Acts 22:2-3 (And when they heard that he spoke in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he said,)… The course of instruction which a rabbi had to undergo was lengthened and peculiar. It consisted entirely of the study of the Scriptures and the comments of the sages and masters upon them. The words of Scripture and the sayings of the wise were committed to memory; discussions were carried on about disputed points; and by a rapid fire of questions, which the scholars were allowed to put as well as the masters, the wits of the students were sharpened and their views enlarged. The outstanding qualities of Paul's intellect, which were conspicuous in his subsequent life — his marvellous memory, the keenness of his logic, the superabundance of his ideas, and his original way of taking up every subject — first displayed themselves in this school, and excited, we may well believe, the warm interest of his teacher. He himself learned much here which was of great moment in his subsequent career. Although he was to be specially the missionary of the Gentiles, he was also a great missionary to his own people. In every city he visited where there were Jews he made his first public appearance in the synagogue. There his training as a rabbi secured him an opportunity of speaking, and his familiarity with Jewish modes of thought and reasoning enabled him to address his audiences in the way best fitted to secure their attention. His knowledge of the Scriptures enabled him to adduce proofs from an authority which his hearers acknowledged to be supreme. Besides, he was destined to be the great theologian of Christianity, and the principal writer of the New Testament. Now the New grew out of the Old; the one is in all its parts the prophecy and the other the fulfilment. But it required a mind saturated not only with Christianity, but with the Old Testament, to bring this out; and, at the age when the memory is most retentive, Paul acquired such a knowledge of the Old Testament that everything it contains was at his command: its phraseology became the language of his thinking; he literally writes in quotations, and he quotes from all parts with equal facility — from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Thus was the warrior equipped with the armour and the weapons of the Spirit before he knew in what cause he was to use them. (J. Stalker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)WEB: When they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they were even more quiet. He said, |
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