Act 21:39, 2Cor 11:22, Phili 3:5 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 39. A Jew of Tarsus . A Jew by birth. . Of no mean city . Not obscure, or undistinguished. He could claim an honourable birth, so far as the place of his nativity was concerned. . Tarsus was much celebrated fro its learning, and was at one time the rival of Alexandria and Athens. Xenophon calls it a great and flourishing city . Anabasis. Josephus (Antiq. b. i. chap vi & 6) says that it was the metropolis and most renowned city among them . [the Cilicians .] (f) "Paul said" (g) "a citizen"

Acts 21:39

Verse 39. A Jew of Tarsus. A Jew by birth. Acts 9:11.

Of no mean city. Not obscure, or undistinguished. He could claim an honourable birth, so far as the place of his nativity was concerned. Acts 9:11. Tarsus was much celebrated fro its learning, and was at one time the rival of Alexandria and Athens. Xenophon calls it a great and flourishing city. Anabasis. Josephus (Antiq. b. i. chap vi & 6) says that it was the metropolis and most renowned city among them. [the Cilicians.]

(f) "Paul said" Acts 9:11, 22:3 (g) "a citizen" Acts 22:25

2 Corinthians 11:22

Verse 22. Are they Hebrews? This proves that the persons who had made the difficulty in Corinth were those who were of Hebrew extraction, though it may be that they had been born in Greece, and had been educated in the Grecian philosophy and art of rhetoric. It is also clear that they prided themselves on being Jews--on having a connexion with the people and land from whence the religion which the Corinthian church now professed had emanated. Indications are apparent everywhere in the New Testament of the superiority which the Jewish converts to Christianity claimed over those converted from among the heathen. Their boast would probably be that they were the descendants of the patriarchs; that the land of the prophets was theirs; that they spake the language in which the oracles of God were given; that the true religion had proceeded from them, etc.

So am I. I have as high claims as any of them to distinction on this head. Paul had all their advantages of birth. He was an Israelite; of the honoured tribe of Benjamin; a Pharisee; circumcised at the usual time, Php 3:5 and educated in the best manner at the feet of one of their most eminent teachers, Acts 22:3.

Are they Israelites? Another name, signifying substantially the same thing. The only difference is, that the word "Hebrew" signified, properly, one who was from beyond (, from , to pass, to pass over--hence applied to Abraham, because he had come from a foreign land; and the word denoted, properly, a foreigner--a man from the land or country beyond, ) the Euphrates. The name Israelite denoted, properly, one descended from Israel or Jacob; and the difference between them was, that the name Israelite, being a patronymic derived from one of the founders of their nation, was in use among themselves; the name Hebrew was applied by the Canaanite to them as having come from beyond the river, and was the current name among foreign tribes and nations. See Gesenius' Lexicon on the word () Hebrew. Paul, in the passage before us, means to say that he had as good a claim to the honour of being a native-born descendant of Israel as could be urged by any of them.

Are they the seed of Abraham? Do they boast that they are descended from Abraham. This, with all the Jews, was regarded as a distinguished honour, (see Mt 3:9, Jn 8:39;) and no doubt the false teachers in Corinth boasted of it as eminently qualifying them to engage in the work of the ministry.

So am I. Paul had the same qualification. He was a Jew also by birth. He was of the tribe of Benjamin, Php 3:5.

Philippians 3:5

Verse 5. Circumcised the eighth day. That is, he was circumcised in exact compliance with the law. If there was any ground of confidence from such compliance with the law, he had it. The law required that circumcision should be performed on the eighth day, Gen 17:12, Lev 12:3, Lk 1:59; but it is probable that, in some cases, this was delayed on account of sickness, or from some other cause; and, in the case of proselytes, it was not performed until adult age. See Acts 16:3. But Paul says that, in his case, the law had been literally complied with; and, consequently, all the advantage which could be derived from such a compliance was his.

Of the stock of Israel. Descended from the patriarch Israel, or Jacob; and, therefore, able to trace his genealogy back as far as any Jew could. He was not a proselyte himself from among the heathen, nor were any of his ancestors proselytes. He had all the advantages which could be derived from a regular descent from the venerable founders of the Jewish nation. He was thus distinguished from the Edomites and others who practised circumcision; from the Samaritans, who were made up of a mixture of people; and from many, even among the Jews, whose ancestors had been once heathen, and who had become proselytes.

Of the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was one of the two tribes which remained when the ten tribes revolted under Jeroboam, and, with the tribe of Judah, it ever afterwards maintained its allegiance to God. The idea of Paul is, that he was not one of the revolted tribes, but that he had as high a claim to the honour of being a Jew as any one could boast. The tribe of Benjamin, also, was located near the temple, and indeed it has been said that the temple was on the dividing line between that tribe and the tribe of Judah; and it might have been supposed that there was some advantage in securing salvation from having been born and reared so near where the holy rites of religion were celebrated. If there were any such derived from the proximity of the tribe to the temple, he could claim it; for, though his birth was in another place, yet he was a member of the tribe.

An Hebrew of the Hebrews. This is the Hebrew mode of expressing the superlative degree; and the idea is, that Paul enjoyed every advantage which could possibly be derived from the fact of being a Hebrew. He had a lineal descent from the very ancestor of the nation; he belonged to a tribe that was as honourable as any other, and that had its location near the very centre of religious influence; and he was an Hebrew by both his parents, with no admixture of Gentile blood. On this fact that no one of his ancestors had been a proselyte, or of Gentile extraction--a Jew would pride himself much; and Paul says that he was entitled to all the advantage which could be derived from it.

As touching the law, a Pharisee. In my views of the law, and in my manner of observing it, I was of the straitest sect--a Pharisee. Acts 26:5. The Pharisees were distinguished among the Jewish sects for their rigid adherence to the letter of the law, and had endeavoured to guard it from the possibility of violation by throwing around it a vast body of traditions, which they considered to be equally binding with the written law. Mt 3:7. The Sadducees were much less strict; and Paul here says, that whatever advantage could be derived from the most rigid adherence to the letter of the law was his.

(*) "stock" "race" (b) "Pharisee" Acts 23:6