Verse 17: “And Ananias went away, and he entered into the house (Yehuda’s house). He laid upon him (Saul) the hands. He said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord has sent me, even Yeshua – the one who appeared to you in the way which you were coming- in order that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Regain your sight: Previously Saul had been walking in darkness, he was spiritually blind. He was doing things that were not based upon the illumination of Scriptural truth.

Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit brings about change in our lives. Receiving the Holy Spirit is a sign of salvation (2 Corinthians 1v22, Ephesians 1v13-14).

Verse 18: “Immediately fell from his eyes as scales and he regained his sight. And also, he stood up and was baptized.”

Baptized: Baptism is an action that is a testimony of ones faith to the death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah. Secondly, it shows a desire to obey God. We are not saved based upon any performance, but are saved by grace. But once we have been saved we obey God because of a change in our heart (our thoughts).

Stood up: When someone rises up, in Scripture, it is obedience to that ‘upward call’. The faith that enables one to ‘rise up’ is something that is pleasing to God.

Verse 19: “He received food and he was strengthened. It came about Saul, with the disciples in Damascus, was there for a few days.”

He received food: He ended his fast. The Scripture is constructed in a way to give us revelation (teach us things). Only after his baptism did he receive food and find strength. He had been fasting and praying for God’s revelation about what he had experienced and once he received the revelation, and therefore received Messiah (a sign of which was baptism), the purpose for the prayer and fasting was fulfilled so he stopped fasting.

Verse 20: “Immediately he went to the synagogue and proclaimed Messiah, that this one (Yeshua) is the Son of God.”

Messiah: Perhaps everyone in that synagogue believed in the Messiah (Messiah is taught in Judaism), but not by that name, and also not with the revelation that He is the Son of God and therefore divine (Mark 14v61-62)

Verse 21: “All of those who heard were astonished and amazed and they said, ‘Is this not the one who was hindering (harassing) in Jerusalem the ones calling upon this name? And here he came in order to bind those and bring them to the high priest.”

Astonished: They were astonished by the transformation in Saul. There was nothing lukewarm about Saul (Revelation 3v15). When people are passionate about something, even if it is about the wrong thing, they are wholeheartedly committed to obeying those feelings. If God changes those feelings, those people will be conformed into valuable servants because of their wholeheartedness. This is not usually the case with lukewarm people, who show very little passionate commitment to anything.

Here he came: Saul went to Damascus with the purpose of destroying those who believed in Yeshua. These people were confused as now Saul was suddenly preaching about Yeshua.

Saul’s entire life, from this moment on, is about bringing people to the truth, bringing them out of idolatry, pagan belief, false tradition within Judaism and bringing them to the true expression of Judaism – which is faith in the Messiah, faith based upon the teachings of the Apostles and the rest of the former covenant, the Old Testament.

Verse 22: “But Saul, even the more so, received power, and he confounded the Judeans that dwelt in Damascus. And he argued that this One (Yeshua) is the Messiah.”

The Judeans: The Jewish leadership, and not the whole body of Jewish people. They held fast to the traditions of the elders that originated in man’s interpretations. Argued: Successfully disputed.