The dramatic story of the apostle Paul being confronted by Jesus on his way to Damacus (Acts 9:1-25) is well known to most Christians. I had read this story of Paul’s conversion many times, but I had never paid any attention to “the men traveling with Saul” (Acts 9:7). Who were they?

To answer that question, we must consider what Paul’s mission was in going to Damascus. He was going to look for any men or women there who were followers of Jesus and “take them as prisoners to Jerusalem” (Acts 9:2). Therefore, the men he took with him were likely not scholars of Scripture. A few might have been. But he was not going to debate with the Christians. He was going to arrest them. He had with him letters from the high priest to “the synagogues in Damascus” (Acts 9:2) in order to get their cooperation in finding and arresting the local Christians. But the local synagogue leaders were not likely to volunteer to help Paul take the prisoners back to Jerusalem. For that, force would be required. Therefore, the men with Paul were quite possibly temple guards, soldiers, or at least powerful men armed with weapons. They were like policemen, security guards, or even a small army, an invasion force.  

When Paul heard a voice speaking from heaven and was struck blind, he became convinced that Jesus was God and the Messiah. (He had had three days of blindness to think about this, and then God provided further confirmation by sending Ananias to heal Paul and give him additional instructions from God.) But what of the men traveling with Paul? They heard the sound of Jesus’ voice, but they did not see anyone (Acts 9:7)—Paul, being blind, could not be expected to be able to see anyone, but they should have seen the speaker if the voice was human. Whether they heard the words is unclear, but what seems clear is that they did not understand what was happening. They led Paul into the city, but after that they disappeared from the story. They were now like an army without a general. They no longer had a leader or a purpose. They apparently did not carry through on their mission of arresting Christians. Did they just return in defeat to their bosses in Jerusalem? Did they hang around long enough to see Paul miraculously healed? Did any of them remain long enough to hear Paul’s story of what had happened on the road to Damascus? Or to hear him preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God? We do not know. What they experienced was truly dramatic, and it would have been something that they would remember and wonder about. But did that wondering lead any of them to become followers of Jesus? We simply do not know. Not everyone who sees evidence of the living God becomes a follower.

We might ask similar questions about Judas, who lived on Straight Street and who hosted Paul after the incident on the road. He was likely more aligned with the persecuting Jews than with the Christians since Paul’s companions led him to that house. Perhaps Paul being hosted there had been arranged ahead of time. What did Judas think of Paul being struck blind and then healed by Jesus? Did Paul tell his story to Judas? Again, we simply do not know. We do know that Paul likely did not stay with Judas because after that “Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus” (Acts 9:19).

One other thing is significant. Paul and his men were on the way to arrest the Christians in Damascus and stamp out the church there. But, with a single blast of light and a thunderous voice from heaven, God stopped the invasion force in its tracks, overcoming these soldiers with superior power. He did so, not by striking the invaders dead or by arming the fearful Christians so they could fight back. He did this by converting the main invader (Paul) to God’s side and rendering the others powerless. God then used Paul to greatly expand the church which Paul had gone there to destroy. God changes circumstances by changing people.