Acts 26:11

“And I punished them oft in every synagogue, etc.] In Jerusalem, where there were many; (see Gill on “<442412>Acts 24:12”); by beating and scourging them there, as the manner was; (see <401017>Matthew 10:17). and compelled them to blaspheme; the Lord Jesus Christ, both to deny him to be the Messiah, and to call him accursed; as the Jews and Heathens obliged some professors of Christianity to do, who were only nominal ones, and had not grace and strength to stand against their threatenings, and to endure their persecutions: and being exceeding mad against them; full of malice, envy, and hatred: I persecuted them even to strange cities; particularly Damascus; and of his journey thither, he…”

“And I punished them oft ... - See Acts 22:19. And compelled them to blaspheme - To blaspheme the name of Jesus by denying that he was the Messiah, and by admitting that he was an impostor. This was the object which they had in view in the persecution. It was not to make them blaspheme or reproach God, but to deny that Jesus was the Messiah, and to reproach him as a deceiver and an impostor. It is not necessarily implied in the expression, “and compelled them to blaspheme,” that he succeeded in doing it, but that he endeavored to make them apostatize from the Christian religion and deny the Lord Jesus. It is certainly not impossible that a few might thus have been induced by the authority of…”

“I compelled them - That is, some of them; to blaspheme - This is the most dreadful of all! Repent, ye enemies of the Gospel. If Spira, who was compelled, suffered so terribly, what will become of those who compel, like Saul, but do not repent like him. Acts 26:12”

“I punished: Act 22:19; Mat 10:17; Mar 13:9; Luk 21:12 compelled: Act 13:45, Act 18:6; Mar 3:28; Heb 10:28, Heb 10:29; Jam 2:7 mad: Act 26:24, Act 26:25; Ecc 9:3; Luk 6:11, Luk 15:17; Pe2 2:16 Acts 26:12”