And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
And cast him out of the city - as the law required to be done in cases of blasphemy (Leviticus 24:14; Numbers 15:35; 1 Kings 21:13: and see Hebrews 13:12),
And stoned him, х elithoboloun (G3036)] - rather, 'proceeded to stone him;' for the actual stoning is recorded in the next verse.
And the witnesses - those whose hands were required by the law to be first upon the criminal. Such a provision was probably intended to meet the reluctance to be the first to inflict so painful a capital punishment.
Laid down their clothes, х himatia (G2440)] - their loose outer garments, to be taken charge of while they did their murderous work,
At a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. Such is our historian's calm, purely historical, yet thrilling way of introducing his readers to one to whom Christianity-whether as unfolded in the New Testament or as established in the world, and worked into the religious thinking and phraseology of Christendom-owes more, perhaps, than to all the other apostles together. Here he is, already in all likelihood having a seat in the Sanhedrim, about 30 years of age, an eager participator in the murder of one of the most distinguished witnesses for Christ. See the note at Acts 8:1, and his own affecting confession of this to Jesus Himself, Acts 22:20. But was this a legal proceeding? Looking at John 18:31 (see there), one should say not. Yet nothing seems wanting to it but the actual sentence of condemnation, which may have been pronounced, though not here recorded. Certainly the subsequent proceedings against the Christians, to imprisonment and even to death, with the letters of authorization issued by the high priest to such as Saul of Tarsus, with the view of arresting all who called on the name of Jesus, imply a large amount of power over the lives and liberties of the Jews on the part of their ecclesiastical superiors-either independent of the civil governor, or, which is more probable, by a tacit understanding that he should not interfere.