Now in Acts 9:19, we read that Saul took food and was strengthened. But this period is not a monastic retreat! While Luke indicates that the Jews were plotting against him, 2 Cor adds an important fact: The local guard was looking out for him as well. We just assume he did.He proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues as the Son of God and promised Messiah.The opposition stirred up by Paul's missionary work is an indication that his preaching was successful and resulted in a good number of Jewish believers in Jesus.Arabia (in the region of modern Jordan) was not just desert, but also a flourishing civilization made up of cities, sea ports and cultivated land.Paul's conversion was also his calling to mission. He may have used Damascus as a “base” since there was already a community of believers there. Very inexact discipline and recognised as such even by those in the discipline.I have been teaching a class on 1 Kings. It is unlikely that Paul’s presence and meditation for some of spiritual retreat would have caused the reaction. During the reign of Aretas IV (9 B.C. We also see evidence of Paul’s reputation in his epistles such as 1 Cor. This would have included cities of the Decapolis, perhaps even the modern site of Jeresh. That’s only in Acts (which has three different, contradictory versions).Acts is a fictive 2nd Century work with little or no genuine historicity.The time in Arabia is Galatians 1:17, even the most skeptical scholar accepts Galatians as the authentic voice of Paul. Arabia was the Roman name of the Nabatean kingdom, ruled for approximately forty-eight years (9 BC – AD 40) by King Aretas IV, mentioned by name in 2 Cor. Though Damascus probably wasn't included in this kingdom, King Aretas ruled over an area that neared the environs of Damascus to the southeast. Retrieved August 31, 2015.

The king was responsible for the development of Petra and developed a number of cities along the Petra-Gaza trade route. It is more likely the message that he was preaching. However, Galatians 4:25 would argue against this as Paul states that Mt Sinai is in Arabia. According to Gal 1:17, shortly after his conversion Paul went away to Arabia. 11:32. Saudi Arabia), but rather the Nabatean kingdom on the east side of the Jordan. But he did not present his “time in Arabia” that way, and there’s no evidence either way.I don’t think the details of the exact location of Mount Horeb are important. To a certain extent, Aretas IV was the “Herod the Great” of the Nabatean kingdom. However, Acts 9:19-22 gives a head scratching summary of what happened after Saul was converted. livius.org. Therefore none could say it was they or any human authority who commissioned him as an apostle to the Gentiles.When his mission was complete in Arabia Paul returned to Damascus where the representative of King Aretas of the Nabateans sought to have Paul arrested (2 Cor 11:32-33). He could have been shown all this while in the desert.Horeb in arabia – A place to meet Yahweh. Sinai. He likely spent a great deal of time reading the scripture developing the material that he will use later in Antioch, then on the missionary journeys.But this period is not a monastic retreat! Thus, this trip to Damascus was to preach the gospel to the Gentiles — as Christ commissioned him to do through Ananias. Paul doesn’t say he stayed in Arabia 3 years. I understand the want of knowing the exact time and date that Paul spent in Arabia, but the real point is that God chosen Paul for a certain reason.