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5. περιτομῇ. “As to circumcision.” For the dative of reference cp. e.g. Rom 12:10, τῇ φιλαδελφίᾳ φιλόστοργοι, τῇ σπουδῇ μὴ ὀκνηροί.
ὀκταήμερος. He was a born child of the covenant, and so received its seal as early as possible; no proselyte, circumcised as an adult; no Ishmaelite, waiting till he was thirteen (Gen 17:25); cf. Joseph. Antt. i. 13 § 1, Ἄραβες μετὰ ἔτος τρισκαιδέκατον [ποιοῦνται τὰς περιτομάς].
ἐκ γένους Ἰσραήλ. “Descended from Israel’s race.” “Israel” here may either be Israel collective, the chosen Nation, or Israel individual, the Patriarch who became “a prince with God” (Gen 32:28). The latter reference gives the more vivid emphasis, and so seems the more probable here.
See Trench, N.T. Synonyms, § xxxix, and Lightfoot on Gal 6:16, for the idea proper to the words Israel, Israelite. Lightfoot says, “Israel is the sacred name for the Jews, as the nation of the Theocracy, the people under God’s covenant. Compare Eph 2:12 ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς πολιτείας τοῦ Ἰσραήλ: Rom 9:4 οἵτινές εἰσιν Ἰσραηλῖται, ὧν ἡ υἱοθεσία κ.τ.λ.… Joh 1:48 ἴδε ἀληθῶς Ἰσραηλίτης.”
Βενιαμείν. So Rom 11:1; and cp. Act 13:21. His tribe might give him special occasion for πεποίθησις. Its head was Jacob’s much-loved son; it gave Israel its first lawful king (whose name the Apostle bore); and it had proved “faithful among the faithless” when, under Rehoboam, the Ten Tribes forsook the Davidic crown (1Ki 12:21). Ehud (Judges 3) and Mordecai (Est 2:5) were Benjamites. St Paul’s character nobly illustrates the courage and the fidelity of his tribe.—See further Conybeare and Howson, Life &c. of St Paul, ch. ii.
Ἑβραῖος ἐξ Ἑβραίων. “Hebrew, and of Hebrew parentage.” Cp. again 2Co 11:22.—In the O.T. and Apocrypha the word “Hebrew” (occurring about 40 times altogether) is the distinctive national term, by which an Israelite would describe himself, or be described, as against such similar terms as Philistine &c. But in the N.T. (not in later Christian writers, or in Jewish or pagan literature) it denotes the Jew who cherished his national language and manners, as distinguished from the “Hellenist,” who usually spoke Greek and largely conformed to Gentile customs. See Act 6:1. The “Hebrew” would thus pose as one of an inner national circle. See further Trench, ut supra, and Conyb. and Howson, ch. ii.
κατὰ νόμον. “The law,” in the sense of the Mosaic ordinances, is obviously intended. Here, as often, the article is omitted, because the word is otherwise sufficiently defined.
Φαρισαῖος. So Act 23:6; Act 26:5; cp. Gal 1:14. In rabbinic Hebrew the word is פְּרוּשִׁין, P’rûshîn, from פָּרַשׁ, “to separate, to define.” “Suidas s.v. quotes Cedrenus as follows, Φαρισαῖοι, οἱ ἑρμηνευόμενοι ἀφωρισμένοι· παρὰ τὸ μερίζειν καὶ ἀφορίζειν ἑαυτοὺς τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων εἴς τε τὸ καθαρώτατον τοῦ βίου καὶ ἀκριβέστατον, καὶ εἰς τὰ τοῦ νόμου ἐντάλματα” (Grimm, ed. Thayer, s.v.). See Josephus, Antt. xiii. 18, 23, xvii. 3, xviii. 2, for accounts of the Pharisees by a Pharisee of the Apostolic age. “The Pharisees were the enthusiasts of the later Judaism” (Conyb. and Howson, as above); the votaries of religious precision, elaborate devotion, vigorous proselytism, exclusive privilege, and the most intense nationalism. They were in high esteem with the common people, according to Josephus. He gives their numbers as about 6000 (Antt. xvii. 3); when an oath of allegiance to Herod I. was demanded, οἵδε οἱ ἄνδρες οὐκ ὤμοσαν, ὄντες ὑπὲρ ἑξακισχίλιοι.
St Paul was “son of a Pharisee” (Act 23:6; though Lightfoot here suggests that this means “a Pharisee’s disciple”); and the student and follower (Act 22:3) of the Pharisee (Act 5:34) Gamaliel, probably “Rabban” Gamaliel, grandson of Hillel.