Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 9:26

"And when he was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: and they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple." — Acts 9:26 (ASV)

And when Saul was come to Jerusalem.—His journey probably took him, as before, through Samaria (see Note on Acts 9:3), and so laid the foundation of the interest in the Samaritan Church, which shows itself later on in the history in Acts 15:3, when he and Barnabas journeyed “through Phœnice and Samaria.”

He assayed to join himself to the disciples.—The reader may note the use of the word “assay,” which has since become confined to a purely technical meaning, in its wider sense of trying or attempting. The verb for “join” is the one that is always used for close and intimate fellowship, such as that of husband and wife, of brothers, and of friends (Matthew 19:5; Luke 15:15; 1 Corinthians 6:16). He was seeking, in the language of a later time, full communion with the disciples.

It was not strange that his motives were at first suspected. Might he not be coming to “spy out” their weak places, and in time appear again as a persecutor? The difficulty that initially presents itself in understanding how the Church at Jerusalem could have remained ignorant of what Saul had done at Damascus as a preacher of the faith is adequately explained by the political incidents to which attention has already been drawn. The occupation of the city by Aretas, and his enmity against the Herodian house, may well have stopped the usual communication between it and Jerusalem, then under the rule of Agrippa. Consequently, the reports that reached the Apostles would come in uncertain and fluctuating forms. These reports were not sufficient to lead the disciples to trust in the conversion of the persecutor.