened;
in body, being before very weak and feeble; not so much through
fatigue of his journey, as through the fear and surprise the
appearance of Christ to him, and his words, threw him into; as
also through his fasting so long, and his continuance and
constancy in prayer all this while, and the attention he gave to
the divine instructions which were communicated to him,
internally and externally:
then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were
at
Damascus;
who came from Jerusalem upon the persecution raised against them
there; with these Saul continued some few days after his
conversion and baptism, for quickly after he went into Arabia, as
appears from ( 1:17 ) .
These disciples, with the new converts afterwards, it is highly
probable, formed a church state in Damascus; Ananias is said to
be the bishop or pastor of it, and which remained in several
ages. In the catalogue of the council of Nice, which was held in
the beginning of the "fourth" century, Damascus is mentioned as
the seat of a church; in the "fifth" century a bishop of Damascus
was in the council at Ephesus; and in the same century it was
reckoned a metropolitan church in Asia; in the seventh century it
appears there was a church in this place; and even in the
"eighth" century, though the Arabians ravaged in those parts, yet
still a church continued here for some time, till Ulid, the
prince of the Saracens, took away the temple from the Christians
of this place, and dedicated it to Mahomet; after which we hear
no more of the church at Damascus F19.