22:5 The high priest doth bear me witness. The high priest in A.D. 37, the time Saul of Tarsus was sent to Damascus, was not now high priest, having been deposed by the Romans, but was probably a member of the Sanhedrin at this time. It is also probable that the present high priest personally knew about all facts. There were many present who knew that he had been a commissioned persecutor.
22:5 The high priest is my witness - Is able to testify. The brethren - Jews: so this title was not peculiar to the Christians.
22:1-11 The apostle addressed the enraged multitude, in the customary style of respect and good-will. Paul relates the history of his early life very particularly; he notices that his conversion was wholly the act of God. Condemned sinners are struck blind by the power of darkness, and it is a lasting blindness, like that of the unbelieving Jews. Convinced sinners are struck blind as Paul was, not by darkness, but by light. They are for a time brought to be at a loss within themselves, but it is in order to their being enlightened. A simple relation of the Lord's dealings with us, in bringing us, from opposing, to profess and promote his gospel, when delivered in a right spirit and manner, will sometimes make more impression that laboured speeches, even though it amounts not to the full proof of the truth, such as was shown in the change wrought in the apostle.
