Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.
Then the disciples. Lachmann and Tischendorf have 'his disciples' х autou (G846) for - auton (G846) - with A B C E, and the cod. Amiat. of the Vulgate]. But strong as is the external evidence in its layout, that for the received reading is not inconsiderable [E G H, and both Syriac versions, both the Egyptian, etc.], while the internal evidence appears to us strongly to favour the Received Text.
Took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. The full extent of his danger appears only from his own account of it long after, in recounting to the Corinthians the perils he had come through for Christ's sake: "In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me" - the exasperated Jews having obtained from the governor a military force, the more surely to compass his destruction; "and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands" (2 Corinthians 11:32-33). The "window" was probably one of those overhanging windows in the walls of eastern cities which were then common, and are to be seen in Damascus to this day. The "basket" х spuris (G4711)] in which he was lowered, as described by Luke, was one of the same kind as that employed in gathering up the fragments of the seven loaves with which our Lord fed the four thousand (Mark 8:8). The word used by the apostle himself х sarganee (G4553)] denotes only the wicker-work of which it was made. Before taking our leave of Damascus, as the scene of the apostle's labours, it is delightful to observe that there were "disciples" there, numerous enough and courageous enough to effect, at their own risk, the great preacher's escape from the hands both of his blood-thirsty enemies and of the military force by which he was guarded; and though there can be no doubt that some of these had, like Ananias, been brought to Christ before Saul's own conversion-for it was in pursuit of them that he came to Damascus-it is reasonable to suppose that their number was not a little increased, as well as their faith strengthened, by his labours; and thus, even there, were they not in vain in the Lord.
Saul, Coming to Jerusalem, Is Introduced by Barnabas to the Disciples-To Escape Assassination at the Hand of the Jews, Exasperated at His Preaching, He Is Brought Down to Caesarea, and Sent to Tarsus-The Church in Palestine Has Rest and Prospers (9:26-31)