Acts 6:9

But there arose certain of them that were of the synagogue called the synagogue of the Libertines, and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen.

'AROSE'-in. hostile sense. Evidently Stephen has being doing the above things for some time. His influence was being felt in Jerusalem; and thus the opposition began to take him very seriously.

'SYNAGOGUE CALLED..'-The city of Jerusalem was filled with. number of synagogues. Jewish tradition says 480.

'LIBERTINES'-3032. Libertinos lib-er-tee'-nos; of Latin origin;. Roman freedman: -Libertine.

The word "libertine" refers to freed slaves and their descendants. 'Jews who had been slaves, and had by one means or another obtained their freedom.' (McGarvey p. 112)

'AND OF THE'-Quite. bit of discussion exists concerning whether this verse is referring to. distinct synagogues or. synagogue composed of freedmen from the following geographical regions. 'Because they had been freed from slavery, they must have been foreign Jews who had now come to live in Jerusalem.' (Stott p. 127) Or, such. synagogue existed for such Jews when they visited the city.

'CYRENIANS'-The chief city in North Africa,. large Jewish population was found here (Acts 2:10). Ptolemy Lagus (312 B.C.) had taken many Jews captive into Egypt.

'ALEXANDRIANS'-'Next to Jerusalem and Rome, there was, perhaps, no city in which the Jewish population was so numerous and influential as at Alexandria, in Egypt. The Jewish population in Alexandria in New Testament times has been put at about 100,000, or about 2/5 of the whole city..Philo, the great teacher, was living in fame and honor in Alexandria, at the time of the events recorded in Acts 6:1.' (Reese p. 259)

'CILICIA'-'The mention of Cilicia suggests that this may have been the synagogue which Saul of Tarsus attended in Jerusalem.' (Bruce p. 133) See Acts 22:3. Cilicia was. Roman province of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), located along the sea coast, north of Cyprus. The capital of this region of Tarsus.

'ASIA'-i.e. the Roman province known as Asia. Asia Minor comprising the same land mass now known as Turkey. Jews from this region also strongly opposed the preaching of Paul (Acts 21:27).

'DISPUTING'-4802. suzeteo sood-zay-teh'-o; from 4862 and 2212; to investigate jointly, i.e. discuss, controvert, cavil: -dispute (with), enquire, question (with), reason (together).

-'undertook to debate' (Gspd). This is really the first time in the book of Acts that we find the opposition to Christianity attempting to stop this movement by engaging it in an intellectual or Scriptural debate. Some suggest that Stephen, before his conversion may have been. member this or these synagogues. 'When men became Christians they looked on their fellow worshippers in the synagogues as excellent prospects for evangelization.' (Reese p. 260) (See Acts 9:20)