Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 9:24

"but their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates also day and night that they might kill him:" — Acts 9:24 (ASV)

They watched the gates day and night to kill him. A somewhat fuller account of this episode in the Apostle’s life is given by him in 2 Corinthians 11:32. There we read that the governor of the city—literally, ethnarch—took an active part in the plot against Paul. This governor was under Aretas, King of Arabia Petræa, whose capital was Petra. Aretas was the father of the wife whom Herod Antipas divorced to marry Herodias.

Regarding how Aretas had gained possession of a city which was properly attached to the Roman province of Syria, see Note on Acts 9:2. It is noticeable that there are coins of Damascus bearing the names of Augustus and Tiberius, and again of Nero and his successors, but none of those of Caligula and Claudius, who succeeded Tiberius. Caligula, on his accession, reversed the policy of Tiberius, who had been a friend and supporter of Antipas against Aretas. It is probable that, as in other instances, Caligula then created a new principality, or ethnarchy, in favor of Aretas, to whose predecessors Damascus had belonged (Jos. Ant. 13.15, § 2). The ethnarch apparently wished to gain the favor of the large Jewish population and, looking on St. Paul as a disturber of the public peace, took measures for his arrest and condemnation. Troops were stationed at each gate of the city to prevent his escape.