Aretas

Biblical Record

Aretas appears only once in the New Testament. In 2 Corinthians, while listing the hardships and weaknesses he had endured, Paul adds the following incident: "In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands" (2 Corinthians 11:32-33). Aretas himself does not appear in the scene; the text records only that his "governor" guarded the city of Damascus.

Acts 9:23-25 also reports what appears to be the same event. Acts identifies those who watched the city gates in order to kill Paul as "the Jews" and records that the disciples let Paul down over the wall in a basket by night. This took place early in Paul's ministry in Damascus, after Paul's conversion.

Significance Within the Bible

"Aretas" was a royal name borne by successive Nabataean kings (its native form is "Haritat"). The Aretas of 2 Corinthians is generally identified as Aretas IV. Nabataea was an Arab kingdom centered on Petra in southern Jordan. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, a daughter of Aretas IV married Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. When Antipas cast her aside in order to marry Herodias, Aretas is said to have later waged war against Antipas and defeated him. Aretas is therefore also a background figure in the story of the Herodian family surrounding the death of John the Baptist.

This passage serves as one of the few external reference points for establishing the chronology of Paul's life. Since Aretas IV is known to have died around AD 40, the escape from Damascus is placed before that time.

Interpretation and Issues

• Who pursued Paul: 2 Corinthians speaks of Aretas's governor, while Acts speaks of the Jews. Many interpreters harmonize the two accounts by holding that the two parties acted together. Others hold that each account conveys a different aspect of the event.
• The meaning of "governor": One view holds that the Greek ethnarchēs refers to a governor who ruled the entire city of Damascus. Another holds that it refers to the leader of the Nabataean community living within Damascus. Whether Damascus was under Nabataean rule at the time is debated among scholars.
• Paul and Arabia: Paul writes that after his conversion he went into "Arabia" and then returned to Damascus (Galatians 1:17). Some interpreters identify this Arabia with the Nabataean region and conjecture that Paul's preaching of the gospel there provoked the hostility of Aretas's regime. The text itself, however, does not state this directly.
• An Arab ruler named "Aretas" also appears in 2 Maccabees 5:8, which the Catholic and Orthodox churches accept as canonical. This figure is a different king from a much earlier period (probably Aretas I).

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, Aretas is rarely the subject of a sermon in his own right. The scene of Paul being let down over the wall in a basket is frequently presented in Sunday school lessons on Paul's life. In preaching, the scene is treated as an example of the "weakness" in which Paul boasted, and it is often read together with 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.