Barnabas in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("son of prophecy, or exhortation and consolation.") The surname given by the apostles to Joses or Joseph (as the Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and Alexandrinus manuscripts read), a Levite, settled in Cyprus (Acts 4:36). As a Christian, he brought the price of his field and laid it as a contribution at the apostles' feet. It was he who took Saul after his conversion, when the other disciples were afraid of him, and "brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way," etc., and had "preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus" (Acts 9:27). The book of Acts does not tell us why Barnabas knew Saul better than the rest. But the pagan writer Cicero (Epist. Familiar., 1:7) informs us that Cyprus (Barnabas' country) was generally annexed so as to form one province with Cilicia (Paul's country, of which Tarsus, his native city, was capital)...