Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Corinthians 11:32

"In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes in order to take me:" — 2 Corinthians 11:32 (ASV)

In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king . . .—The question arises at the beginning whether the fact that follows is brought in as being the first instance of suffering endured for the sake of Christ, and therefore the natural opening to what was intended to have been a long, connected narrative of all such sufferings, or as being connected in some special manner with his “infirmities.” On the whole, the evidence—especially the context of 2 Corinthians 11:30—seems in favor of the latter view, as far, at least, as the selection of the incident is concerned.

There was, we can well imagine, an element of the ludicrous—something that gave occasion to jests and sneers—in the way in which the Apostle’s escape had been effected. There was, so to speak, something undignified in it. Those who mocked at the stunted growth and weakness of his bodily presence would find good material for their amusement in this.

On the historical facts connected with this incident, see Notes on Acts 9:24-25. The additional details which we learn from St. Paul are the following:

1. That Damascus was under the immediate control, not of the Governor of Syria, but of a governor or an ethnarch;
2. That the ethnarch was appointed, not by the Roman emperor, but by Aretas (the name was hereditary, and was the Greek form of the Arabic Haret), the King of the Nabathæan Arabs, who had his capital at Petra, and who was the father of the first wife of Herod Antipas (see Note on Matthew 14:1);
3. That the ethnarch lent himself to the enmity of the Jews, and stationed troops at each gate of the city to prevent St. Paul’s escape.

“Ethnarch,” it may be noted, was about this time the common title of a subordinate provincial governor. It had been borne by Judas Maccabæus and by Archelaus (Josephus, Wars, ii. 6, § 3).