What did Saul do before his Damascus road encounter?
Before Damascus, Saul was holding the clothes of those who stoned Stephen and was still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and requested letters to the synagogues, so he could find followers of Jesus, men or women, and bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Les teaches that Saul was egging them on at the high point of unbelief and rejection, where they said they would not have Jesus of Nazareth to rule over them. Saul was holding the clothes of those who stoned Stephen and was still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. Les explains that “disciples” here means followers or believers, not the twelve. Saul went to the high priest and desired letters to the synagogues, so that if he found anyone who had followed Jesus of Nazareth, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Then outside Damascus, the Lord struck him down with what Les calls a beam from heaven, probably a laser beam as we understand them now, and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”
And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
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Who did Saul get letters of authority from to go to Damascus?
Saul went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, giving him authority to act there.
Why did Saul go to Damascus to arrest Jews instead of the Syrian population?
Saul's target in Damascus was not the Syrian (Gentile) population; he wanted only the Jews who had embraced faith in the Messiah.