{Took him} (epilabomenos). Second aorist middle (indirect)
participle of epilamban(935c), common verb to lay hold of. Barnabas
saw the situation and took Saul to himself and listened to his
story and believed it. It is to the credit of Barnabas that he
had the insight and the courage to stand by Saul at the crucial
moment in his life when the evidence seemed to be against him. It
is a pleasing hypothesis that this influential disciple from
Cyprus had gone to the University of Tarsus where he met Saul. If
so, he would know more of him than those who only knew his record
as a persecutor of Christians. That fact Barnabas knew also, but
he was convinced that Jesus had changed the heart of Saul and he
used his great influence ( Ac 4:36  11:22 ) to win the favour of
the apostles, Peter in particular ( Ga 1:19 ) and James the
half-brother of Jesus. The other apostles were probably out of
the city as Paul says that he did not see them. {To the apostles}
(pros tous apostolous). Both Barnabas and James are termed
apostles in the general sense, though not belonging to the
twelve, as Paul did not, though himself later a real apostle. So
Barnabas introduced Saul to Peter and vouched for his story,
declared it fully (di(8867)(8873)ato, in detail) including Saul's
vision of Jesus (eiden ton kurion) as the vital thing and
Christ's message to Saul (elal(8873)en aut(9369)) and Saul's bold
preaching ((8870)arr(8873)iasato, first aorist middle indicative of
parr(8873)iaz(935c) from pan--r(8873)ia telling it all as in  Ac 2:29 ).
Peter was convinced and Saul was his guest for two weeks ( Ga
1:18 ) with delightful fellowship (histor(8873)ai). He had really
come to Jerusalem mainly "to visit" (to see) Peter, but not to
receive a commission from him. He had that from the Lord ( Ga
1:1f. ). Both Peter and James could tell Saul of their special
experiences with the Risen Christ. Furneaux thinks that Peter was
himself staying at the home of Mary the mother of John Mark ( Ac
12:12 ) who was a cousin of Barnabas ( Col 4:10 ). This is quite
possible. At any rate Saul is now taken into the inner circle of
the disciples in Jerusalem.