On whose territory did Saul's conversion happen?
Saul’s conversion occurred on Gentile territory, just outside the Gentile city of Damascus, not on Jewish ground. While traveling to Damascus to arrest believing Jews, he was met by God’s grace on Gentile soil, where God saved him and informed him he would be sent to the Gentiles.
Les explains that Saul was at the height of his rebellion, traveling into Gentile territory up to Damascus. He was not going to arrest Gentiles but Jews, hoping to bring believing Jews back to Jerusalem for imprisonment or death. Just outside this Gentile city, on Gentile ground—not on Jewish ground as the other twelve were—God in grace reached down and saved him. Immediately, God informed Saul that He would send him to the Gentiles. Les notes this is the first indication in Acts that God would bring Gentiles into the picture, not as something new, since the Old Testament was full of it, but now after Israel’s rejection, God was setting Israel aside.