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;
In three particulars he 'might have confidence in the flesh:'
(1) His pure Jewish blood (2 Corinthians 11:22);
(2) His legal preciseness and high status;
(3) His zeal for the law х peritomee (G4061) oktaeemeros (G3637)] - 'being in circumcision an eighth day person;' i:e., not circumcised in later life as a proselyte, but on the eighth day after birth, as the law directed as to Jew-born infants: not after the thirteenth year, as an Ishmaelite.
Of the tribe of Benjamin - son of Rachel, not of the maid-servant: one of the two tribes that returned from Babylon (Ezra 4:1).
Hebrew of the Hebrews - neither, one or other parent Gentile. The "Hebrew," wherever he dwelt, retained the language. Thus Paul, though settled in Tarsus, a Greek city, calls himself a Hebrew. A 'Grecian,' or Hellenist, is the term used for a Greek-speaking Jew (Trench).
Touching the law - i:e., as to legal status and strictness.
A Pharisee - `of the straitest sect' (Acts 26:5).