Acts 6:9

Acts 6:9. Then there arose. The more accurate translation is, ‘But there arose.' The connection of thought is, the teaching and work of Stephen struck a new chord in the heart of the people. Many who had been deaf before, like the priests, were now constrained to listen. A new tide of success apparently had commenced to flow, ‘but there arose' new enemies; the success stirred up a new hindrance.

Certain of the synagogue. An exact classification of these synagogues, which are mentioned here as the scenes of Stephen's disputation, is perhaps impossible; the Greek here is perplexed, and the precise definition of each of these Jewish congregations somewhat doubtful. In the great Jewish city, the common metropolis of the race, all shades of opinion, Greek and Aramaic (Hebrew), of course found a home. The Rabbinic writers tell us that there were in Jerusalem 480 synagogues. This is no doubt an exaggeration, and the number probably a mystic one; still, it is certain that most of the great foreign colonies of Jews, whose members for religious purposes or for business were constantly passing and repassing between their distant homes and the holy city, were represented by a synagogue settled in Jerusalem. Five of these nations are here mentioned as possessing congregations in the capital. They seem to represent generally the three great divisions of Jews settled abroad, Roman, Grecian, Asiatic. The Libertine and Cyrenian synagogues represent Rome; the Alexandrian, Greece; the Cilician and Asian, the East. With the teachers of these different schools of Jewish thought, Stephen came in contact.

Which is called the synagogue of the Libertines. This is not, as some have supposed, a geographical designation, but it stands for a great class of Roman Jews whose fathers were originally sold as captives in Rome after the Expedition of Pompey about B.C. 53. These were for the most part freed, and, by a decree of Tiberius some twelve or thirteen years previous to the present time, had been banished from Rome, and great numbers had taken up their abode in Jerusalem.

And Cyrenians. Cyrene was a great city of the province of Cyrenaica, in North Africa. Josephus relates how one-fourth of its inhabitants were Jews. They had originally been settled there by Ptolemy Lagus. Simon the Cyrenian is mentioned as carrying the cross of Jesus. Cyrenian Jews were present at the feast of Pentecost of Acts 2 (see also Acts 11:20; Acts 13:1).

And Alexandrians. Alexandria was considered at this time to be the second city of the empire. It was the seat of Hellenistic learning and culture. A special quarter of the city was assigned to the Jews, who were estimated as numbering 100,000. Alexander the Great settled them there as colonists, and gave them extraordinary privileges. They had a governor of their own named the Alabarch, and were ruled by their own laws. The famous writer Philo was at this period living in Alexandria.

And of them of Cilicia. This province, geographically speaking, occupied the south-eastern division of what is now known as Asia Minor. Many Jews were settled here. A colony of Jews was settled here by Antiochus the Great. It was at this time a Roman province. St. Paul was a native of Cilicia, and there is no doubt but that among the Rabbis and teachers of the Cilician synagogue, who met and argued with Stephen, not the least distinguished was the brilliant pupil of Gamaliel, the young man Saul.

And of Asia. Not Asia Minor in the modern geographical division, but a province including Mysia, Lydia, and Caria, with Ephesus as the principal city.