How did Saul treat the believers he persecuted?
Saul treated believers with viciousness and no mercy, targeting Jews who had embraced Jesus as Messiah. He obtained letters to Damascus synagogues to bring them bound to Jerusalem, disregarding age or gender. He considered them not worth living and a threat to his religion, persecuting them beyond measure and chasing them to the ends of his authority.
Les explains that Saul did not go after the Syrian population; his target was Jews who had embraced faith in the Messiah. He went to the high priest for letters to the synagogues in Damascus so that if he found any of this way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Les describes him as vicious with no mercy, caring neither whether they were young or old, nor men or women. If they had embraced Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah, Saul's attitude was that they were not worth living and were only a threat to his religion. Later, in Galatians, Les notes that the man never got over it and that he persecuted beyond measure, literally chasing them to the ends of his authority and wasting it.
And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
See the restMore Questions
Who did Saul get letters from to go after believers in Damascus?
Saul went to the high priest and requested from him letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, giving him authority to act there.