Acts 22:3

γεγενν. ἐν Τ., see above p. 202. ἀνατεθ. δὲ : although by birth a foreign Jew, yet brought up in Jerusalem, and so belonging to his hearers. It was important for the Apostle to emphasise this, as his close association with Jerusalem had a significant bearing on his future life. The comma best after Γαμ., so that each clause begins with a participle, but Weiss places comma after ταύτῃ (so De Wette, Hackett). Probably Paul went to Jerusalem not later than thirteen, possibly at eleven, for his training as a teacher of the law. ἀνατεθ.: only in Luke, cf. Acts 7:20-21; Luke 4:16 (W.H [365] margin), “educated,” so in classical Greek, 4Ma 10:2; 4Ma 11:15, but in latter passage AR τραφ. In Wis 7:4 we have ἐν σπαργάνοις ἀνετράφην (A ἀνεστρ.). παρὰ τοὺς πόδας : the more usual attitude for teacher and taught according to the N.T. and the Talmud; according to later Talmudic tradition the sitting on the ground was not customary until after the death of Gamaliel I., J. Lightfoot, Hor. Heb., on Luke 2:46; cf. also Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. 1, p. 326, E.T., and Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, pp. 14, 15, 2nd edit.; even if the later tradition was true, the scholar standing would still be at the feet of his teacher on his raised seat. κατὰ ἀκρίβειαν : noun only here in N.T., but cf. Acts 26:5, “according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers,” R.V., and so practically A.V. For a comment on the words cf. Jos., Ant., xvii., 2, 4, Vita, 38, and B.J., ii., 8, 18. φαρισαῖοι οἱ δοκοῦντες μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἐξηγεῖσθαι τὰ νόμιμα : Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, ii., 314, note on ἀκρίβεια as used by Josephus and St. Paul, Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. ii., p. 54. E.T. Whether therefore τοῦ πατ. νόμου (3Ma 1:23) included anything besides the Mosaic law or not, the words before us at least refer to the strictness upon which the Pharisees prided themselves in the observance of the law. In Galatians 1:14 St. Paul speaks of being a zealot of the traditions handed down from his fathers, πατρικῶν, where the traditions are apparently distinguished from the written law, Jos., Ant., xiii., 16, 2, and 10, 6; but the “oral law” which the scribes developed was apparently equally binding with the written Thorah in the eyes of the Pharisees, Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. ii., pp. 10, 11, E.T., but cf. also Lightfoot, u. s. The word πατρῴου would appeal to the hearts of the people, who loved the Thorah as the chief good, but St. Chrysostom's words are also to be remembered: “all this seems indeed to be spoken on their side, but in fact it told against them, since he, knowing the law, forsook it” Hom., xlvii. ζηλωτὴς ὑπάρ. τοῦ Θεοῦ : St. Paul might have called himself a zealot of the law, or a zealot of God (Lightfoot, u. s.), cf. Malachi 4:2; Malachi 4:2, ζηλ. τῶν νόμων, sued of Phinehas, 4Ma 18:12. καθὼς πάντες … σήμερον : he recognises that their present zeal was a zeal for God, as his own had been, ἀλλ ̓ οὐ κατʼ ἐπίγνωσιν, Romans 10:2 : argumentum concilians, Bengel.

[365] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.