Both of Paul's parents were of the seed of Jacob. 80 that phrase, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, clearly teaches. Like king Saul, our apostle was of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a native of Tarsus, in Cilicia, no mean city. To all its freemen Augus tus had given the freedom of Roman citizens, because of their fidelity to his interests. The time of Paul's birth is uncertain. From something said by Chrysostom, in one of his homilies, some have inferred that Paul was born two years before our Lord. But this is pretty certainly a mistake; for he was still a young man at Stephen's martyrdom, which occurred certainly as late as A. D. 33. And a man from thirty-five to thirty-seven years old would not be so spoken of. It is therefore highly probable that Paul was considerably younger than Jesus of Nazareth.