But Saul made havock of the church, entering in from house to house, and dragging away men and women, committed them to prison.

“"As for Saul, he made havoc of the Church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison." Great was his frenzy: that he was alone, that he even entered into houses: for indeed he was ready to give his life for the Law. "Haling," it says, "men and women:" mark both the confidence, and the violence, and the frenzy. All that fell into his hands, he put to all manner of ill-treatment: for in consequence of the recent murder, he was become more daring.”

“As for Saul, he made havoc of the church,.... Did evil to the saints, destroyed them that called upon the name of Christ, Act 9:13 and persecuted and wasted the church of God, as he himself says, Gal 1:13 and now did Benjamin, of which tribe Saul was, ravine as a wolf, Gen 49:27 Entering into every house; where the saints dwelt: and haling men and women: in a violent manner, without any regard to age or sex: committed them to prison; delivered them up into the hands of the chief priests and magistrates, in order to be committed and sent to prison; this he himself confesses, Act 22:4.”

“Saul made havoc of the Church - The word ελυμαινετο, from λυμαινω, to destroy, devastate, ravage, signifies the act of ferocious animals, such as bears, wolves, and the like, in seeking and devouring their prey. This shows with what persevering rancour this man pursued the harmless Christians; and thus we see in him what bigotry and false zeal are capable of performing. Entering into every house - For, however it might be to others, a Christian man's house was not his castle. Haling men and women - Neither sparing age nor sex in the professors of Christianity. The word συρων signifies dragging them before the magistrates, or dragging them to justice. Committed them to prison - For, as the Romans alone had the power of life and death, the Sanhedrin, by whom Saul was employed, Act 26:10, could do no more than arrest and imprison, in order to inflict any punishment short of death. It is true, St. Paul himself says that some of them were put to death, see Act 26:10; but this was either done by Roman authority, or by what was called the judgment of zeal, i.e. when the mob took the execution of the laws into their own hands, and massacred those whom they pretended to be blasphemers of God: for these sanctified their murderous outrage under the specious name of zeal for God's glory, and quoted the ensample of Phineas as a precedent. Such persons as these formed a sect among the Jews; and are known in ecclesiastical history by the appellation of Zealots or Sicarii.”

“Saul. From Saul the persecutor who was king of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, from which Paul also was; for indeed according to the custom of the ancients descendants draw their names from their forebears. He laid waste. As a wolf the flock, according to the prophecy of Jacob: Benjamin a ravening wolf, in the morning shall eat the prey, in the evening shall divide the spoils. Dragging. He dragged, he did not kill, because perhaps the Lord was guarding his hands, lest they be polluted with the blood of the innocent. Scattered. Although scattered by fear, yet they were steadfast in the preaching of the Gospel.”