Though I Above many others; might have confidence in the flesh That is, I have such pretences for that confidence as many, even Jews, have not. He says I, in the singular number, because the Philippian believers, being of Gentile race, could not speak in that manner. If any other man Gentile or Jew, private Christian or public teacher; thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh That he has cause for so doing; I more I have more reason to think so than he. See 2 Corinthians 11:18-22. Circumcised the eighth day Not at ripe age, as a proselyte, but born among God's peculiar people, and dedicated to him from my infancy, being solemnly admitted into the visible church, according to his ordinance, in the most regular and pure way. It is certain the Jews did not only lay a great deal of stress on the ceremony of circumcision, but on the time of performing it; affirming, that circumcision before the eighth day was no circumcision; and after that time of less value. Hence they thought it necessary to circumcise a child on the sabbath day, when that day was the eighth from its birth, (though all manner of work was forbidden on that day,) rather than defer performing the rite to a day beyond that time, John 7:22; and made it a rule that the rest of the sabbath must give place to circumcision. And this opinion, as it agrees with the text, Genesis 17:12, so it seems to have obtained long before our Lord's time; for the Septuagint and the Samaritan version read Gen 17:14 thus: “The uncircumcised male, who is not circumcised the eighth day, shall be cut off: he hath broken my covenant.” Of the stock of Israel Not the son of a proselyte, nor of the race of the Ishmaelites or Edomites; of the tribe of Benjamin In which Jerusalem and the temple stood, and who kept close to God and his worship when the ten tribes revolted, and fell off to idolatry; a tribe descended from the wife of the patriarch Jacob; and on that account, as Theodoret has observed, more honourable than the four tribes descended from Bilhah and Zilpah, the handmaids; a Hebrew of the Hebrews Descended, by both father and mother, from Abraham's race, without any mixture of foreign blood. “The Jews who lived among the Greeks, and who spake their language, were called Hellenists, Acts 6:1; Acts 9:29; Acts 11:20. Many of these were descended from parents, one of whom only was a Jew. Of this sort was Timothy, Acts 16:1. But those who were born in Judea, of parents rightly descended from Abraham, and who, receiving their education in Judea, spake the language of their forefathers, and were thoroughly instructed in the laws and learning of the Jews, were reckoned more honourable than the Hellenists; and to mark the excellence of their lineage, education, and language, they were called Hebrews; a name the most ancient, and therefore the most honourable, of all names borne by Abraham's descendants. A Hebrew, therefore, possessing the character and qualifications above described, was a more honourable appellation than an Israelite, as that name marked no more but one's being a member of the commonwealth of Israel; which a Jew might be, though born and bred in a foreign country.” Macknight. As touching the law, a Pharisee One of that sect who most accurately observe it, and maintain many of those great truths of religion which the Sadducees and some others reject.
Related Commentaries of Philippians 3:4
Philippians 3:4-5
4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;