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. And they were not able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake.

Synagogue ... used here in the singular appears to be the designation of a single place frequented by the various persons mentioned; but the existence of so many synagogues in Jerusalem at that time (Halleck says "there were four hundred and eighty")[22] has led some to suppose that two or more synagogues are in view here; but McGarvey was right in viewing the question as "of no special importance."[23]

Libertines ... would be better translated "Freedmen," as in the English Revised Version (1885) margin. Members of this group had once been slaves, but had received their liberty. A great many of the Christians in those early years were slaves, the same being indicated by their names as given in Romans 16; but the Libertines had been freed. The place names here refer to non-Palestinian areas of the Roman empire populated by Jews of the Diaspora. Alexandria, aside from Rome and Jerusalem, was the largest Jewish city of antiquity; and Cyrene and Cilicia might have been mentioned by Luke because of the connection of Rufus, Alexander, and Simon with the former, and the fact of Paul's being from Tarsus, the principal city of the latter.

Not able to withstand the wisdom ... It is rather remarkable that wisdom should have been ascribed to Stephen, in view of the fact that in the gospels it is attributed to our Lord (Matthew 13:54, etc.) and mentioned as belonging to Solomon (Matthew 12:42). "It implies something higher even than the `consolation' from which Barnabas took his name."[24] It was this great wisdom of Stephen that enabled him completely to vanquish all opponents of the truth he proclaimed.

[22] G. B. F. Hallock, op. cit., p. 579.

[23] J. W. McGarvey, op. cit., p. 112.

[24] E. H. Plumptre, op. cit., p. 36.