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Ac 21:39 Ro 11:1 2Co 11:22 Php 3:5

Verse 3. I am verily a man which am a Jew] A periphrasis for, I am really a Jew: and his mentioning this adds weight to the conjecture in the preceding note. He shows that he could not be ignorant of the Jewish religion, as he had had the best instructer in it which Jerusalem could produce.

Yet brought up, &c.] Bp. Pearce proposes that this verse should be thus read and translated: but brought up in this city; instructed at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the most exact manner, being exceedingly zealous for the law of our fathers, as ye all are this day.

Born in Tarsus] See the notes on chap. ix. 11; xxi. 39.

Feet of Gamaliel] See a full account of this man in the note on chap. v. 34.

It has been generally supposed that the phrase, brought up at the feet, is a reference to the Jewish custom, viz. that the disciples of the rabbins sat on low seats, or on the ground, whilst the rabbin himself occupied a lofty chair. But we rather learn, from Jewish authority, that the disciples of the rabbins stood before their teachers, as Vitringa has proved in his treatise Deuteronomy Synag. Vet. lib. i. p. 1, cap. 7. Kypke, therefore, contends that para touv podav, at the feet, means the same as plhsion, near, or before, which is not an unfrequent mode of speech among both sacred and profane writers. Thus, in chap. iv. 35, 37; v. 2, etiqoun para touv podav twn apostolwn, they laid it at the apostles' feet, means only, they brought it to the apostles. So in 2 Macc. iv. 7, para podav hdh ton fohn orwntev keimenon, they saw death already lying at their feet; that is, as the Syriac translator has properly rendered it, they saw death immediately before them. So Themistius, Or. 27, p. 341, who adds the term by which the phrase is explained, esti kai plhsion aei tw dunamenw lambanein, ante pedes id temper et prope est, illi qui accipere potest.

Also Lucian, Deuteronomy Conser. Hist. p. 669, wn para podav oi elegcoi. The refutation of which is at hand. The same kind of form occurs in the Hebrew, Exod. xi. 8: All the people that are at thy feet, �ylgrb beragleica, i.e. who are with thee, under thy command, 2 Sam. xv. 16.

And the king went out, and all his household, wylgrb beraglaiv, at his feet; that is, with him, in his company. See Kypke. The phrase is used in the same sense among the Hindoos: I learned this at my father's feet-instead of, I learned it of my father. I was taught at the feet of such a teacher-my teacher's feet say so; meaning, simply, such and such persons taught me.

According to the perfect manner] That is, according to that strict interpretation of the law, and especially the traditions of the elders, for which the Pharisees were remarkable. That it is Pharisaism that the apostle has in view, when he says he was taught according to, akribeian, the most extinct manner, is evident; and hence, in chap. xxvi. 5, he calls Pharisaism akribestathn, the most exact system; and, under it, he was zealous towards God; scrupulously exact in every part of his duty, accompanying this with reverence to the supreme Being, and deep concern for his honour and glory.

Ver. 3. I am verily a man which am a Jew , etc.] By birth, a thorough genuine one; an Hebrew of the Hebrews, both by father and mother side, both parents being Jews, and so a true descendant from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia ; (see Gill on � Acts 21:39�). yet brought up in this city ; the city of Jerusalem; though Tarsus was the place of his birth, he had his education at Jerusalem: at the feet of Gamaliel ; of whom (see Acts 5:34) it was the custom of scholars among the Jews, to sit at the feet of their masters, when instructed by them; (see Deuteronomy 33:3) hence that saying of Jose ben Joezer f1129 ; �let thy house be an house of resort for the wise men, and be thou dusting thyself, �hylgr rp[b , �with the dust of their feet�:� which by one of their commentators is interpreted two ways, either �as if it was said that thou shouldst walk after them; for he that walks raises the dust with his feet, and he that goes after him is filled with the dust which he raises with his feet; or else that thou shouldst sit at their feet upon the ground, for so it was usual, that the master sat upon a bench, and the scholars sat at his feet upon the floor.�

This latter sense is commonly understood, and adapted to the passage here, as illustrating it; though it may be, that the sense may only be this, that the apostle boarded in Gamaliel�s house, ate at his table, and familiarly conversed with him; which he modestly expresses by being brought up at his feet, who was a man that was had in great reverence with the Jews; and this sense seems the rather to be the sense of the passage, since his learning is expressed in the next clause; and since; till after Gamaliel�s time, it was not usual for scholars to sit when they learned; for the tradition is f1131 , that �from the times of Moses to Rabban Gamaliel, they (the scholars) did not learn the law but standing; after Rabban Gamaliel died, sickness came into the world, and they learned the law sitting; and hence it is said, that after Rabban Gamaliel died, the glory of the law ceased.�

It follows, [and] taught according to the perfect law of the fathers ; not the law which the Jewish fathers received from Moses, though Paul was instructed in this, but in the oral law, the �Misna�, or traditions of the elders, in which he greatly profited, and exceeded others, ( Galatians 1:14). And was zealous towards God ; or �a zealot of God�; one of those who were called �Kanaim�, or zealots; who in their great zeal for the glory of God, took away the lives of men, when they found them guilty of what they judged a capital crime; (see Matthew 10:4, John 16:2). The Vulgate Latin version reads, �zealous of the law�; both written and oral, the law of Moses, and the traditions of the fathers: as ye all are this day ; having a zeal for God, and the law, but not according to knowledge.