josephus on gamaliel
I wish we could examine Gamaliel’s life from a closer lens, but unfortunately we do not have much more information that what we find in Scripture. Ultimately, Gamaliel knew that God accomplishes His purposes (Isa. Like Theudas, he died and his followers dispersed. For someone like Bruce Chilton, this makes the account in Acts anachronistic and unreliable, despite the fact that Gamaliel’s standing in the Council is consistent with other sources (ABD 2:904). Gamaliel’s conclusion is that a messianic movement which is from human origin is doomed to fail; but if it is of divine origin it is destined to succeed.
According to Polhill, Josephus had said, “the Sadducean officials usually yielded to the recommendations of the Pharisees because the latter enjoyed the support of the masses (Polhill, Acts p. 170).
The solution, however, is that Gamaliel was apparently referring to a previous revolt led by a man named Theudas (one not mentioned by Josephus). Interestingly, you can make the point that this is almost how we perceive Jesus to be when we read His narrative. He then goes on to talk about other people came forward claiming to be the messiah, but were just fakes. As a side, the excellence and honorable standing of Gamaliel probably transferred in some extent to Paul later in life and may be part of why Paul was such a great thinker and debater. Not only was Paul an expert in Jewish law, he sat under one of the greatest teachers in the ancient world, and that was Gamaliel. Theudas is known from Josephus (Antiq. Parts of the thank offering and Nazirite's offering. 21:24-27, 46, Mark 11:18, Luke 22:2, Acts 5:16-21 etc.). That’s where a wise old Pharisee named Gamaliel steps in. Although Joshua himself was not a scholar, he was solicitous for the instruction of the young, and provided schools in every town for children over five years of age, earning thereby the praises of posterity.
In addition, it does not seem to me Peter (or anyone in Acts) attempts to “prove the resurrection” via signs, they simply state “we witnessed everything.” There is no modern, rationalistic apologetic strategy in Peter’s sermon or in his defense before the Sanhedrin. I believe that Gamaliel gave this advice because he had seen from two past similar instances that if the movement is led by humans and not by God, it will fail all on its own. He did his graduate work at Moody Theological Seminary. He is therefore regarded as the founder of the institution of formal Jewish education. ( Log Out /
“Gamaliel’s advice was sound and yet also a bit ironical. And, of course, I do agree with Natalie’s statement that he probably was just saying “…if the council was right, if the council did not kill the Messiah, then the disciples were following Jesus falsely and will fail.”. I am more inclined toward the first possibility, FWIW. If Luke were creating the story himself, perhaps he would have worked harder to connect the two parts of the book. Jesus the Pharisee: A New Look at the Jewishness of Jesus. The sermons are evangelistic and apologetic, with a heavy emphasis on explaining what Jesus’ death means in salvation history. When Josephus ("Vita," § 38) speaks of Hillel's great-grandson, Simeon ben Gamaliel I., as belonging to a very celebrated family (γένους δφόδρα λαμροῦ), he probably refers to the glory which the family owed to the activity of Hillel and Gamaliel I.
That is my guess. He was active after A.D. 25 and was reputed to have been a great teacher of the Law. He wrote, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more” (Phil 3:4), saying I was “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless” (Phil 3:5-6). Some in which it makes a real difference in our understanding of critical things are the contradictions between his accounts and Paul’s of the same situations. “Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone (Acts 5:38).” He then goes on to say Let them go! I think it is important to note that Gamaliel was a respected teacher of the Law, which would have been both a religious and political role. Gamaliel’s point here is to argue that recent history shows that if God was really behind any of these messianic movements, then their leaders would not have been executed. Maybe Gamaliel secretly knew this was of God and just didn’t make that known. Thank you.
Aramaic speaking messianic sects are OK, but not diaspora Jews getting too bold in their condemnation of the Temple! He was likely the grandson of the famous Hillel and is mentioned in the Mishnah. 5) the massive Temple veil torn top to bottom in a clearly “of God” symbol… a powerful one that no priest or prominent leader could be unaware of, even if somehow missing the 4 prior things… nor would anyone in Jerusalem miss the talk about all these things. Gamaliel is mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus (Vita, 38) and in the Talmud, and both are with all due respect. the several well-crafted supposedly spontaneous speeches by Peter, Paul, Stephen). (I posted a few comments about his relationship with Paul here.). Another possibility is Gamaliel was less inclined to defend Greek-speaking Christians who were attacking the Temple in a diaspora synagogue. “Careful Deliberation”, as Professor Long states, does seem to be the basis for Gamaliel’s advice.
Still, the non-allusion to the events of the crucifixion in Acts is something I had not considered before…I need to think more about this. I think Gamaliel gave his advice in effort to save the disciples lives.
I think Gamaliel knowing the scripture might have been thinking to himself that what Peter was saying might be true, because if not, then why would an unschooled fisherman get into a theological debate about something he would not have any formal training in? (Jipp 58). But if these guys are claiming something that isn’t true then it too will fail like those before them.
And in addressing the crowd he did not want to make the same mistake twice. Perhaps Acts 2:22 indicates Peter and the others could supplement a sermon with examples, God commended Jesus to Israel through “mighty works, wonders and signs,” the same sorts of things the Apostles continued to do in Jerusalem in the first few chapters of Acts. He refers to two other “messianic pretenders” which gathered some following but eventually came to nothing. Gamaliel urges careful deliberation before acting.
The apostles had just been brought before the council and refused to stop preaching about Jesus Christ (Acts 5:28), but the Apostle Peter had said, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29), so when the council “heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them” (Acts 5:33).
It may be that they are worthy of death, but one must think about what the ramifications of another execution of a messianic pretender. People don’t often did people back then see miracles happen. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. That’s because the One in us, is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
1 Chronicles 16:11 Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! I do not believe that this was “Shrewd politics” by Gamaliel as Dunn states. Gamaliel urges careful deliberation before acting. I must say, I am one of those Christians that tended to think of Gamaliel’s words as a warning to the Sadducees. He basically was telling them not to worry because if it is run by humans it would eventually fail and that there are more important things to worry about.
It was under Gamaliel that Paul developed an expert knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures or the Law. Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Coins for redemption of the first born son, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joshua_ben_Gamla&oldid=986815348, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from January 2012, All Wikipedia articles in need of updating, Articles needing additional references from January 2017, All articles needing additional references, Articles with multiple maintenance issues, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia without a Wikisource reference, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 3 November 2020, at 04:41. God not only raised Jesus from the dead but exalted him as Prince and Savior that way he can give forgive sins. Simeon b. Gamaliel died before the outbreak was quelled; he is said to have been executed by the Romans (Sem. Who’s the Gamaliel in your life? When Paul was arrested, he told the people and the authorities, “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” (Acts 22:3). Already his counsel was finding fulfillment—in the growing Christian community, in their signs and wonders, in their escape from jail just the night before.
Particularly since it was in the Hebrew tongue that he spoke to them in (Acts 22:2), so they respected Gamaliel enough that the council followed his advice (Acts 5:39) and they released them, and they even allowed Paul to speak.
In the last chapter Peter was speaking boldly to the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:13), and scripture says that when the Sanhedrin saw that Peter and John were unschooled, ordinary men they took note that they were with Jesus. He had experience with this sort of thing, and he wanted to warn the others what would happen if it was truly led by humans and not by God. There is only one other biblical reference to Gamaliel and that’s found in one of Paul’s letters.
Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. He then goes on to state that “but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them” (Acts 5:39). He tells them that, because the disciples are speaking the truth, the counsel is fighting against God, not the the disciples. But I don’t think that Gamaliel gave his opinion here lightly. Talmud Yebamoth 61a, note 20 (Rabbi Epstein edition). I think that Gamaliel knew the power of God and that he was not willing to test that out. However, he knew that if it was led by God, it would succeed no matter what. If anything, this would have been taken as opposing the Jews. I must check into it. If this is true then, Gamaliel is warning and suggesting that the Sadducees leave it alone and let God fulfill His own purposes. It seems to me to appear as legitimate wisdom from Gamaliel (though he may have still opposed the disciples in principle), and not political statements to appease his fellow council members. 13:11-12). Why does Gamaliel give this advice to the Council?
[8] The Talmud[9] states; "Joshua b. Gamala came and ordained that teachers of young children should be appointed in each district and each town, and that children should enter school at the age of six or seven." You do however bring up a serious problem, since Peter does not (in the story Luke is telling) refer to the spectacular events you list above nor does Gamalliel seem to know them (or care about them). He saw what it was like when there were these clouds that came and he was coming from a place of experience seeing how he has gotten himself into some sticky situations of the past. Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Acts 5:34 – Gamaliel Defends the Disciples, Biblical Studies Carnival – February 2015 |.
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