Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 11:24
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one - That is, he was five times scourged by the Jews, whose law ( Deuteronomy 25:3 ;) allowed forty stripes; but they, pretending to be lenient, and to act within the letter of the law, inflicted but thirty-nine. To except one stripe from the forty was a very ancient canon among the Jews, as we learn from Josephus, Antiq. lib. iv. ch. viii. sec. 21, who mentions the same thing: πληγας μιας λειπουσης τεσσαπακοντα· forty stripes,... read more
John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Corinthians 11:32
In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king ,.... Aretas or Al-Hareth was a king of Arabia, of the family of the Gassanii; among whom were many of this name F18 Pocock. Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 76, 77, 78. ; and who for some hundreds of years ruled over Syria, of which Damascus was the metropolis. The fourth king of that family was of this name, and perhaps is the person here meant; and after him there were four more of the same family so called; it was a name of Arabian kings in... read more