This article is about Gamaliel the Elder. For other individuals and uses see Gamaliel (disambiguation)

Gamaliel the Elder (gəmā'lēəl), or Rabbi Gamaliel I, was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the mid first century and the teacher of Paul the Apostle. He was the grandson of the great Jewish teacher Hillel the Elder.He died twenty years before the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem. Gamaliel was a guardian of the early Nazarene Christian church (Acts 5), and it is noteworthy that James the Just was martyred (62 AD) soon after Gamaliel's death.

As Rabban

In the Talmud, this Gamaliel bears the title "Rabban", a rabbinic title given to the Nasi (head) of the Sanhedrin, of which he is the first of seven appointed leaders of that school of Hillel which earned the title.

In the Mishna he is spoken of as the author of certain legal ordinances affecting the welfare of the community and regulating certain issues concerning conjugal rights. Among his rulings, Rabban Gamaliel decided that for the purposes of remarriage a single witness could provide sufficient evidence of the death of a husband (Yevamot 16:7).

In the tradition was also preserved the text of the epistles regarding the insertion of the intercalary month, which he sent to the inhabitants of Galilee and the Darom (southern Judea) and to the Jews of the Diaspora (Sanhedrin II b and elsewhere). He figures in two anecdotes as the religious adviser of Agrippa I and his wife Cypris (Pesahim 88 ii). Of his teaching, beyond the saying preserved in Aboth i. 16, which enjoins the duty of study and of scrupulousness in the observance of religious ordinances, only a very remarkable characterization of the different natures of students remains. This compares distinct types of student to varieties of fish. (Aboth di R. Nathan, cb. xl.).

Gamaliel I held a reputation of one of the greatest teachers in the annals of Judaism. Mish. Sotah ix.15 pays tribute to this quality, "Since Rabban Gamaliel the Elder died there has been no more reverence for the law, and purity and abstinence died out at the same time." While believing the law to be wholly inspired by God, he ruled that the sabbath laws should be less rigorous and more realistic. He also argued that the law should protect women during divorce and urged Jews to be kind towards Gentiles.

Gamaliel is also thought to be the originator of many legal ordinances. He fathered a son, whom he called Simeon, after his father's name, and a daughter, who married the priest Simon ben Nathanael.

In Acts of the Apostles

The author of Acts of the Apostles (in 5:34-40), introduces Gamaliel as a Pharisee and celebrated scholar of the Mosaic Law. Citing past revolts based on the prophesied messiah such as Theudas and Judas of Galilee, Gamaliel advises his fellow members of the Sanhedrin not to put to death Peter and the other apostles for preaching the gospel. The council agreed with his ruling. Acts 22:3 identifies Gamaliel as the teacher of Saul of Tarsus. In Acts 22:3 Paul tells a crowd in Jerusalem, "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day."^[1] But we are told nothing specific about the nature or the extent of the influence which he exercised upon the future apostle of the Gentiles (see also Philippians 3:4-6). Shabbath 30b mentions a student of Gamaliel I who displayed "impudence in learning," a person some scholars identify as possibly referring to Paul. Other scholars, such as Helmut Koester, are doubtful that Paul studied under this famous rabbi because of the marked contrast in the tolerance that Gamaliel is said to have expressed about Christianity when contrasted with the "murderous rage" against Christians that Paul is said to have displayed though Paul mentions only that he held the outer garments of those who stoned a Christian not that he stoned Christians.

As a Christian saint

Saint Stephen Mourned by Saints Gamaliel and Nicodemus, follower of Carlo Saraceni, c. 1615, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Because of Gamaliel's tolerant attitude toward the primitive Christians, at an early date Christian ecclesiastical tradition has supposed that Gamaliel I embraced the Christian faith, and remained a member of the Sanhedrin for the purpose of secretly helping his fellow-Christians (compare Recognitions of Clement I.65,66). According to Photius, he was baptized by Peter and John, together with his son and with Nicodemus. His body was said to be preserved at Pisa, in Italy. He was previously listed in the Roman Martyrology (Saints in the first millennium of the Church being fallibly canonized by popular acclaim), and was so listed as recently as 1956.^[2] Today he is not listed in the Roman Martyrology and is not considered a saint by the Catholic Church due to the lack of evidence and improbability of his baptism. Contemporary Jewish records continue to list him first among the Sanhedrin; this would be highly unlikely if he had been a convert to Christianity.^[3]

See also

List of names referring to El

References

1. ^ Various translations of Acts 22:3
2. ^ Roman Martyrology for August 3
3. ^ Cheyne and Black (1903). Encyclopedia Biblica. New York: Macmillan. 

External sources

• The Jewish Encyclopedia on Gamaliel I
• Perspectives on Transformational Leadership in the Sanhedrin of Ancient Judaism

Donate to Wikimedia