Saul having been thus endowed with a liberal education at home, and
with the principles of the Jewish faith, as far as his age would
allow,――went up to Jerusalem to enjoy the instruction of Gamaliel.
There is every reason to believe that this was Gamaliel the elder,
grandson of Hillel, and son of Simeon, (probably the same, who, in
his old age, took the child Jesus in his arms,) and father of another
Simeon, in whose time the temple was destroyed; for the Rabbinical
writings give a minute account of him, as connected with all these
persons. This Gamaliel succeeded his ancestors in the rank which
was then esteemed the highest; this was the office of “head of the
college,” otherwise called “Prince of the Jewish senate.” Out of
respect to this most eminent Father of Hebrew learning, as it is
recorded, Onkelos, the renowned Chaldee paraphrast, burned at his
funeral, seventy pounds of incense, in honor to the high rank and
learning of the deceased. This eminent teacher was at first not
ill-disposed towards the apostles, who, he thought, ought to be left
to their own fate; being led to this moderate and reasonable course,
perhaps, by the circumstance that the Sadducees, whom he hated, were
most active in their persecution. The sound sense and humane wisdom
that mark his sagely eloquent opinion, so wonderful in that bloody time,
have justly secured him the admiration and respect of all Christian
readers of the record; and not without regret would they learn, that
the after doings of his life, unrecorded by the sacred historian, yet
on the testimony of others, bear witness against him as having changed
from this wise principle of action. If there is any ground for the
story which Maimonides tells, it would seem, that when Gamaliel saw the
new heretical sect multiplying in his own days, and drawing away the
Israelites from the Mosaic forms, he, together with the Senate, whose
President he was, gave his utmost endeavors to crush the followers
of Christ, and composed a form of prayer, by which God was besought
to exterminate these heretics; which was to be connected to the usual
forms of prayer in the Jewish liturgy. This story of Maimonides, if
it is adopted as true, on so slight grounds, may be reconciled with
the account given by Luke, in two ways. First, Gamaliel may have
thought that the apostles and their successors, although heretics,
were not to be put down by human force, or by the contrivances of
human ingenuity, but that the whole matter should be left to the
hidden providence of God, and that their extermination should be
obtained from God by prayers. Or, second,――to make a more simple and
rational supposition,――he may have been so struck by the boldness of
the apostles, and by the evidence of the miracle performed by them,
as to express a milder opinion on them at that particular moment; but
afterwards may have formed a harsher judgment, when, contrary to all
expectation, he saw the wonderful growth of Christianity, and heard
with wrath and uncontrollable indignation, the stern rebuke of Stephen.
But these loose relics of tradition, offered on such very suspicious
authority as that of a Jew of the ages when Christianity had become so
odious to Judaism by its triumphs, may without hesitation be rejected
as wholly inconsistent with the noble spirit of Gamaliel, as expressed
in the clear, impartial account of Luke; and both of the suppositions
here offered by others, to reconcile sacred truth with mere falsehood,
are thus rendered entirely unnecessary.
_At the feet_ of this Gamaliel, then, was Saul brought up.
(Acts xxii. 3.) It has been observed on this passage, by
learned commentators, that this expression refers to the fashion
followed by students, of sitting and lying down on the ground or
on mats, at the feet of their teacher, who sat by himself on a
higher place. And indeed so many are the traces of this fashion
among the recorded labors of the Hebrews, that it does not seem
possible to call it in question. The labors of Scaliger in his
“Elenchus Trihaeresii,” have brought to light many illustrations
of the point; besides which another is offered in a well-known
passage from פרקי אבות PIRKE ABOTH, or “Fragments of the Fathers.”
Speaking of the wise, it is said, “Make thyself dusty in
the dust of their feet,”――הוי מתאבק בעפר רגליהם――meaning that the
young student is to be a diligent hearer at the feet of the
wise;――thus raising a truly “learned dust,” if the figure may be
so minutely carried out. The same thing is farther illustrated
by a passage which Buxtorf has given in his Lexicon of the
Talmud, in the portion entitled ברכית (BERACHOTH,) מנעו בניכם מן ההגיון
והושיבום בין ברכי תלמידי חכמים “Take away your sons from the study of the
Bible, and make them sit between the knees of the disciples of
the wise;” which is equivalent to a recommendation of oral, as
superior to written instruction. The same principle, of varying
the mode in which the mind receives knowledge, is recognized
in modern systems of education, with a view to avoid the
self-conceit and intolerant pride which solitary study is apt
to engender, as well as because, from the living voice of the
teacher, the young scholar learns in that practical, simple mode
which is most valuable and efficient, as it is that, in which
alone all his knowledge of the living and speaking world must be
obtained. It should be observed, however, that Buxtorf seems to
have understood this passage rather differently from Witsius,
whose construction is followed in the translation given above.
Buxtorf, following the ordinary meaning of הגיבן (HEG-YON,) seems
to prefer the sense of “meditation.” He rejects the common
translation――“study of the Bible,” as altogether irreligious.
“In hoc sensu, praeceptum impium est.” He says that other Glosses
of the passage give it the meaning of “boyish talk,” (_garritu
puerorum_.) But this is a sense perfectly contradictory to all
usage of the word, and was evidently invented only to avoid
the seemingly irreligious character of the literal version.
But why may not all difficulties be removed by a reference to
the primary signification, which is “solitary meditation,” in
opposition to “instruction by others?”
We have in the gospel history itself, also, the instance of
Mary. (Luke x. 39.) The passage in Mark iii. 32, “The multitude
sat down around him,” farther illustrates this usage. There
is an old Hebrew tradition, mentioned with great reverence by
Maimonides, to this effect. “From the days of Moses down to
Rabban Gamaliel, they always studied the law, standing; but
after Rabban Gamaliel was dead, weakness descended on the world,
and they studied the law, sitting.” (_Witsius._)