What other times was Paul near death besides being dragged out of Lystra for dead?
Beyond the occasion at Lystra where he was dragged out and left for dead, Paul faced other near-death episodes through sickness, beatings, imprisonments, and stoning. He endured the 39 lashes, which few could survive, and stoning, which was even worse, leaving victims obscene.
Les teaches that chapter 12 records Paul being dragged out of Lystra for dead, but evidently there were other times when, so far as the apostle was concerned, he was next to death—whether through sickness, beatings, imprisonments, or whatever. Les then describes the severity: very few victims could take 39 lashes, and usually the highest authority had to stop the whipper before that point because most men would die while being whipped, often stopping at 25 or 30. He says modern people cannot conceive what a human being looked like after 39 beatings. Stoning was even worse; when Jews stoned someone to death, the corpse was obscene, using rocks so big it took two hands to smash down, pummeling the person until obscene. The Apostle went through that, and in our western culture most have never suffered for their faith, yet for us to have the New Testament, this is what the man had to go through.