Hechos 9:30

Saul’s concerned Christian brethren travelled with him to Caesarea. We do not know how long he stayed there, but Luke’s account gives the impression that it was not long. Saul then departed, apparently by ship, to Tarsus in Cilicia, his hometown (Acts 21:39; Galatians 1:21), probably to tell his family and others about Jesus. Saul traveled about 690 miles from Jersalem to Damascus, back to Jerusalem, and to Tarsus, excluding his trip into Arabia, which cannot be calculated (cf. Galatians 1:17-19). [Note: Barry J. Beitzel, The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands, p. 177.]

In Acts 22:17-21 Saul testified that during this visit to Jerusalem he received a vision of Jesus who told him to leave Jerusalem because God wanted to use him to evangelize the Gentiles. Thus his departure from Jerusalem was willing rather than forced.

Saul remained in the province of Cilicia until Barnabas sought him out and brought him to Syrian Antioch (Acts 11:19-26). This was some six years later. We have no record of Saul’s activities during this period (probably A.D. 37-43) except that many of his experiences that he described in 2 Corinthians 11:24-27; 2 Corinthians 12:1-9 seem to fit into these silent years. If they do, we know that Saul was active in ministry gaining experience that fitted him for what we read he did later in Acts.

There are some interesting similarities between the beginning of Saul’s ministry and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (cf. Acts 9:20-35 and Luke 4:16-30). Both men began their ministries by entering a synagogue and delivering a salvation message. The audiences in both cases reacted with shock and astonishment. In Jesus’ case the audience asked if He was not the son of Joseph, and in Saul’s case the audience asked if he was not the violent persecutor of Christians. Then both men escaped a violent response to their messages. [Note: Witherington, p. 320.]