2 Corinthians 11:24

24. The Jews A less honourable epithet than either of the three in 2 Corinthians 11:22, used here to intimate to the Judaizers whence his severest persecutors came. John, in his gospel, uses the word Jews in the same adverse sense. Note, John 1:19.

Five times A most bitter recollection; for the stripes of antiquity were deaths in the amount of agony they inflicted and the probability of death as the result. Note, John 19:1.

Stripes In italics as not being in the Greek; it being unnecessary to Paul’s readers, who knew what the terrible number forty save one indicated. Forty stripes was the limit by law, (Deuteronomy 25:1;) but Jewish custom, in its caution against accidentally breaking the law, limited it in Paul’s time to thirty-nine. Says Stanley: “The culprit was bound by both hands to a pillar; the officer of the synagogue stripped off his clothes until his back was bared. The officer then ascended a stone behind. The scourge consisted of four thongs of calf skin, and two of asses’ skin. The culprit bent to receive the lashes. The officer struck with one hand with all his force. A reader meanwhile read, first, Deuteronomy 28:58-59; next, Deuteronomy 29:8; lastly, Psalms 78:38. It was so severe a punishment that death often ensued.” The thrice thirteen strokes were impartially distributed; thirteen on the back, thirteen on the right shoulder, and thirteen on the left shoulder.