Why, when, and for how long was the apostle Paul in Arabia?

Paul did not go up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before him, to get either confirmation to the truth of the gospel, or their authority for preaching it; he had received both directly from the risen Jesus; but he went into Arabia, into the desert. He needed privacy, to be alone with God, in order to digest the wonderful truth he had received. This is worthy of note for us all, but especially for young converts who may be tempted to court publicity when they need retirement. From the wilderness Paul goes not to Jerusalem, but returns again to Damascus — the place of His wonderful conversion.

He went away from the crowds of men into the deserts of Arabia. We know very little about his journey into Arabia, only what he tells us in this letter to the Galatians (Gal. 1:17). He tells us that after his conversion, immediately he did not go to any other person to consult, or to seek advice. "Neither did I go up to Jerusalem unto the ones who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus." Arabia is a very large country. Mount Sinai, where God gave Moses the law, is in Arabia. Elijah had gone away into Arabia to escape from Jezebel, and to be alone with God. And I am sure Saul of Tarsus also went to Arabia to be alone with God. I can well understand that Saul felt he must have quiet, and time to be alone, and to hear God speak to him. This is a lesson you and I need. Every true servant of God must have time to be alone with God. Moses learned this lesson during 40 years alone with God in Arabia. David learned the same lesson, though only a boy, alone with God on the hills of Bethlehem. Even our Lord Jesus rose up a great while before day, and went away to a solitary place, to pray alone to God (Mark 1:35), and how often do we find Him alone with God in prayer, sometimes all night. (Luke 6:12). Have you ever noticed that in the gospel of Luke, — the gospel that gives us the picture of the Lord Jesus as the dependent Man, — we find Him seven times in prayer? (Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18; 9:29; 11:1; 22:41).

We know nothing of this visit to Arabia, but we can well understand it. It is just what we would have expected. I do not doubt he took with him his Bible, the Old Testament, (for there was no New Testament then), and that there alone with God, the Holy Spirit made this book shine with a new light and glory, as He showed him JESUS on every page. Who taught Paul the hidden meaning of Sarah and Hagar, of which we will read in chapter 4 of our epistle? Who made Deuteronomy shine with the light of the glory of Christ? I do not doubt the Holy Spirit taught him many such things during this time in Arabia.

In the present passage he so puts together his not going to Jerusalem to the apostles, and his going off into Arabia, as to invite one of two conclusions. We may suppose him to mean what might be thus expressed: I had no need of apostolic ordination, or even countenance; for the Lord had looked on me, and in that strength I was to go. To the Gentiles was my first commission, and I went straight upon this service to Arabia, returning afterwards to Damascus, where my mouth had first been opened to confess the Lord. Or his words may be taken in this other sense: Need I had none to seek to Jerusalem for a confirmation of my title to preach Christ. Nor was I disobedient in my spirit to the heavenly vision. My need was of another kind. To become an effective minister of grace I must digest in solitude this new and amazing doctrine of divine righteousness which I had so suddenly and wondrously received. To face men worthily, I must commune first with God. I neared my duty really by seeming for a while to shun it; not fleeing, like Jonah, from the face of God, but going rather to seek Him where both Moses and Elijah had received their deepest lessons of Jehovah and His ways. For though called to a service of unceasing activity, when once begun, I shrank from entering on it until more familiar in my spirit with the Lord, who had thus chosen me to bear His name.

There is moreover an indefiniteness belonging to the word "Arabia," which increases the difficulty of ascertaining precisely the apostle's meaning in this passage. All that can be affirmed with certainty is, that immediately on his miraculous conversion he both confessed Christ among those on whose destruction he was previously bent, and was acknowledged by them as a specially-appointed minister of God. That he rushed at once eagerly upon his work among the Gentiles cannot be asserted with any show of probability, since the facts already noticed lead plainly to an opposite conclusion. But that his career of active service as a preacher of the faith was preceded by a course of secret training under the strong but gracious hand of Him who had so unexpectedly arrested and claimed him as a trophy of His own long-suffering mercy, seems consistent both with natural probability and with antecedent scriptural example.

Of the time, whether long or short, that he passed in Arabia we know nothing certainly. But it is unlikely that he remained long absent from Damascus, which we may well suppose presented to him a wider and more open field for his work as an evangelist. It was where men congregated most that Paul would find the fittest sphere for fulfilling the ministry which he had received from the Lord. In every place indeed God was his witness (2 Cor. 2:14); but we hear of him most frequently as well as most naturally in cities rather than in the retired places of the country: unlike his Master in this respect, since publication was the order of his work.

Saul of Tarsus spent a season in Arabia soon after his conversion. When he learned the mighty truth that the despised Jesus is the Son of God, he preached Him in this character in the synagogues of Damascus (Acts 9:20). But he soon went away for a term of quietness in Arabia (Gal. 1:17). The wisdom of this is clear. The Lord's commission to him was very comprehensive in character; his teaching was to reach all classes, from the highest to the lowest; and his path would lie through much suffering (Acts 26:16-18; Acts 9:16). What a revolution was being wrought in his life! The bitter antagonist of Jesus was to be His foremost witness to men! A term of quietness, in which he could revolve these things in his mind in the presence of God, was most desirable. Saul was soon in danger, as Moses and Elijah before him, for the world will not tolerate a faithful witness for God.

For the time being he preached that Jesus is the Son of God in the synagogues of the Jews in Damascus. As the Jews wanted to kill him he fled to Arabia. We do not know anything about these three years Paul spent there. But we certainly may assume that God quietly prepared him there for his future responsibilities. He then came to Jerusalem (Acts 9:26-28; Gal. 1:18).

Enrolled by baptism as a disciple of the Lord Jesus, and strengthened by food after the long time of abstinence, a season of quiet and retirement would come very opportune. This was provided by a short sojourn in Arabia. At this point the chronological arrangement of his history has been questioned. He certainly visited Arabia before he went up to Jerusalem, and as certainly returned to Damascus after the sojourn in retirement in Arabia. Viewing the account he gives us of this chapter in his life, we would place it just after his conversion, and before any public ministry, or even intercourse with the disciples in Damascus. For we read, "When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that were Apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus" (Gal.1:15-17). His Gospel was not received from man, neither was he taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ (Gal.1:11,12). Alone, then, with God, he was prepared for his remarkable service, and from the Lord Himself he received by revelation the Gospel which he preached. Now silence on the part of Luke as to this visit to Arabia need excite no surprise. He must have been aware of it as an historical fact; for the Apostle had, several years before the Acts was compiled, notified this to the Galatians. But as it furnished no record of evangelistic labours, though a prelude to them, the historian may well have passed it over.

From Acts 9 we learn that he made no delay, after his conversion, in confessing his faith in Christ to those that were around him. "Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogue, that He is the Son of God." This new testimony is specially worthy of notice. Peter had proclaimed Him as the exalted Lord and Christ; Paul proclaims Him in His higher and personal glory, as the Son of God. But the time for his public ministry had not yet come he had many things to learn, and, led of the Spirit, he retires into Arabia, remains there for three years, and returns to Damascus. (Gal. 1:17)

Verse 19 has spoken of his being with the disciples in Damascus only "certain days," while verse 23 speaks of "after many days." Galatians 1:15-19 clarifies this. Between the two verses he had gone into Arabia, then returned to Damascus, so that it was three years before he went to Jerusalem. How long Saul (later named Paul) was in Arabia we are not told, nor of anything he did there; but on his return to Damascus he evidently resumed his preaching, for the Jews plotted to kill him, watching the gate of the city, where he was most likely to be caught. The disciples, knowing of the plot, let Saul down by the wall in a basket during the night, so that he escaped out of their hands.

Verse 18. "Then (epeita) after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter," ("Cephas" is perhaps the preferable reading.) etc. Whether the commencement of this period is to be dated from the time of his conversion, or referred to his return from Arabia, is uncertain; but the frequent indistinctness of Scripture on such minor points will never cause regret to a sound-minded believer. Every fact in Paul's personal history would have for us a natural interest if known; but God's Spirit has written in the Word but one biography, and that for an end which would be helped in no wise by a fuller acquaintance on our parts with the footsteps even of His most devoted follower (Luke 1:1; Acts 1:19; John 20:30-31). Comparing, as before, Paul's personal narrative with the inspired record of his true and faithful yoke-fellow (Acts 9:26), we find here the motive of the visit which is there noticed in more general terms, and in a different connection. It was to see Peter that he took his journey to Jerusalem after his final departure from Damascus. In the latter city he had lived and laboured in the truth until, his measured service being done, King Aretas' governor became the providential means of speeding him upon his further work. To Jerusalem, we may be sure, his heart had often turned before he actually went there; and with what emotions he revisited the place where he had once raged so madly and destructively against the truth we may easily imagine. And we know enough upon his own testimony to justify the supposition that he would fain have prolonged his stay there indefinitely, and laboured among his much-loved kinsmen after the flesh, had he not been peremptorily ordered of the Lord elsewhere (Acts 22:17-22), since to this visit is undoubtedly to be referred the rapt interview with his Master related in his speech to the excited populace of Jerusalem, which was delivered about two years later than the writing of this epistle. But he is here occupied with facts only, and makes mention of his journey and its object for the sole purpose of clearing himself in the eyes of the Galatian churches from the false imputations which attached to him, owing to the crafty misrepresentations which had been made to them by the Judaizing corrupters of the truth.

It is a little difficult to know for certain the movements of Saul at this juncture. The narrative in the Acts of the Apostles gives his journey to Jerusalem at this time, whereas in the Epistle to the Galatians the Apostle is careful to tell us he did not go from Damascus to Jerusalem, but went into Arabia. We are not told how long he was there, but, returning to Damascus, after three years he visited Jerusalem. It may be that he went to Jerusalem on the first occasion, not as an apostle, but as a new convert. When he went the first time, and essayed to join himself to the disciples, there was a good deal of doubt as to him. They were all afraid of him, and could not believe that he was a disciple.