The life and work of St. Paul

THB SCHOOL OF THE EABBI. 25
difference in the training which he gave to the young Saul, or in the destiny
which he marked out for him. That training, as we can clearly see, was the
ordinary training of every Jewish "
boy. The prejudices of the Pharisaic
house, it has been said, " surrounded his cradle ; his Judaism grew like the
mustard-tree in the Gospel, and intolerance, fanaticism, national hatred, pride,
and other passions, built their nests among its branches." 1 At the age of five
he would begin to study the Bible with his parents at home and even ;
earlier
than this he would doubtless have learnt the Shema 2 and the Hallel (Psalms
cxiii. cxviii.) in whole or in part. At six he would go to his " vineyard," as the
later Rabbis called their schools. At ten he would begin to study those
earlier and simpler developments of the oral law, which were afterwards
collected in the Mishna. At thirteen he would, by a sort of " confirmation,"
become a " Son of the Commandment." 3 At fifteen he would be trained in
yet more minute and burdensome halachoth, analogous to those which ulti-
mately filled the vast mass of the Gemara. At twenty, or earlier, like every
orthodox Jew, he would marry. During many years he would be ranked
among the " pupils of the wise," 4 and be mainly occupied with " the traditions
of the Fathers." 6
It was in studies and habits like these that the young Saul of Tarsus grew
np to the age of thirteen, which was the age at which a Jewish boy, if he were
destined for the position of a Rabbi, entered the school of some great master.
The master among whose pupils Saul was enrolled was the famous Rabban
Gamaliel, a son of Rabban Simeon, and a grandson of Hillel, " a doctor of
6
the law had in reputation among all the people." There were only seven of
the Rabbis to whom the Jews gave the title of Rabban, and three of these
were Gamaliels of this family, who each in turn rose to the high distinction
of Nast, or President of the School. Gamaliel I., like his grandfather |
Hillel, held the somewhat anomalous position of a liberal Pharisee. A Pharisee ,
1
in heartfelt zeal for the traditions of 7 his fathers, he yet had none of the
narrow exclusiveness which characterised Shammai, the rival of his grandfather,
and the hard school which Shammai had founded. His liberality of
intellect showed itself in the permission of Pagan literature ;
his largeness of
heart in the tolerance which breathes through his speech before the Sanhedrin.
1
Hausrath, p. 19.
3
Strictly Deut. vi, 49 ; but also xi 1327 ; Num. XT. 8741.
8 Bar Mitsvah.
4 Pirke Aijhdlk, v. 21. See too Dr. Ginsburg's excellent article on " Education " in
Kitto's Bibl. Cycl.
6 Pirke AbMtii, 1. 1. The two favourite words of the Pharisees were aiepiBi and
T* Trdrpta efrj. -See Acts xxvi. 6; xxii. 3; Jos. B. /. ii. 8, 14; i. 5, 2; Antt. xiii. 10,
6; rvri. 2, adfin.
6 Acts v. 84, xiii. 3. Bee Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden. iii. 274.
7 I have noticed farther on (see Excursus V.) the difficulty of being sure which of the
Gamaliels is referred to when the name occurs in the Talmud. This, however, is less im-
portant, since they were all of the same school, and entirely faithful to Mosaism. We
may see the utter change which subsequently took place in St. Paul's views if we com-
pare Bom. xiv. 5, Col. ii. 16, Gal. iv. 10, with the following anecdote: "Rabban
Gamaliel's ass happened to be laden with honey, and it was found dead one Sabbath
evening, because he had been unwilling to unload it on that day "
(Shdbbath, f . 154, o. 2).