2 Corinthians 11:24

ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων. These words belong to the first clause only: perhaps he meant to go on to ὑπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν, but forgot to make the formal antithesis. For this use of ὑπό comp. 1 Corinthians 10:9; 1 Thessalonians 2:14; Matthew 17:12. None of these Jewish floggings are recorded elsewhere. Such punishments, like Roman scourging or beating with rods, could be so severe as sometimes to cause death; but such a result under Jewish law would be rare. Deuteronomy 25:1-3, the earliest passage in which this form of punishment is expressly mentioned, forbids the infliction of more than 40 stripes; and it was usual to inflict only 39, for fear of a miscount. Others explain that 13 stripes were given with a whip that had three lashes; or that 13 were given on three different parts of the body, viz. right and left shoulders and the breast. But ‘cause to lie down’ (Deuteronomy 25:2) points to the bastinado, which was common in Egypt. Josephus (Ant. IV. viii. 21) calls it τιμωρίαν ταύτην αἰσχίστην. Fatal blows inflicted by a master on his slaves (Exodus 21:20) are not here in point. With παρὰ μιαν comp. τῶν τεσσαράκοντα ἐτῶν παρὰ τριάκονθʼ ἡμέρας συμπεπληρωμένων (Joseph. Ant. IV. viii. 1) and παρὰ ἔν πάλαισμα ἔδραμε νικᾶν Ὀλυμπιάδα, ‘he was within one bout of winning, won an Olympic victory all but one wrestling-bout’ (Hdt. IX. xxxiii. 4). For the omission of πληγάς comp. Luke 12:47 and παιειν ὀλίγας (Xen. Anab. v. viii. 12).