Verse 24. Of the Jews, etc. On this verse and the following verse it is of importance to make a few remarks preliminary to the explanation of the phrases.

(1.) It is admitted that the particulars here referred to cannot be extracted out of the Acts of the Apostles. A few can be identified, but there are many more trims referred to here than are specified there.

(2.) This proves that this epistle was not framed from the history, but that they are written independently of one another. -- Paley.

(3.) Yet they are not inconsistent one with the other. For there is no article in the enumeration here which is contradicted by the history; and the history, though silent with respect to many of these transactions, has left space enough to suppose that they may have occurred.

(a.) There is no contradiction between the accounts. Where it is said by Paul that he was thrice beaten with rods, though in the Acts but one beating is mentioned, yet there is no contradiction. It is only the omission to record all that occurred to Paul. But had the history, says Paley, contained an account of four beatings with rods, while Paul mentions here but three, there would have been a contradiction. And so of the other particulars.

(b.) Though the Acts of the Apostles be silent concerning many of the instances referred to, yet that silence may be accounted for on the plan and design of the history. The date of the epistle synchronizes with the beginning of the twentieth chapter of the Acts. The part, therefore, which precedes the twentieth chapter, is the only place in which can be found any notice of the transactions to which Paul here refers. And it is evident from the Acts that the author of that history was not with Paul until his departure from Troas, as related in Ac 16:10. See Barnes "Ac 16:10".

From that time Luke attended Paul in his travels. From that period to the time when this epistle was written, occupies but four chapters of the history; and it is here, if anywhere, that we are to look for the minute account of the life of Paul. But here much may have occurred to Paul before Luke joined him. And as it was the design of Luke to give an account of Paul mainly after he joined him, it is not to be wondered at that many things may have been omitted of his previous life.

(c.) The period of time after the conversion of Paul to the time when Luke joined him at Troas is very succinctly given. That period embraced sixteen years, and is comprised in a few chapters. Yet in that time Paul was constantly travelling. He went to Arabia, returned to Damascus, went to Jerusalem, and then to Tarsus; and from Tarsus to Antioch, and thence to Cyprus, and then through Asia Minor, etc. In this time he must have made many voyages, and been exposed to many perils. Yet all this is comprised in a few chapters, and a considerable portion of them is occupied with an account of public discourses. In that period of sixteen years, therefore, there was ample opportunity for all the occurrences which are here referred to by Paul. See Paley's Horae Paulinae on 2 Cor., No. ix.

(d.) I may add, that from the account which follows the time when Luke joined him at Troas, (from Ac 16:10,) it is altogether probable that he had endured much before. After that time there is mention of just such transactions of scourging, stoning, etc., as are here specified, and it is altogether probable that he had been called to suffer them before. When Paul says "of the Jews," etc., he refers to this because this was a Jewish mode of punishment. It was usual with them to inflict but thirty-nine blows. The Gentiles were not limited by law in the number which they inflicted.

Five times. This was doubtless in their synagogues, and before their courts of justice. They had not the power of capital punishment, but they had the power of inflicting minor punishments. And though the instances are not specified by Luke in the Acts, yet the statement here by Paul has every degree of probability. We know that he often preached in their synagogues, (Ac 9:20; 13:5,14,15; 14:1; 17:17; 18:4); and nothing is more probable than that they would be enraged against him, and would vent their malice in every way possible. They regarded him as an apostate, and a ringleader of the Nazarenes, and they would not fail to inflict on him the severest punishment which they were permitted to.

Forty stripes save one. The word stripes does not occur in the original, but is necessarily understood. The law of Moses (De 25:3;) expressly limited the number of stripes that might be inflicted to forty. In no case might this number be exceeded. This was a humane provision, and one that was not found among the heathen, who inflicted any number of blows at discretion. Unhappily, it is not observed among professedly Christian nations where the practice of whipping prevails; and particularly in slave countries, where the master inflicts any number of blows at his pleasure. In practice among the Hebrews, the number of blows inflicted was, in fact, limited to thirty-nine, lest, by any accident in counting, the criminal should receive more than the number prescribed in the law. There was another reason still for limiting it to thirty-nine. They usually made use of a scourge with three thongs, and this was struck thirteen times. That it was usual to inflict but thirty-nine lashes is apparent from Josephus, Ant. book iv. chap. viii. & 21.

{d} "save once" De 25:3