The trade which the parents of Saul selected for their son, is described in the sacred apostolic history as that of a “tent-maker.” A reference to the local history of his native province throws great light on this account. In the wild mountains of Cilicia, which everywhere begin to rise from the plains, at a distance of seven or eight miles from the coast, anciently ranged a peculiar species of long-haired goats, so well known by name throughout the Grecian world, for their rough and shaggy aspect, that the name of “Cilician goat” became a proverbial expression, to signify a rough, ill-bred fellow, and occurs in this sense in the classic writers. From the hair of these, the Cilicians manufactured a thick, coarse cloth,——somewhat resembling the similar product of the camel’s hair,——which, from the country where the cloth was made, and where the raw material was produced, was calledciliciumorcilicia, and under this name it is very often mentioned, both by Grecian and Roman authors. The peculiar strength and incorruptibility of this cloth was so well known, that it was considered as one of the most desirable articles for several very important purposes, both in war and navigation, being the best material for the sails of vessels, as well as for military tents. But it was principally used by the Nomadic Arabs of the neighboring deserts of Syria, who, ranging from Amanus and the sea, to the Euphrates, and beyond, found the tents manufactured from this stout cloth, so durable and convenient, that they depended on the Cilicians to furnish them with the material of their moveable homes; and over all the east, theciliciumwas in great demand, for shepherd’s tents. A passage from Pliny forms a splendid illustration of this interesting little point. “The wandering tribes, (Nomades,) and the tribes who plunder the Chaldeans, are bordered by Scenites, (tent-dwellers,) who are themselves also wanderers, but take their name from their tents, which they raise ofCiliciancloth, wherever inclination leads them.” This was therefore an article of national industry among the Cilicians, and afforded in its manufacture, profitable employment to a great number of workmen, who were occupied, not in large establishments like the great manufactories of modern European nations, but, according to the invariable mode in eastern countries, each one by himself, or at most with one or two companions. Saul, however, seems to havebeen occupied only with the concluding part of the manufacture, which was the making up of the cloth into the articles for which it was so well fitted by its strength, closeness and durability. He was a maker of tents of Cilician camlet, or goat’s-hair cloth,——a business which, in its character and implements, more resembled that of a sail-maker than any other common trade in this country. The details of the work must have consisted in cutting the camlet of the shape required for each part of the tent, and sewing it together into the large pieces, which were then ready to be transported, and to form, when hung on tent-poles, the habitations of the desert-wanderers.This illustration of Saul’s trade is from Hug’s Introduction,Vol. II.note on§85,pp.328, 329, original,§80,pp.335, 336, translation. On the manufacture of this cloth, see Gloss. Basil,sub voc.Κιλικιος τραγος,&c.“Cilician goat,——a rough fellow;——for there are such goats in Cilicia; whence also, things made of their hair are calledcilicia.” He quotes also Hesychius, Suidas, and Salmasius in Solinum,p.347. As to the use of the cloths in war and navigation, he refers to Vegetius, De re milit.IV.6, and Servius in GeorgicaIII.312.——The passage in Pliny, showing their use by the Nomadic tribes of Syria and Mesopotamia forshepherd’s tents, is in his Natural History,VI.28. “Nomadas infestatoresque Chaldaeorum, Scenitae claudunt, et ipsi vagi, sed a tabernaculis cognominati quae ciliciis metantur, ubi libuit.” The reading of this passage which I have adopted is from the Leyden Hackian edition of Pliny, which differs slightly from that followed by Hug, as the critical will perceive. Hemsen quotes this note almost verbatim from Hug. (Hemsen’s “Apostel Paulus,” page 4.)The particular species or variety of goat, which is thus described as anciently inhabiting the mountains of Cilicia, can not now be distinctly ascertained, because no scientific traveler has ever made observations on the animals of that region, owing to the many difficulties in the way of any exploration of Asia Minor, under the barbarous Ottoman sway. Neither Griffith’s Cuvier nor Turton’s Linnaeus contains any reference to Cilicia, as inhabited by any species or variety of the genusCapra. The nearest approach to certainty, that can be made with so few data, is the reasonable conjecture that the Cilician goat was a variety of the speciesCapraAegagrus, to which the common domestic goat belongs, and which includes several remarkable varieties,——at least six being well ascertained. There are few of my readers, probably, who are not familiar with the descriptions and pictures of the famous Angora goat, which is one of these varieties, and is well-known for its long, soft, silky hair, which is to this day used in the manufacture of a sort of camlet, in the place where it is found, which is Angora and the region around it, from the Halys to the Sangarius. This tract of country is in Asia Minor, only three or four hundred miles north of Cilicia, and therefore at once suggests the probability of the Cilician goat being something very much like the Angora goat. (See Modern Traveler,III.p.339.) On the other side of Cilicia also, in Syria, there is an equally remarkable variety of the goat, with similar long, silky hair, used for the same manufacture. Now Cilicia, being directly on the shortest route from Angora to Syria, and half-way between both, might very naturally be supposed to have another variety of theCapraAegagrus, between the Angoran and the Syrian variety, and resembling both in the common characteristic of long shaggy or silky hair; and there can be no reasonable doubt that future scientific observation will show that the Cilician goat forms another well-marked variety of this widely diffused species, which, wherever it inhabits the mountains of the warm regions of Asia, always furnishes this beautiful product, of which we have another splendid and familiar specimen in the Tibet and Cashmere goats, whose fleeces are worth more than their weight in gold. The hair of the Syrian and Cilician goats, however, is of a much coarser character, producing a much coarser and stouter fibre for the cloth.On the subject of Paul’s trade, the learned and usually accurate Michaelis was led into a very great error, by taking up too hastily a conjecture founded on a misapprehensionof the meaning given by Julius Pollux, in his Onomasticon, on the wordσκηνοποιος(skenopoios,) which is the word used in Actsxiii.3, to designate the trade of Saul and Aquilas. Pollux mentions that in the language of the old Grecian comedy,σκηνοποιοςwas equivalent toμηχανοποιος, (mechanopoios,) which Michaelis very erroneously takes in the sense of “a maker of mechanical instruments,” and this he therefore maintains to have been the trade of Saul and Aquilas. But it is capable of the most satisfactory proof, that Julius Pollux used the words here merely in the technical sense of theatrical preparation,——the first meaning simply “a scene-maker,” and the second “a constructor of theatrical machinery,”——both terms, of course, naturally applied to the same artist. (Michaelis, Introduction,IV.xxiii.2.pp.183–186. Marsh’s translation.——Hug,II.§85, original;§80, translation.)The Fathers also made similar blunders about the nature of Saul’s trade. They call himσκυτοτομος, (skutotomos,) “a skin-cutter,” as well asσκηνορραφος, “a tent-maker.” This was because they were entirely ignorant of the material used for the manufacture of tents; for, living themselves in the civilized regions of Greece, Italy,&c.they knew nothing of the habitations of the Nomadic tent-dwellers. Chrysostom in particular, calls him “one who worked in skins.”Fabricius gives some valuable illustrations of this point. (Bibliotheca Graeca,IV.p.795,bb.) He quotes Cotelerius, (ad. Apost. Const. II. 63,) Erasmus,&c.(ad Actsxviii.3,) and Schurzfleisch, (in diss. de Paulo,&c.) who brings sundry passages from Dio Chrysostom and Libanius, to prove that there were many in Cilicia who worked inleather, as he says; in support of which he quotes Martial, (epigraphxiv.114,) alluding to “udones cilicii,” or “cilician cloaks,” (used to keep off rain, as water-proof,)——not knowing that this word,cilicium, was the name of a very close and stout cloth, from the goat’s hair, equally valuable as a covering for a single person, and for the habitation of a whole family. In short, Martial’s passage shows that the Cilician camlet was used like the modern camlet,——forcloaks. Fabricius himself seems to make no account of thisleathernotion of Schurzfleisch; for immediately after, he states (what I can not find on any other authority) that “even at this day, as late books of travels testify, variegated cloths are exported from Cilicia.” This is certainly true of Angora in Asia Minor, north-west of Cilicia, (Modern Traveler,III.p.339,) and may be true of Cilicia itself. Fabricius notices 2 Corinthiansv.1: andxii.9, as containing figures drawn from Saul’s trade.HIS EDUCATION.But this was not destined to be the most important occupation of Saul’s life. Even his parents had nobler objects in view for him, and evidently devoted him to this handicraft, only in conformity with those ancient Jewish usages which had the force of law on every true Israelite, whether rich or poor; and accordingly he was sent, while yet in his youth, away from his home in Tarsus, to Jerusalem, the fountain of religious and legal knowledge to all the race of Judah and Benjamin, throughout the world. To what extent his general education had been carried in Tarsus, is little known; but he had acquired that fluency in the Greek, which is displayed in his writings, though contaminated with many of the provincialisms of Cilicia, and more especially with the barbarisms of Hebrew usage. Living in daily intercourse, both in the way of business and friendship, with the active Grecians of that thriving city, and led, no doubt, by his own intellectual character and tastes, to the occasional cultivation of those classics which were the delight of his Gentile acquaintances, he acquired a readiness and power in the use of the Greek language, and afamiliarity with the favorite writers of the Asian Hellenes, that in the providence of God most eminently fitted him for the sphere to which he was afterwards devoted, and was the true ground of his wonderful acceptability to the highly literary people among whom his greatest and most successful labors were performed, and to whom all of his epistles, but two, were written. All these writings show proofs of such an acquaintance with Greek, as is here inferred from his opportunities in education. His well-known quotations also from Menander and Epimenides, and more especially his happy impromptu reference in his discourse at Athens, to the line from his own fellow-Cilician, Aratus, are instances of a very great familiarity with the classics, and are thrown out in such an unstudied, off-hand way, as to imply a ready knowledge of these writers. But all these were, no doubt, learned in the mere occasional manner already alluded to in connection with the reputation and literary character of Tarsus. He was devoted by all the considerations of ancestral pride and religious zeal to the study of “a classic, the best the world has ever seen,——the noblest that has ever honored and dignified the language of mortals.”HIS REMOVAL TO JERUSALEM.Strabo, in speaking of the remarkable literary and philosophical zeal of the refined inhabitants of Tarsus, says that “after having well laid the foundations of literature and science in their own schools at home, it was usual for them to resort to those in other places, in order to zealously pursue the cultivation of their minds still further,” by the varied modes and opportunities presented in different schools throughout the Hellenic world,——a noble spirit of literary enterprise, accordant with the practice of the most ancient philosophers, and like the course also pursued by the modern German scholars, many of whom go from one university to another, to enjoy the peculiar advantages afforded by each in some particular department. It was therefore, only in a noble emulation of the example of his heathen fellow-townsmen, in the pursuit of profane knowledge, that Saul left the city of his birth and his father’s house, to seek a deeper knowledge of the sacred sources of Hebrew learning, in the capital of the faith. This removal to so great a distance, for such a purpose, evidently implies the possession of considerable wealth in the family of Saul; for a literary sojourn of that kind, in a great city, could not but be attended with very considerable expense as well as trouble.HIS TEACHER.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 theirextermination 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 feetof this Gamaliel, then, was Saul brought up. (Actsxxii.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 fromפרקי אבותPirke 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 entitledברכית(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 ofהגיבן(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. (Lukex.39.) The passage in Markiii.32, “The multitude sat down around him,” farther illustratesthis 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.)HIS JEWISH OPINIONS.Jerusalem was the seat of what may be called the great Jewish University. The Rabbins or teachers, united in themselves, not merely the sources of Biblical and theological learning, but also the whole system of instruction in that civil law, by which their nation were still allowed to be governed, with only some slight exceptions as to the right of punishment. There was no distinction, in short, between the professions of divinity and law, the Rabbins being teachers of the whole Mosaic system, and those who entered on a course of study under them, aiming at the knowledge of both those departments of learning, which, throughout the western nations, are now kept, for the most part, entirely distinct. Saul was therefore a student both of theology and law, and entered himself as a hearer of the lectures of one, who may, in modern phrase, be styled the most eminent professor in the great Hebrew university of Jerusalem. From him he learned the law and the Jewish traditional doctrines, as illustrated and perfected by the Fathers of the♦Pharisaic order. His steady energy and resolute activity were here all made available to the very complete attainment of the mysteries of knowledge; and the success with which he prosecuted his studies may be best appreciated by a minute examination of his writings, which everywhere exhibit indubitable marks of a deep and critical knowledge of all the details of Jewish theology and law. He shows himself to have been deeply versed in all the standard modes of explaining the Scriptures among the Hebrews,——by allegory,——typology, accommodation and tradition. Yet though thus ardently drinking the streams of Biblical knowledge from this great fountain-head, he seems to have been very far from imbibing the mild and merciful spirit of his great teacher, as it had been so eminently displayed in his sage decision on the trial of the apostles. The acquisition of knowledge, even under such an instructor, was, in Saul, attended with the somewhat common evils to which a young mind rapidly advanced in dogmatical learning, is naturally liable,——a bitter, denunciatory intolerance of any opinions contrary to his own,——a spiteful feeling towards all doctrinal opponents, and a disposition to punish speculative errors as actual crimes. All these common faults were very remarkably developedin Saul, by that uncommon harshness and fierceness by which he was so strongly characterized; and his worst feelings broke out with all their fury against the rising heretics, who, without any regular education, were assuming the office of religious teachers, and were understood to be seducing the people from their allegiance and due respect to the qualified scholars of the law. The occasion on which these dark religious passions first exhibited themselves in decided action against the Christians, was the murder of Stephen, of which the details have already been fully given in that part of the Life of Peter which is connected with it. Of those who engaged in the previous disputes with the proto-martyr, the members of the Cilician synagogue are mentioned among others; and with these Saul would very naturally be numbered; for, residing at a great distance from his native province, he would with pleasure seek the company of those residents in Jerusalem who were from Cilicia, and join with them in the study of the law and the weekly worship of God. What part he took in these animated and angry discussions, is not known; but his well-known power in argument affords good reason for believing, that the eloquence and logical acuteness which he afterwards displayed in the cause of Christ, were now made use of, against the ablest defenders of that same cause. His fierce spirit, no doubt, rose with the rest in that burst of indignation against the martyr, who fearlessly stood up before the council, pouring out a flood of invective against the unjust destroyers of the holy prophets of God; and when they all rushed upon the preacher of righteousness, and dragged him away from the tribunal to the place of execution, Saul also was consenting to his death; and when the blood of the martyr was shed, he stood by, approving the deed, and kept the clothes of them who slew him.♦“Pharasaic” replaced with “Pharisaic”HIS PERSECUTING CHARACTER.The very active share which Saul took in this and the subsequent cruelties of a similar nature, is in itself a decided though terrible proof of that remarkable independence of character, which was so distinctly displayed in the greatest events of his apostolic career. Saul was no slave to the opinions of others; nor did he take up his active persecuting course on the mere dictation of higher authority. On the contrary, his whole behavior towards the followers of Jesus was directly opposed to the policy so distinctly urged and so efficiently maintained, in at least one instance,by his great teacher, Gamaliel, whose precepts and example on this subject must have influenced his bold young disciple, if any authority could have had such an effect on him. From Gamaliel and his disciples, Saul must have received his earliest impressions of the character of Christ and his doctrines; for it is altogether probable that he did not reach Jerusalem until some time after the ascension of Christ, and there is therefore no reason to suppose that he himself had ever heard or seen him. Nevertheless, brought up in the school of the greatest of the Pharisees, he would receive from all his teachers and associates, an impression decidedly unfavorable, of the Christian sect; though the uniform mildness of the Pharisees, as to vindictive measures, would temper the principles of action recommended in regard to the course of conduct to be adopted towards them. The rapid advance of the new sect, however, soon brought them more and more under the invidious notice of the Pharisees, who in the life-time of Jesus had been the most determined opposers of him and his doctrines; and the attention of Saul would therefore be constantly directed to the preparation for contest with them.Stephen’s murder seems to have unlocked all the persecuting spirit of Saul. He immediately laid his hand to the work of persecuting the friends of Jesus, with a fury that could not be allayed by a single act. Nor was he satisfied with merely keeping a watchful eye on everything that was openly done by them; but under authority from the Sanhedrim, breaking into the retirement of their homes, to hunt them out for destruction, he had them thrown into prison, and scourged in the synagogues, and threatened even with death; by all which cruelties he so overcame the spirit of many of them, that they were forced to renounce the faith which they had adopted, and blaspheme the name of Christ in public recantations. This furious persecution soon drove them from Jerusalem in great numbers, to other cities. Samaria, as well as the distant parts of Judea, are mentioned as their places of refuge, and not a few fled beyond the bounds of Palestine into the cities of Syria. But even these distant exiles were not, by their flight into far countries, removed from the effects of the burning zeal of their persecutor. Longing for an opportunity to give a still wider range to his cruelties, he went to the great council, and begged of them such a commission as would authorize him to pursue his vindictive measures wherever the sanction of their name could support such actions. Among the probable inducementsto this selection of a foreign field for his unrighteous work, may be reasonably placed, the circumstance that Damascus was at this time under the government of Aretas, an Arabian prince, into whose hands it fell for a short time, during which the equitable principles of Roman tolerance no longer operated as a check on the murderous spite of the Jews; for the new ruler, anxious to secure his dominion by ingratiating himself with the subjects of it, would not be disposed to neglect any opportunity for pleasing so powerful and influential a portion of the population of Damascus as the Jews were,——who lived there in such numbers, that in some disturbances which arose a few years after, between them and the other inhabitants, ten thousand Jews were slain unarmed, while in the public baths, enjoying themselves after the fatigues of the day, without any expectation of violence. So large a Jewish population would be secure of the support of Aretas in any favorite measure. Saul, well knowing these circumstances, must have been greatly influenced by this motive, to seek a commission to labor in a field where the firm tolerance of Roman sway was displaced by the baser rule of a petty prince, whose weakness rendered him subservient to the tyrannical wishes of his subjects. In Jerusalem the Roman government would not suffer anything like a systematic destruction of its subjects, nor authorize the taking of life by any religious tribunal, though it might pass over, unpunished, a solitary act of mob violence, like the murder of Stephen. It is perfectly incontestable therefore, that the persecution in Jerusalem could not have extended to the repeated destruction of life, and that passage in Paul’s discourse to Agrippa; which has been supposed to prove a plurality of capital punishments, has accordingly been construed in a more limited sense, by the ablest modern commentators.Kuinoel on Actsxxv.1, 10, maintains this fully, and quotes other authorities.“It seems to some a strange business, that Paul should have had the Christians whipped through thesynagogues. Why, in a house consecrated to prayer and religion, were sentences of a criminal court passed, and the punishment executed on the criminal? This difficulty seemed so great, even to the learned and judicious Beza, that in the face of the testimony of all manuscripts, he would have us suspect the genuineness of the passage in Matthewx.17, where Christ uses the same expression. Such a liberty as he would thus take with the sacred text, is of course against all modern rules of sacred criticism. For what should we do then with Matthewxxiii.34, where the same passage occurs again? Grotius, to explain the difficulty, would have the word synagogues understood, not in the sense of houses of prayer, but of civil courts of justice; since such a meaning may be drawn from the etymology of the Greek word thus translated. (συναγωγη, a gathering together, or assembling for any purpose.) But that too is a forced construction, for no instance can be brought out of the New Testament, where the word is used in that sense, or any other than the common one. What then? We cannot be allowed to set up the speculations which wehave contrived to agree with our own notions, against accounts given in so full and clear a manner. Suppose, for a moment, that we could find no traces of the custom of scourging in the synagogues, in other writers; ought that to be considered doubtful, which is thus stated by Christ and Paul, in the plainest terms, as a fact commonly and perfectly well known in their time? Nor is there any reason why scourging in the synagogues should seem so unaccountable to us, since it was a grade of discipline less than excommunication, and less disgraceful. For it is made to appear that some of the most eminent of the wise, when they broke the law, were thus punished,——not even excepting the head of the Senate, nor the high priest himself.” (Witsius,§1,¶ xix.–xxi.) Witsius illustrates it still farther, by the stories which follow.“But there are instances of flagellation in synagogues found in other accounts. Grotius himself quotes from Epiphanius, that a certain Jew who wished to revolt to Christianity, was whipped in the synagogue. The story is to the following purport. ‘A man, named Joseph, a messenger of the Jewish patriarch, went into Cilicia by order of the patriarch, to collect the tithes and first-fruits from the Jews of that province; and while on his tour of duty, lodged in a house near a Christian church. Having, by means of this, become acquainted with the pastor, he privately begs the loan of the book of the gospels, and reads it. But the Jews, getting wind of this, were so enraged against him, that on a sudden they made an assault on the house, and caught Joseph in the very act of reading the gospels. Snatching the book out of his hands, they knocked him down, and crying out against him with all sorts of abuse, they led him away to the synagogue, where they whipped him with rods.’“Very much like this is the more modern story which Uriel Acosta tells of himself, in a little book, entitled ‘the Pattern of Human Life.’ The thing took place in Amsterdam, about the year 1630. It seems this Uriel Acosta was a Jew by birth, but being a sort of Epicurean philosopher, had some rather heretical notions about most of the articles of the Jewish creed; and on this charge, being called to account by the rulers of the synagogue, stood on his trial. In the end of it, a paper was read to him, in which it was specified that he must come into the synagogue, clothed in a mourning garment, holding a black wax-light in his hand, and should utter openly before the congregation a certain form of words prescribed by them, in which the offenses he had committed were magnified beyond measure. After this, that he should be flogged with a cowskin or strap, publicly, in the synagogue, and then should lay himself down flat on the threshhold of the synagogue, that all might walk over him. How thoroughly this sentence was executed, is best learned from his own amusing and candid story, which are given in the very words,as literally as they can be translated. ‘I entered the synagogue, which was full of men and women, (for they had crammed in together to see the show,) and when it was time, I mounted the wooden platform, which was placed in the midst of the synagogue for convenience in preaching, and with a loud voice read the writing drawn up by them, in which was a confession that I really deserved to die a thousand times for what I had done; namely, for my breaches of the sabbath, and for my abandonment of the faith, which I had broken so far as even by my words to hinder others from embracing Judaism,&c.After I had got through with the reading, I came down from the platform, and the right reverend ruler of the synagogue drew near to me, and whispered in my ear that I must turn aside to a certain corner of the synagogue. Accordingly, I went to the corner, and the porter told me to strip. I then stripped my body as low as my waist,——bound a handkerchief about my head,——took off my shoes, and raised my arms, holding fast with my hands to a sort of post. The porter of the synagogue, or sexton, then came up, and with a bandage tied up my hands to the post. When things had been thus arranged, the clerk drew near, and taking the cowskin, struck my sides with thirty-nine blows, according to thetradition; while in the mean time a psalm was chanted. After this was over, the preacher approached, and absolved me from excommunication; and thus was the gate of heaven opened to me, which before was shut against me with the strongest bars, keeping me entirely out. I next put on my clothes, went to the threshhold of the synagogue and laid myself down on it, while the porter held up my head. Then all who came down, stepped over me, boys as well as old men, lifting up one foot and stepping over the lower part of my legs. When the last had passed out, I got up, and being covered with dust by him who helped me, went home.’ This story, though rather tediously minute in its disgusting particulars, it was yet thought worth while to copy, because this comparatively modern scene seemed to give, to the life, the old fashion of ‘scourging in the synagogues.’”HIS JOURNEY TO DAMASCUS.Thus equipped with the high commission and letters of the supreme court of the Jewish nation, Saul, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went on his way to Damascus, where the sanction of his superiors would have the force of despotic law, against the destined victims of his cruelty.The distance from Jerusalem to this great Syrian city, can not be less than 250 or 300 miles, and the journey must therefore have occupied as many as ten or twelve days, according to the usual rate of traveling in those countries. On this long journey therefore, Saul had much season for reflection. There were indeed several persons in his company, but probably they were only persons of an inferior order, and merely the attendants necessary for his safety and speed in traveling. Among these therefore, he would not be likely to find any person with whom he could maintain any sympathy which could enable them to hold much conversation together, and he must therefore have been left through most of the time to the solitary enjoyment of his own thoughts. In the midst of the peculiar fatigues of an eastern journey, he must have had many seasons of bodily exhaustion and consequent mental depression, when the fire of his unholy and exterminating zeal would grow languid, and the painful doubts which always come in at such dark seasons, to chill the hopes of every great mind,——no matter what may be the character of the enterprise,——must have had the occasional effect of exciting repentant feelings in him. Why had he left the high and sacred pursuits of a literary and religious life, in the refined capital of Judaism, to endure the fatigues of a long journey over rugged mountains and sandy deserts, through rivers and under a burning sun, to a distant city, in a strange land, among those who were perfect strangers to him? It was for the sole object of carrying misery and anguish among those whose only crime was the belief of a doctrine which he hated, because it warred against that solemn system of forms and traditions to which he so zealously clung, with all the energy that early and inbred prejudice could inspire. But in these seasons of weariness and depression, would now occasionally arise some chilling doubt about the certain rectitude of the stern course which he had been pursuing, in a heat that seldom allowed him time for reflection on its possible character and tendency. Might not that faith against which he was warring with such devotedness, be true?——that faith which, amid blood and dying agonies, the martyr Stephen had witnessed with his very last breath? At these times of doubt and despondency would perhaps arise the remembrance of that horrible scene, when he had set by, a calm spectator, drinking in with delight the agonies of the martyr, and learning from the ferocity of the murderers, new lessons of cruelty. to be put in practice against others who should thus adhere tothe faith of Christ. No doubt too, an occasional shudder of gloom and remorse for such acts would creep over him in the chill of evening, or in the heats of noon-day, and darken all his schemes of active vengeance against the brethren. But still he journeyed northward, and each hour brought him nearer the scene of long-planned cruelty. On the last day of his wearisome journey, he at length drew near the city, just at noon; and from the terms in which his situation is described, it is not unreasonable to conclude that he was just coming in sight of Damascus, when the event happened which revolutionized his purposes, hopes, character, soul, and his whole existence through eternity,——an event connected with the salvation of millions that no man can yet number.DAMASCUS.Descending from the north-eastern slope of Hermon, over whose mighty range his last day’s journey had conducted him, Saul came along the course of the Abana, to the last hill which overlooks the distant city. Here Damascus bursts upon the traveler’s view, in the midst of a mighty plain, embosomed in gardens, and orchards, and groves, which, with the long-known and still bright streams of Abana and Pharphar, and the golden flood of the Chrysorrhoas, give the spot the name of “one of the four paradises.” So lovely and charming is the sight which this fair city has in all ages presented to the traveler’s view, that the Turks relate that their prophet, coming near Damascus, took his station on the mountain Salehiyeh, on the west of the hill-girt plain in which the city stands; and as he thence viewed the glorious and beautiful spot, encompassed with gardens for thirty miles, and thickly set with domes and steeples, over which the eye glances as far as it can reach,——considering the ravishing beauty of the place, he would not tempt his frailty by entering into it, but instantly turned away with this reflection: that there was but one paradise designed for man, and for his part, he was resolved not to take his, in this world. And though there is not the slightest foundation for such a story, because the prophet never came near to Damascus, nor had an opportunity of entering into it, yet the conspiring testimony of modern travelers justifies the fable, in the impression it conveys of the surpassing loveliness of the view from this very spot,——called the Arch of Victory, from an unfinished mass of stonework which here crowns the mountain’s top. This spot has been marked by a worthless tradition, as the scene of Saul’s conversion; and the locality is made barely probable, by the much betterauthority of the circumstance, that it accords with the sacred narrative, in being on the road from Jerusalem, and “nigh unto the city.”“Damascus is a very ancient city, which the oldest records and traditions show by their accordant testimony to have been founded by Uz, the son of Aram, and grandson of Shem. It was the capital or mother city of that Syria which is distinguished by the name of Aram Dammesek or Damascene Syria, lying between Libanus and Anti-Libanus. The city stands at the base of Mount Hermon, from which descend the famous streams of Abana and Pharphar; the latter washing the walls of the city, while the former cuts it through the middle. It was a very populous, delightful, and wealthy place; but as in the course of its existence it had suffered a variety of fortune, so it had often changed masters. To pass over its earlier history, we will only observe, that before the Christian era, on the defeat of Tigranes, the Armenian monarch, it was yielded to the Romans, being taken by the armies of Pompey. In the time of Paul, as we are told in♦2 Corinthiansxi.32, it was held under the (temporary) sway of Aretas, a king of the Arabians, father-in-law of Herod the tetrarch. It had then a large Jewish population, as we may gather from the fact, that in the reign of Nero, 10,000 of that nation were slaughtered, unarmed, and in the public baths by the Damascenes, as Josephus records in his history of the Jewish War,II.Book, chapter 25. Among the Jews of Damascus, also, were a considerable number of Christians, and it was raging for the destruction of these, that Saul, furnished with the letters and commission of the Jewish high priest, now flew like a hawk upon the doves.” (Witsius,§2,¶1.)♦“2” omitted in the original text.The sacred narrative gives no particulars of the other circumstances connected with this remarkable event, in either of the three statements presented in different parts of the book of Acts. All that is commemorated, is that at mid-day, as Saul with his company drew near to Damascus, he saw a light exceeding the sun in brightness, which flashed upon them from heaven, and struck them all to the earth. And while they were all fallen to the ground, Saul alone heard a voice speaking to him in the Hebrew tongue, and saying, “Saul! Saul! Why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against thorns.” To this, Saul asked in reply, “Who art thou, Lord?” The answer was, “I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom thou persecutest.” Saul, trembling and astonished, replied, “Lord, what wilt thou that I should do?” And the voice said, “Rise and stand upon thy feet, and go into the city; there thou shalt be told what to do, since for this purpose I have appeared to thee, to make use of thee as a minister and a witness, both of what thou hast seen and of what I will cause thee to see,——choosing thee out of the people, and of the heathen nations to whom I nowSENDthee,——to open their eyes,——to turn them from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified, by faith in me.”These words are given thus fully only in Saul’s own account of his conversion, in his address to king Agrippa. (Actsxxvi.14–18.) The original Greek of verse 17, is most remarkably and expressively significant, containing, beyond all doubt,the formal commission of Saul as the “Apostle of the Gentiles.” The first word in that verse is translated in the common English version, “delivering;” whereas, the original,Εξαιρουμενος, means also “taking out,” “choosing;” and is clearly shown by Bretschneider,sub voc.in numerous references to the usages of theLXX., and by Kuinoel,in loc., to bear this latter meaning here. Rosenmueller and others however, have been led, by the circumstance that Hesychius gives the meaning of “rescue,” to prefer that. Rosenmueller’s remark, that the context demands this meaning, is however certainly unauthorized; for, on this same ground, Kuinoel bases the firmest support of the meaning of “choice.” The meaning of “rescue” was indeed the only one formerly received, but the lights of modern exegesis have added new distinctness and aptness to the passage, by the meaning adopted above. Beza, Piscator, Pagninus, Arias Montanus, Castalio,&c., as well as the oriental versions, are all quoted by Poole in defense of the common rendering, nor does he seem to know of the sense now received. But Saul was truly chosen, both “out of the people” of Israel, (because he was a Jew by birth and religion,) “and out of the heathen,” (because he was born and brought up among the Grecians, and therefore was taken out from among them, as a minister of grace to them,) and the whole passage is thus shown to be most beautifully just to the circumstances which so eminently fitted him for his Gentile apostleship. The Greek verb used in the conclusion of the passage, is the consecrating word,αποστελλω, (apostello,) and makes up the formula of hisapostoliccommission, which is there given in language worthy of the vast and eternal scope of the sense,——words fit to be spoken from heaven, in thunder, amid the flash of lightnings, that called the bloody-minded, bitter, maddened persecutor, to the peaceful, devoted, unshrinking testimony of the cause, against the friends of which he before breathed only threatenings and slaughter.
The trade which the parents of Saul selected for their son, is described in the sacred apostolic history as that of a “tent-maker.” A reference to the local history of his native province throws great light on this account. In the wild mountains of Cilicia, which everywhere begin to rise from the plains, at a distance of seven or eight miles from the coast, anciently ranged a peculiar species of long-haired goats, so well known by name throughout the Grecian world, for their rough and shaggy aspect, that the name of “Cilician goat” became a proverbial expression, to signify a rough, ill-bred fellow, and occurs in this sense in the classic writers. From the hair of these, the Cilicians manufactured a thick, coarse cloth,——somewhat resembling the similar product of the camel’s hair,——which, from the country where the cloth was made, and where the raw material was produced, was calledciliciumorcilicia, and under this name it is very often mentioned, both by Grecian and Roman authors. The peculiar strength and incorruptibility of this cloth was so well known, that it was considered as one of the most desirable articles for several very important purposes, both in war and navigation, being the best material for the sails of vessels, as well as for military tents. But it was principally used by the Nomadic Arabs of the neighboring deserts of Syria, who, ranging from Amanus and the sea, to the Euphrates, and beyond, found the tents manufactured from this stout cloth, so durable and convenient, that they depended on the Cilicians to furnish them with the material of their moveable homes; and over all the east, theciliciumwas in great demand, for shepherd’s tents. A passage from Pliny forms a splendid illustration of this interesting little point. “The wandering tribes, (Nomades,) and the tribes who plunder the Chaldeans, are bordered by Scenites, (tent-dwellers,) who are themselves also wanderers, but take their name from their tents, which they raise ofCiliciancloth, wherever inclination leads them.” This was therefore an article of national industry among the Cilicians, and afforded in its manufacture, profitable employment to a great number of workmen, who were occupied, not in large establishments like the great manufactories of modern European nations, but, according to the invariable mode in eastern countries, each one by himself, or at most with one or two companions. Saul, however, seems to havebeen occupied only with the concluding part of the manufacture, which was the making up of the cloth into the articles for which it was so well fitted by its strength, closeness and durability. He was a maker of tents of Cilician camlet, or goat’s-hair cloth,——a business which, in its character and implements, more resembled that of a sail-maker than any other common trade in this country. The details of the work must have consisted in cutting the camlet of the shape required for each part of the tent, and sewing it together into the large pieces, which were then ready to be transported, and to form, when hung on tent-poles, the habitations of the desert-wanderers.
The trade which the parents of Saul selected for their son, is described in the sacred apostolic history as that of a “tent-maker.” A reference to the local history of his native province throws great light on this account. In the wild mountains of Cilicia, which everywhere begin to rise from the plains, at a distance of seven or eight miles from the coast, anciently ranged a peculiar species of long-haired goats, so well known by name throughout the Grecian world, for their rough and shaggy aspect, that the name of “Cilician goat” became a proverbial expression, to signify a rough, ill-bred fellow, and occurs in this sense in the classic writers. From the hair of these, the Cilicians manufactured a thick, coarse cloth,——somewhat resembling the similar product of the camel’s hair,——which, from the country where the cloth was made, and where the raw material was produced, was calledciliciumorcilicia, and under this name it is very often mentioned, both by Grecian and Roman authors. The peculiar strength and incorruptibility of this cloth was so well known, that it was considered as one of the most desirable articles for several very important purposes, both in war and navigation, being the best material for the sails of vessels, as well as for military tents. But it was principally used by the Nomadic Arabs of the neighboring deserts of Syria, who, ranging from Amanus and the sea, to the Euphrates, and beyond, found the tents manufactured from this stout cloth, so durable and convenient, that they depended on the Cilicians to furnish them with the material of their moveable homes; and over all the east, theciliciumwas in great demand, for shepherd’s tents. A passage from Pliny forms a splendid illustration of this interesting little point. “The wandering tribes, (Nomades,) and the tribes who plunder the Chaldeans, are bordered by Scenites, (tent-dwellers,) who are themselves also wanderers, but take their name from their tents, which they raise ofCiliciancloth, wherever inclination leads them.” This was therefore an article of national industry among the Cilicians, and afforded in its manufacture, profitable employment to a great number of workmen, who were occupied, not in large establishments like the great manufactories of modern European nations, but, according to the invariable mode in eastern countries, each one by himself, or at most with one or two companions. Saul, however, seems to havebeen occupied only with the concluding part of the manufacture, which was the making up of the cloth into the articles for which it was so well fitted by its strength, closeness and durability. He was a maker of tents of Cilician camlet, or goat’s-hair cloth,——a business which, in its character and implements, more resembled that of a sail-maker than any other common trade in this country. The details of the work must have consisted in cutting the camlet of the shape required for each part of the tent, and sewing it together into the large pieces, which were then ready to be transported, and to form, when hung on tent-poles, the habitations of the desert-wanderers.
This illustration of Saul’s trade is from Hug’s Introduction,Vol. II.note on§85,pp.328, 329, original,§80,pp.335, 336, translation. On the manufacture of this cloth, see Gloss. Basil,sub voc.Κιλικιος τραγος,&c.“Cilician goat,——a rough fellow;——for there are such goats in Cilicia; whence also, things made of their hair are calledcilicia.” He quotes also Hesychius, Suidas, and Salmasius in Solinum,p.347. As to the use of the cloths in war and navigation, he refers to Vegetius, De re milit.IV.6, and Servius in GeorgicaIII.312.——The passage in Pliny, showing their use by the Nomadic tribes of Syria and Mesopotamia forshepherd’s tents, is in his Natural History,VI.28. “Nomadas infestatoresque Chaldaeorum, Scenitae claudunt, et ipsi vagi, sed a tabernaculis cognominati quae ciliciis metantur, ubi libuit.” The reading of this passage which I have adopted is from the Leyden Hackian edition of Pliny, which differs slightly from that followed by Hug, as the critical will perceive. Hemsen quotes this note almost verbatim from Hug. (Hemsen’s “Apostel Paulus,” page 4.)
The particular species or variety of goat, which is thus described as anciently inhabiting the mountains of Cilicia, can not now be distinctly ascertained, because no scientific traveler has ever made observations on the animals of that region, owing to the many difficulties in the way of any exploration of Asia Minor, under the barbarous Ottoman sway. Neither Griffith’s Cuvier nor Turton’s Linnaeus contains any reference to Cilicia, as inhabited by any species or variety of the genusCapra. The nearest approach to certainty, that can be made with so few data, is the reasonable conjecture that the Cilician goat was a variety of the speciesCapraAegagrus, to which the common domestic goat belongs, and which includes several remarkable varieties,——at least six being well ascertained. There are few of my readers, probably, who are not familiar with the descriptions and pictures of the famous Angora goat, which is one of these varieties, and is well-known for its long, soft, silky hair, which is to this day used in the manufacture of a sort of camlet, in the place where it is found, which is Angora and the region around it, from the Halys to the Sangarius. This tract of country is in Asia Minor, only three or four hundred miles north of Cilicia, and therefore at once suggests the probability of the Cilician goat being something very much like the Angora goat. (See Modern Traveler,III.p.339.) On the other side of Cilicia also, in Syria, there is an equally remarkable variety of the goat, with similar long, silky hair, used for the same manufacture. Now Cilicia, being directly on the shortest route from Angora to Syria, and half-way between both, might very naturally be supposed to have another variety of theCapraAegagrus, between the Angoran and the Syrian variety, and resembling both in the common characteristic of long shaggy or silky hair; and there can be no reasonable doubt that future scientific observation will show that the Cilician goat forms another well-marked variety of this widely diffused species, which, wherever it inhabits the mountains of the warm regions of Asia, always furnishes this beautiful product, of which we have another splendid and familiar specimen in the Tibet and Cashmere goats, whose fleeces are worth more than their weight in gold. The hair of the Syrian and Cilician goats, however, is of a much coarser character, producing a much coarser and stouter fibre for the cloth.
On the subject of Paul’s trade, the learned and usually accurate Michaelis was led into a very great error, by taking up too hastily a conjecture founded on a misapprehensionof the meaning given by Julius Pollux, in his Onomasticon, on the wordσκηνοποιος(skenopoios,) which is the word used in Actsxiii.3, to designate the trade of Saul and Aquilas. Pollux mentions that in the language of the old Grecian comedy,σκηνοποιοςwas equivalent toμηχανοποιος, (mechanopoios,) which Michaelis very erroneously takes in the sense of “a maker of mechanical instruments,” and this he therefore maintains to have been the trade of Saul and Aquilas. But it is capable of the most satisfactory proof, that Julius Pollux used the words here merely in the technical sense of theatrical preparation,——the first meaning simply “a scene-maker,” and the second “a constructor of theatrical machinery,”——both terms, of course, naturally applied to the same artist. (Michaelis, Introduction,IV.xxiii.2.pp.183–186. Marsh’s translation.——Hug,II.§85, original;§80, translation.)
The Fathers also made similar blunders about the nature of Saul’s trade. They call himσκυτοτομος, (skutotomos,) “a skin-cutter,” as well asσκηνορραφος, “a tent-maker.” This was because they were entirely ignorant of the material used for the manufacture of tents; for, living themselves in the civilized regions of Greece, Italy,&c.they knew nothing of the habitations of the Nomadic tent-dwellers. Chrysostom in particular, calls him “one who worked in skins.”
Fabricius gives some valuable illustrations of this point. (Bibliotheca Graeca,IV.p.795,bb.) He quotes Cotelerius, (ad. Apost. Const. II. 63,) Erasmus,&c.(ad Actsxviii.3,) and Schurzfleisch, (in diss. de Paulo,&c.) who brings sundry passages from Dio Chrysostom and Libanius, to prove that there were many in Cilicia who worked inleather, as he says; in support of which he quotes Martial, (epigraphxiv.114,) alluding to “udones cilicii,” or “cilician cloaks,” (used to keep off rain, as water-proof,)——not knowing that this word,cilicium, was the name of a very close and stout cloth, from the goat’s hair, equally valuable as a covering for a single person, and for the habitation of a whole family. In short, Martial’s passage shows that the Cilician camlet was used like the modern camlet,——forcloaks. Fabricius himself seems to make no account of thisleathernotion of Schurzfleisch; for immediately after, he states (what I can not find on any other authority) that “even at this day, as late books of travels testify, variegated cloths are exported from Cilicia.” This is certainly true of Angora in Asia Minor, north-west of Cilicia, (Modern Traveler,III.p.339,) and may be true of Cilicia itself. Fabricius notices 2 Corinthiansv.1: andxii.9, as containing figures drawn from Saul’s trade.
HIS EDUCATION.But this was not destined to be the most important occupation of Saul’s life. Even his parents had nobler objects in view for him, and evidently devoted him to this handicraft, only in conformity with those ancient Jewish usages which had the force of law on every true Israelite, whether rich or poor; and accordingly he was sent, while yet in his youth, away from his home in Tarsus, to Jerusalem, the fountain of religious and legal knowledge to all the race of Judah and Benjamin, throughout the world. To what extent his general education had been carried in Tarsus, is little known; but he had acquired that fluency in the Greek, which is displayed in his writings, though contaminated with many of the provincialisms of Cilicia, and more especially with the barbarisms of Hebrew usage. Living in daily intercourse, both in the way of business and friendship, with the active Grecians of that thriving city, and led, no doubt, by his own intellectual character and tastes, to the occasional cultivation of those classics which were the delight of his Gentile acquaintances, he acquired a readiness and power in the use of the Greek language, and afamiliarity with the favorite writers of the Asian Hellenes, that in the providence of God most eminently fitted him for the sphere to which he was afterwards devoted, and was the true ground of his wonderful acceptability to the highly literary people among whom his greatest and most successful labors were performed, and to whom all of his epistles, but two, were written. All these writings show proofs of such an acquaintance with Greek, as is here inferred from his opportunities in education. His well-known quotations also from Menander and Epimenides, and more especially his happy impromptu reference in his discourse at Athens, to the line from his own fellow-Cilician, Aratus, are instances of a very great familiarity with the classics, and are thrown out in such an unstudied, off-hand way, as to imply a ready knowledge of these writers. But all these were, no doubt, learned in the mere occasional manner already alluded to in connection with the reputation and literary character of Tarsus. He was devoted by all the considerations of ancestral pride and religious zeal to the study of “a classic, the best the world has ever seen,——the noblest that has ever honored and dignified the language of mortals.”HIS REMOVAL TO JERUSALEM.Strabo, in speaking of the remarkable literary and philosophical zeal of the refined inhabitants of Tarsus, says that “after having well laid the foundations of literature and science in their own schools at home, it was usual for them to resort to those in other places, in order to zealously pursue the cultivation of their minds still further,” by the varied modes and opportunities presented in different schools throughout the Hellenic world,——a noble spirit of literary enterprise, accordant with the practice of the most ancient philosophers, and like the course also pursued by the modern German scholars, many of whom go from one university to another, to enjoy the peculiar advantages afforded by each in some particular department. It was therefore, only in a noble emulation of the example of his heathen fellow-townsmen, in the pursuit of profane knowledge, that Saul left the city of his birth and his father’s house, to seek a deeper knowledge of the sacred sources of Hebrew learning, in the capital of the faith. This removal to so great a distance, for such a purpose, evidently implies the possession of considerable wealth in the family of Saul; for a literary sojourn of that kind, in a great city, could not but be attended with very considerable expense as well as trouble.HIS TEACHER.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 theirextermination 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.
HIS EDUCATION.
But this was not destined to be the most important occupation of Saul’s life. Even his parents had nobler objects in view for him, and evidently devoted him to this handicraft, only in conformity with those ancient Jewish usages which had the force of law on every true Israelite, whether rich or poor; and accordingly he was sent, while yet in his youth, away from his home in Tarsus, to Jerusalem, the fountain of religious and legal knowledge to all the race of Judah and Benjamin, throughout the world. To what extent his general education had been carried in Tarsus, is little known; but he had acquired that fluency in the Greek, which is displayed in his writings, though contaminated with many of the provincialisms of Cilicia, and more especially with the barbarisms of Hebrew usage. Living in daily intercourse, both in the way of business and friendship, with the active Grecians of that thriving city, and led, no doubt, by his own intellectual character and tastes, to the occasional cultivation of those classics which were the delight of his Gentile acquaintances, he acquired a readiness and power in the use of the Greek language, and afamiliarity with the favorite writers of the Asian Hellenes, that in the providence of God most eminently fitted him for the sphere to which he was afterwards devoted, and was the true ground of his wonderful acceptability to the highly literary people among whom his greatest and most successful labors were performed, and to whom all of his epistles, but two, were written. All these writings show proofs of such an acquaintance with Greek, as is here inferred from his opportunities in education. His well-known quotations also from Menander and Epimenides, and more especially his happy impromptu reference in his discourse at Athens, to the line from his own fellow-Cilician, Aratus, are instances of a very great familiarity with the classics, and are thrown out in such an unstudied, off-hand way, as to imply a ready knowledge of these writers. But all these were, no doubt, learned in the mere occasional manner already alluded to in connection with the reputation and literary character of Tarsus. He was devoted by all the considerations of ancestral pride and religious zeal to the study of “a classic, the best the world has ever seen,——the noblest that has ever honored and dignified the language of mortals.”
HIS REMOVAL TO JERUSALEM.
Strabo, in speaking of the remarkable literary and philosophical zeal of the refined inhabitants of Tarsus, says that “after having well laid the foundations of literature and science in their own schools at home, it was usual for them to resort to those in other places, in order to zealously pursue the cultivation of their minds still further,” by the varied modes and opportunities presented in different schools throughout the Hellenic world,——a noble spirit of literary enterprise, accordant with the practice of the most ancient philosophers, and like the course also pursued by the modern German scholars, many of whom go from one university to another, to enjoy the peculiar advantages afforded by each in some particular department. It was therefore, only in a noble emulation of the example of his heathen fellow-townsmen, in the pursuit of profane knowledge, that Saul left the city of his birth and his father’s house, to seek a deeper knowledge of the sacred sources of Hebrew learning, in the capital of the faith. This removal to so great a distance, for such a purpose, evidently implies the possession of considerable wealth in the family of Saul; for a literary sojourn of that kind, in a great city, could not but be attended with very considerable expense as well as trouble.
HIS TEACHER.
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 theirextermination 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 feetof this Gamaliel, then, was Saul brought up. (Actsxxii.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 fromפרקי אבותPirke 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 entitledברכית(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 ofהגיבן(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. (Lukex.39.) The passage in Markiii.32, “The multitude sat down around him,” farther illustratesthis 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.)
HIS JEWISH OPINIONS.Jerusalem was the seat of what may be called the great Jewish University. The Rabbins or teachers, united in themselves, not merely the sources of Biblical and theological learning, but also the whole system of instruction in that civil law, by which their nation were still allowed to be governed, with only some slight exceptions as to the right of punishment. There was no distinction, in short, between the professions of divinity and law, the Rabbins being teachers of the whole Mosaic system, and those who entered on a course of study under them, aiming at the knowledge of both those departments of learning, which, throughout the western nations, are now kept, for the most part, entirely distinct. Saul was therefore a student both of theology and law, and entered himself as a hearer of the lectures of one, who may, in modern phrase, be styled the most eminent professor in the great Hebrew university of Jerusalem. From him he learned the law and the Jewish traditional doctrines, as illustrated and perfected by the Fathers of the♦Pharisaic order. His steady energy and resolute activity were here all made available to the very complete attainment of the mysteries of knowledge; and the success with which he prosecuted his studies may be best appreciated by a minute examination of his writings, which everywhere exhibit indubitable marks of a deep and critical knowledge of all the details of Jewish theology and law. He shows himself to have been deeply versed in all the standard modes of explaining the Scriptures among the Hebrews,——by allegory,——typology, accommodation and tradition. Yet though thus ardently drinking the streams of Biblical knowledge from this great fountain-head, he seems to have been very far from imbibing the mild and merciful spirit of his great teacher, as it had been so eminently displayed in his sage decision on the trial of the apostles. The acquisition of knowledge, even under such an instructor, was, in Saul, attended with the somewhat common evils to which a young mind rapidly advanced in dogmatical learning, is naturally liable,——a bitter, denunciatory intolerance of any opinions contrary to his own,——a spiteful feeling towards all doctrinal opponents, and a disposition to punish speculative errors as actual crimes. All these common faults were very remarkably developedin Saul, by that uncommon harshness and fierceness by which he was so strongly characterized; and his worst feelings broke out with all their fury against the rising heretics, who, without any regular education, were assuming the office of religious teachers, and were understood to be seducing the people from their allegiance and due respect to the qualified scholars of the law. The occasion on which these dark religious passions first exhibited themselves in decided action against the Christians, was the murder of Stephen, of which the details have already been fully given in that part of the Life of Peter which is connected with it. Of those who engaged in the previous disputes with the proto-martyr, the members of the Cilician synagogue are mentioned among others; and with these Saul would very naturally be numbered; for, residing at a great distance from his native province, he would with pleasure seek the company of those residents in Jerusalem who were from Cilicia, and join with them in the study of the law and the weekly worship of God. What part he took in these animated and angry discussions, is not known; but his well-known power in argument affords good reason for believing, that the eloquence and logical acuteness which he afterwards displayed in the cause of Christ, were now made use of, against the ablest defenders of that same cause. His fierce spirit, no doubt, rose with the rest in that burst of indignation against the martyr, who fearlessly stood up before the council, pouring out a flood of invective against the unjust destroyers of the holy prophets of God; and when they all rushed upon the preacher of righteousness, and dragged him away from the tribunal to the place of execution, Saul also was consenting to his death; and when the blood of the martyr was shed, he stood by, approving the deed, and kept the clothes of them who slew him.♦“Pharasaic” replaced with “Pharisaic”HIS PERSECUTING CHARACTER.The very active share which Saul took in this and the subsequent cruelties of a similar nature, is in itself a decided though terrible proof of that remarkable independence of character, which was so distinctly displayed in the greatest events of his apostolic career. Saul was no slave to the opinions of others; nor did he take up his active persecuting course on the mere dictation of higher authority. On the contrary, his whole behavior towards the followers of Jesus was directly opposed to the policy so distinctly urged and so efficiently maintained, in at least one instance,by his great teacher, Gamaliel, whose precepts and example on this subject must have influenced his bold young disciple, if any authority could have had such an effect on him. From Gamaliel and his disciples, Saul must have received his earliest impressions of the character of Christ and his doctrines; for it is altogether probable that he did not reach Jerusalem until some time after the ascension of Christ, and there is therefore no reason to suppose that he himself had ever heard or seen him. Nevertheless, brought up in the school of the greatest of the Pharisees, he would receive from all his teachers and associates, an impression decidedly unfavorable, of the Christian sect; though the uniform mildness of the Pharisees, as to vindictive measures, would temper the principles of action recommended in regard to the course of conduct to be adopted towards them. The rapid advance of the new sect, however, soon brought them more and more under the invidious notice of the Pharisees, who in the life-time of Jesus had been the most determined opposers of him and his doctrines; and the attention of Saul would therefore be constantly directed to the preparation for contest with them.Stephen’s murder seems to have unlocked all the persecuting spirit of Saul. He immediately laid his hand to the work of persecuting the friends of Jesus, with a fury that could not be allayed by a single act. Nor was he satisfied with merely keeping a watchful eye on everything that was openly done by them; but under authority from the Sanhedrim, breaking into the retirement of their homes, to hunt them out for destruction, he had them thrown into prison, and scourged in the synagogues, and threatened even with death; by all which cruelties he so overcame the spirit of many of them, that they were forced to renounce the faith which they had adopted, and blaspheme the name of Christ in public recantations. This furious persecution soon drove them from Jerusalem in great numbers, to other cities. Samaria, as well as the distant parts of Judea, are mentioned as their places of refuge, and not a few fled beyond the bounds of Palestine into the cities of Syria. But even these distant exiles were not, by their flight into far countries, removed from the effects of the burning zeal of their persecutor. Longing for an opportunity to give a still wider range to his cruelties, he went to the great council, and begged of them such a commission as would authorize him to pursue his vindictive measures wherever the sanction of their name could support such actions. Among the probable inducementsto this selection of a foreign field for his unrighteous work, may be reasonably placed, the circumstance that Damascus was at this time under the government of Aretas, an Arabian prince, into whose hands it fell for a short time, during which the equitable principles of Roman tolerance no longer operated as a check on the murderous spite of the Jews; for the new ruler, anxious to secure his dominion by ingratiating himself with the subjects of it, would not be disposed to neglect any opportunity for pleasing so powerful and influential a portion of the population of Damascus as the Jews were,——who lived there in such numbers, that in some disturbances which arose a few years after, between them and the other inhabitants, ten thousand Jews were slain unarmed, while in the public baths, enjoying themselves after the fatigues of the day, without any expectation of violence. So large a Jewish population would be secure of the support of Aretas in any favorite measure. Saul, well knowing these circumstances, must have been greatly influenced by this motive, to seek a commission to labor in a field where the firm tolerance of Roman sway was displaced by the baser rule of a petty prince, whose weakness rendered him subservient to the tyrannical wishes of his subjects. In Jerusalem the Roman government would not suffer anything like a systematic destruction of its subjects, nor authorize the taking of life by any religious tribunal, though it might pass over, unpunished, a solitary act of mob violence, like the murder of Stephen. It is perfectly incontestable therefore, that the persecution in Jerusalem could not have extended to the repeated destruction of life, and that passage in Paul’s discourse to Agrippa; which has been supposed to prove a plurality of capital punishments, has accordingly been construed in a more limited sense, by the ablest modern commentators.
HIS JEWISH OPINIONS.
Jerusalem was the seat of what may be called the great Jewish University. The Rabbins or teachers, united in themselves, not merely the sources of Biblical and theological learning, but also the whole system of instruction in that civil law, by which their nation were still allowed to be governed, with only some slight exceptions as to the right of punishment. There was no distinction, in short, between the professions of divinity and law, the Rabbins being teachers of the whole Mosaic system, and those who entered on a course of study under them, aiming at the knowledge of both those departments of learning, which, throughout the western nations, are now kept, for the most part, entirely distinct. Saul was therefore a student both of theology and law, and entered himself as a hearer of the lectures of one, who may, in modern phrase, be styled the most eminent professor in the great Hebrew university of Jerusalem. From him he learned the law and the Jewish traditional doctrines, as illustrated and perfected by the Fathers of the♦Pharisaic order. His steady energy and resolute activity were here all made available to the very complete attainment of the mysteries of knowledge; and the success with which he prosecuted his studies may be best appreciated by a minute examination of his writings, which everywhere exhibit indubitable marks of a deep and critical knowledge of all the details of Jewish theology and law. He shows himself to have been deeply versed in all the standard modes of explaining the Scriptures among the Hebrews,——by allegory,——typology, accommodation and tradition. Yet though thus ardently drinking the streams of Biblical knowledge from this great fountain-head, he seems to have been very far from imbibing the mild and merciful spirit of his great teacher, as it had been so eminently displayed in his sage decision on the trial of the apostles. The acquisition of knowledge, even under such an instructor, was, in Saul, attended with the somewhat common evils to which a young mind rapidly advanced in dogmatical learning, is naturally liable,——a bitter, denunciatory intolerance of any opinions contrary to his own,——a spiteful feeling towards all doctrinal opponents, and a disposition to punish speculative errors as actual crimes. All these common faults were very remarkably developedin Saul, by that uncommon harshness and fierceness by which he was so strongly characterized; and his worst feelings broke out with all their fury against the rising heretics, who, without any regular education, were assuming the office of religious teachers, and were understood to be seducing the people from their allegiance and due respect to the qualified scholars of the law. The occasion on which these dark religious passions first exhibited themselves in decided action against the Christians, was the murder of Stephen, of which the details have already been fully given in that part of the Life of Peter which is connected with it. Of those who engaged in the previous disputes with the proto-martyr, the members of the Cilician synagogue are mentioned among others; and with these Saul would very naturally be numbered; for, residing at a great distance from his native province, he would with pleasure seek the company of those residents in Jerusalem who were from Cilicia, and join with them in the study of the law and the weekly worship of God. What part he took in these animated and angry discussions, is not known; but his well-known power in argument affords good reason for believing, that the eloquence and logical acuteness which he afterwards displayed in the cause of Christ, were now made use of, against the ablest defenders of that same cause. His fierce spirit, no doubt, rose with the rest in that burst of indignation against the martyr, who fearlessly stood up before the council, pouring out a flood of invective against the unjust destroyers of the holy prophets of God; and when they all rushed upon the preacher of righteousness, and dragged him away from the tribunal to the place of execution, Saul also was consenting to his death; and when the blood of the martyr was shed, he stood by, approving the deed, and kept the clothes of them who slew him.
♦“Pharasaic” replaced with “Pharisaic”
♦“Pharasaic” replaced with “Pharisaic”
♦“Pharasaic” replaced with “Pharisaic”
HIS PERSECUTING CHARACTER.
The very active share which Saul took in this and the subsequent cruelties of a similar nature, is in itself a decided though terrible proof of that remarkable independence of character, which was so distinctly displayed in the greatest events of his apostolic career. Saul was no slave to the opinions of others; nor did he take up his active persecuting course on the mere dictation of higher authority. On the contrary, his whole behavior towards the followers of Jesus was directly opposed to the policy so distinctly urged and so efficiently maintained, in at least one instance,by his great teacher, Gamaliel, whose precepts and example on this subject must have influenced his bold young disciple, if any authority could have had such an effect on him. From Gamaliel and his disciples, Saul must have received his earliest impressions of the character of Christ and his doctrines; for it is altogether probable that he did not reach Jerusalem until some time after the ascension of Christ, and there is therefore no reason to suppose that he himself had ever heard or seen him. Nevertheless, brought up in the school of the greatest of the Pharisees, he would receive from all his teachers and associates, an impression decidedly unfavorable, of the Christian sect; though the uniform mildness of the Pharisees, as to vindictive measures, would temper the principles of action recommended in regard to the course of conduct to be adopted towards them. The rapid advance of the new sect, however, soon brought them more and more under the invidious notice of the Pharisees, who in the life-time of Jesus had been the most determined opposers of him and his doctrines; and the attention of Saul would therefore be constantly directed to the preparation for contest with them.
Stephen’s murder seems to have unlocked all the persecuting spirit of Saul. He immediately laid his hand to the work of persecuting the friends of Jesus, with a fury that could not be allayed by a single act. Nor was he satisfied with merely keeping a watchful eye on everything that was openly done by them; but under authority from the Sanhedrim, breaking into the retirement of their homes, to hunt them out for destruction, he had them thrown into prison, and scourged in the synagogues, and threatened even with death; by all which cruelties he so overcame the spirit of many of them, that they were forced to renounce the faith which they had adopted, and blaspheme the name of Christ in public recantations. This furious persecution soon drove them from Jerusalem in great numbers, to other cities. Samaria, as well as the distant parts of Judea, are mentioned as their places of refuge, and not a few fled beyond the bounds of Palestine into the cities of Syria. But even these distant exiles were not, by their flight into far countries, removed from the effects of the burning zeal of their persecutor. Longing for an opportunity to give a still wider range to his cruelties, he went to the great council, and begged of them such a commission as would authorize him to pursue his vindictive measures wherever the sanction of their name could support such actions. Among the probable inducementsto this selection of a foreign field for his unrighteous work, may be reasonably placed, the circumstance that Damascus was at this time under the government of Aretas, an Arabian prince, into whose hands it fell for a short time, during which the equitable principles of Roman tolerance no longer operated as a check on the murderous spite of the Jews; for the new ruler, anxious to secure his dominion by ingratiating himself with the subjects of it, would not be disposed to neglect any opportunity for pleasing so powerful and influential a portion of the population of Damascus as the Jews were,——who lived there in such numbers, that in some disturbances which arose a few years after, between them and the other inhabitants, ten thousand Jews were slain unarmed, while in the public baths, enjoying themselves after the fatigues of the day, without any expectation of violence. So large a Jewish population would be secure of the support of Aretas in any favorite measure. Saul, well knowing these circumstances, must have been greatly influenced by this motive, to seek a commission to labor in a field where the firm tolerance of Roman sway was displaced by the baser rule of a petty prince, whose weakness rendered him subservient to the tyrannical wishes of his subjects. In Jerusalem the Roman government would not suffer anything like a systematic destruction of its subjects, nor authorize the taking of life by any religious tribunal, though it might pass over, unpunished, a solitary act of mob violence, like the murder of Stephen. It is perfectly incontestable therefore, that the persecution in Jerusalem could not have extended to the repeated destruction of life, and that passage in Paul’s discourse to Agrippa; which has been supposed to prove a plurality of capital punishments, has accordingly been construed in a more limited sense, by the ablest modern commentators.
Kuinoel on Actsxxv.1, 10, maintains this fully, and quotes other authorities.
“It seems to some a strange business, that Paul should have had the Christians whipped through thesynagogues. Why, in a house consecrated to prayer and religion, were sentences of a criminal court passed, and the punishment executed on the criminal? This difficulty seemed so great, even to the learned and judicious Beza, that in the face of the testimony of all manuscripts, he would have us suspect the genuineness of the passage in Matthewx.17, where Christ uses the same expression. Such a liberty as he would thus take with the sacred text, is of course against all modern rules of sacred criticism. For what should we do then with Matthewxxiii.34, where the same passage occurs again? Grotius, to explain the difficulty, would have the word synagogues understood, not in the sense of houses of prayer, but of civil courts of justice; since such a meaning may be drawn from the etymology of the Greek word thus translated. (συναγωγη, a gathering together, or assembling for any purpose.) But that too is a forced construction, for no instance can be brought out of the New Testament, where the word is used in that sense, or any other than the common one. What then? We cannot be allowed to set up the speculations which wehave contrived to agree with our own notions, against accounts given in so full and clear a manner. Suppose, for a moment, that we could find no traces of the custom of scourging in the synagogues, in other writers; ought that to be considered doubtful, which is thus stated by Christ and Paul, in the plainest terms, as a fact commonly and perfectly well known in their time? Nor is there any reason why scourging in the synagogues should seem so unaccountable to us, since it was a grade of discipline less than excommunication, and less disgraceful. For it is made to appear that some of the most eminent of the wise, when they broke the law, were thus punished,——not even excepting the head of the Senate, nor the high priest himself.” (Witsius,§1,¶ xix.–xxi.) Witsius illustrates it still farther, by the stories which follow.
“But there are instances of flagellation in synagogues found in other accounts. Grotius himself quotes from Epiphanius, that a certain Jew who wished to revolt to Christianity, was whipped in the synagogue. The story is to the following purport. ‘A man, named Joseph, a messenger of the Jewish patriarch, went into Cilicia by order of the patriarch, to collect the tithes and first-fruits from the Jews of that province; and while on his tour of duty, lodged in a house near a Christian church. Having, by means of this, become acquainted with the pastor, he privately begs the loan of the book of the gospels, and reads it. But the Jews, getting wind of this, were so enraged against him, that on a sudden they made an assault on the house, and caught Joseph in the very act of reading the gospels. Snatching the book out of his hands, they knocked him down, and crying out against him with all sorts of abuse, they led him away to the synagogue, where they whipped him with rods.’“Very much like this is the more modern story which Uriel Acosta tells of himself, in a little book, entitled ‘the Pattern of Human Life.’ The thing took place in Amsterdam, about the year 1630. It seems this Uriel Acosta was a Jew by birth, but being a sort of Epicurean philosopher, had some rather heretical notions about most of the articles of the Jewish creed; and on this charge, being called to account by the rulers of the synagogue, stood on his trial. In the end of it, a paper was read to him, in which it was specified that he must come into the synagogue, clothed in a mourning garment, holding a black wax-light in his hand, and should utter openly before the congregation a certain form of words prescribed by them, in which the offenses he had committed were magnified beyond measure. After this, that he should be flogged with a cowskin or strap, publicly, in the synagogue, and then should lay himself down flat on the threshhold of the synagogue, that all might walk over him. How thoroughly this sentence was executed, is best learned from his own amusing and candid story, which are given in the very words,as literally as they can be translated. ‘I entered the synagogue, which was full of men and women, (for they had crammed in together to see the show,) and when it was time, I mounted the wooden platform, which was placed in the midst of the synagogue for convenience in preaching, and with a loud voice read the writing drawn up by them, in which was a confession that I really deserved to die a thousand times for what I had done; namely, for my breaches of the sabbath, and for my abandonment of the faith, which I had broken so far as even by my words to hinder others from embracing Judaism,&c.After I had got through with the reading, I came down from the platform, and the right reverend ruler of the synagogue drew near to me, and whispered in my ear that I must turn aside to a certain corner of the synagogue. Accordingly, I went to the corner, and the porter told me to strip. I then stripped my body as low as my waist,——bound a handkerchief about my head,——took off my shoes, and raised my arms, holding fast with my hands to a sort of post. The porter of the synagogue, or sexton, then came up, and with a bandage tied up my hands to the post. When things had been thus arranged, the clerk drew near, and taking the cowskin, struck my sides with thirty-nine blows, according to thetradition; while in the mean time a psalm was chanted. After this was over, the preacher approached, and absolved me from excommunication; and thus was the gate of heaven opened to me, which before was shut against me with the strongest bars, keeping me entirely out. I next put on my clothes, went to the threshhold of the synagogue and laid myself down on it, while the porter held up my head. Then all who came down, stepped over me, boys as well as old men, lifting up one foot and stepping over the lower part of my legs. When the last had passed out, I got up, and being covered with dust by him who helped me, went home.’ This story, though rather tediously minute in its disgusting particulars, it was yet thought worth while to copy, because this comparatively modern scene seemed to give, to the life, the old fashion of ‘scourging in the synagogues.’”HIS JOURNEY TO DAMASCUS.Thus equipped with the high commission and letters of the supreme court of the Jewish nation, Saul, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went on his way to Damascus, where the sanction of his superiors would have the force of despotic law, against the destined victims of his cruelty.The distance from Jerusalem to this great Syrian city, can not be less than 250 or 300 miles, and the journey must therefore have occupied as many as ten or twelve days, according to the usual rate of traveling in those countries. On this long journey therefore, Saul had much season for reflection. There were indeed several persons in his company, but probably they were only persons of an inferior order, and merely the attendants necessary for his safety and speed in traveling. Among these therefore, he would not be likely to find any person with whom he could maintain any sympathy which could enable them to hold much conversation together, and he must therefore have been left through most of the time to the solitary enjoyment of his own thoughts. In the midst of the peculiar fatigues of an eastern journey, he must have had many seasons of bodily exhaustion and consequent mental depression, when the fire of his unholy and exterminating zeal would grow languid, and the painful doubts which always come in at such dark seasons, to chill the hopes of every great mind,——no matter what may be the character of the enterprise,——must have had the occasional effect of exciting repentant feelings in him. Why had he left the high and sacred pursuits of a literary and religious life, in the refined capital of Judaism, to endure the fatigues of a long journey over rugged mountains and sandy deserts, through rivers and under a burning sun, to a distant city, in a strange land, among those who were perfect strangers to him? It was for the sole object of carrying misery and anguish among those whose only crime was the belief of a doctrine which he hated, because it warred against that solemn system of forms and traditions to which he so zealously clung, with all the energy that early and inbred prejudice could inspire. But in these seasons of weariness and depression, would now occasionally arise some chilling doubt about the certain rectitude of the stern course which he had been pursuing, in a heat that seldom allowed him time for reflection on its possible character and tendency. Might not that faith against which he was warring with such devotedness, be true?——that faith which, amid blood and dying agonies, the martyr Stephen had witnessed with his very last breath? At these times of doubt and despondency would perhaps arise the remembrance of that horrible scene, when he had set by, a calm spectator, drinking in with delight the agonies of the martyr, and learning from the ferocity of the murderers, new lessons of cruelty. to be put in practice against others who should thus adhere tothe faith of Christ. No doubt too, an occasional shudder of gloom and remorse for such acts would creep over him in the chill of evening, or in the heats of noon-day, and darken all his schemes of active vengeance against the brethren. But still he journeyed northward, and each hour brought him nearer the scene of long-planned cruelty. On the last day of his wearisome journey, he at length drew near the city, just at noon; and from the terms in which his situation is described, it is not unreasonable to conclude that he was just coming in sight of Damascus, when the event happened which revolutionized his purposes, hopes, character, soul, and his whole existence through eternity,——an event connected with the salvation of millions that no man can yet number.DAMASCUS.Descending from the north-eastern slope of Hermon, over whose mighty range his last day’s journey had conducted him, Saul came along the course of the Abana, to the last hill which overlooks the distant city. Here Damascus bursts upon the traveler’s view, in the midst of a mighty plain, embosomed in gardens, and orchards, and groves, which, with the long-known and still bright streams of Abana and Pharphar, and the golden flood of the Chrysorrhoas, give the spot the name of “one of the four paradises.” So lovely and charming is the sight which this fair city has in all ages presented to the traveler’s view, that the Turks relate that their prophet, coming near Damascus, took his station on the mountain Salehiyeh, on the west of the hill-girt plain in which the city stands; and as he thence viewed the glorious and beautiful spot, encompassed with gardens for thirty miles, and thickly set with domes and steeples, over which the eye glances as far as it can reach,——considering the ravishing beauty of the place, he would not tempt his frailty by entering into it, but instantly turned away with this reflection: that there was but one paradise designed for man, and for his part, he was resolved not to take his, in this world. And though there is not the slightest foundation for such a story, because the prophet never came near to Damascus, nor had an opportunity of entering into it, yet the conspiring testimony of modern travelers justifies the fable, in the impression it conveys of the surpassing loveliness of the view from this very spot,——called the Arch of Victory, from an unfinished mass of stonework which here crowns the mountain’s top. This spot has been marked by a worthless tradition, as the scene of Saul’s conversion; and the locality is made barely probable, by the much betterauthority of the circumstance, that it accords with the sacred narrative, in being on the road from Jerusalem, and “nigh unto the city.”
“But there are instances of flagellation in synagogues found in other accounts. Grotius himself quotes from Epiphanius, that a certain Jew who wished to revolt to Christianity, was whipped in the synagogue. The story is to the following purport. ‘A man, named Joseph, a messenger of the Jewish patriarch, went into Cilicia by order of the patriarch, to collect the tithes and first-fruits from the Jews of that province; and while on his tour of duty, lodged in a house near a Christian church. Having, by means of this, become acquainted with the pastor, he privately begs the loan of the book of the gospels, and reads it. But the Jews, getting wind of this, were so enraged against him, that on a sudden they made an assault on the house, and caught Joseph in the very act of reading the gospels. Snatching the book out of his hands, they knocked him down, and crying out against him with all sorts of abuse, they led him away to the synagogue, where they whipped him with rods.’
“Very much like this is the more modern story which Uriel Acosta tells of himself, in a little book, entitled ‘the Pattern of Human Life.’ The thing took place in Amsterdam, about the year 1630. It seems this Uriel Acosta was a Jew by birth, but being a sort of Epicurean philosopher, had some rather heretical notions about most of the articles of the Jewish creed; and on this charge, being called to account by the rulers of the synagogue, stood on his trial. In the end of it, a paper was read to him, in which it was specified that he must come into the synagogue, clothed in a mourning garment, holding a black wax-light in his hand, and should utter openly before the congregation a certain form of words prescribed by them, in which the offenses he had committed were magnified beyond measure. After this, that he should be flogged with a cowskin or strap, publicly, in the synagogue, and then should lay himself down flat on the threshhold of the synagogue, that all might walk over him. How thoroughly this sentence was executed, is best learned from his own amusing and candid story, which are given in the very words,as literally as they can be translated. ‘I entered the synagogue, which was full of men and women, (for they had crammed in together to see the show,) and when it was time, I mounted the wooden platform, which was placed in the midst of the synagogue for convenience in preaching, and with a loud voice read the writing drawn up by them, in which was a confession that I really deserved to die a thousand times for what I had done; namely, for my breaches of the sabbath, and for my abandonment of the faith, which I had broken so far as even by my words to hinder others from embracing Judaism,&c.After I had got through with the reading, I came down from the platform, and the right reverend ruler of the synagogue drew near to me, and whispered in my ear that I must turn aside to a certain corner of the synagogue. Accordingly, I went to the corner, and the porter told me to strip. I then stripped my body as low as my waist,——bound a handkerchief about my head,——took off my shoes, and raised my arms, holding fast with my hands to a sort of post. The porter of the synagogue, or sexton, then came up, and with a bandage tied up my hands to the post. When things had been thus arranged, the clerk drew near, and taking the cowskin, struck my sides with thirty-nine blows, according to thetradition; while in the mean time a psalm was chanted. After this was over, the preacher approached, and absolved me from excommunication; and thus was the gate of heaven opened to me, which before was shut against me with the strongest bars, keeping me entirely out. I next put on my clothes, went to the threshhold of the synagogue and laid myself down on it, while the porter held up my head. Then all who came down, stepped over me, boys as well as old men, lifting up one foot and stepping over the lower part of my legs. When the last had passed out, I got up, and being covered with dust by him who helped me, went home.’ This story, though rather tediously minute in its disgusting particulars, it was yet thought worth while to copy, because this comparatively modern scene seemed to give, to the life, the old fashion of ‘scourging in the synagogues.’”
HIS JOURNEY TO DAMASCUS.
Thus equipped with the high commission and letters of the supreme court of the Jewish nation, Saul, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went on his way to Damascus, where the sanction of his superiors would have the force of despotic law, against the destined victims of his cruelty.The distance from Jerusalem to this great Syrian city, can not be less than 250 or 300 miles, and the journey must therefore have occupied as many as ten or twelve days, according to the usual rate of traveling in those countries. On this long journey therefore, Saul had much season for reflection. There were indeed several persons in his company, but probably they were only persons of an inferior order, and merely the attendants necessary for his safety and speed in traveling. Among these therefore, he would not be likely to find any person with whom he could maintain any sympathy which could enable them to hold much conversation together, and he must therefore have been left through most of the time to the solitary enjoyment of his own thoughts. In the midst of the peculiar fatigues of an eastern journey, he must have had many seasons of bodily exhaustion and consequent mental depression, when the fire of his unholy and exterminating zeal would grow languid, and the painful doubts which always come in at such dark seasons, to chill the hopes of every great mind,——no matter what may be the character of the enterprise,——must have had the occasional effect of exciting repentant feelings in him. Why had he left the high and sacred pursuits of a literary and religious life, in the refined capital of Judaism, to endure the fatigues of a long journey over rugged mountains and sandy deserts, through rivers and under a burning sun, to a distant city, in a strange land, among those who were perfect strangers to him? It was for the sole object of carrying misery and anguish among those whose only crime was the belief of a doctrine which he hated, because it warred against that solemn system of forms and traditions to which he so zealously clung, with all the energy that early and inbred prejudice could inspire. But in these seasons of weariness and depression, would now occasionally arise some chilling doubt about the certain rectitude of the stern course which he had been pursuing, in a heat that seldom allowed him time for reflection on its possible character and tendency. Might not that faith against which he was warring with such devotedness, be true?——that faith which, amid blood and dying agonies, the martyr Stephen had witnessed with his very last breath? At these times of doubt and despondency would perhaps arise the remembrance of that horrible scene, when he had set by, a calm spectator, drinking in with delight the agonies of the martyr, and learning from the ferocity of the murderers, new lessons of cruelty. to be put in practice against others who should thus adhere tothe faith of Christ. No doubt too, an occasional shudder of gloom and remorse for such acts would creep over him in the chill of evening, or in the heats of noon-day, and darken all his schemes of active vengeance against the brethren. But still he journeyed northward, and each hour brought him nearer the scene of long-planned cruelty. On the last day of his wearisome journey, he at length drew near the city, just at noon; and from the terms in which his situation is described, it is not unreasonable to conclude that he was just coming in sight of Damascus, when the event happened which revolutionized his purposes, hopes, character, soul, and his whole existence through eternity,——an event connected with the salvation of millions that no man can yet number.
DAMASCUS.
DAMASCUS.
DAMASCUS.
Descending from the north-eastern slope of Hermon, over whose mighty range his last day’s journey had conducted him, Saul came along the course of the Abana, to the last hill which overlooks the distant city. Here Damascus bursts upon the traveler’s view, in the midst of a mighty plain, embosomed in gardens, and orchards, and groves, which, with the long-known and still bright streams of Abana and Pharphar, and the golden flood of the Chrysorrhoas, give the spot the name of “one of the four paradises.” So lovely and charming is the sight which this fair city has in all ages presented to the traveler’s view, that the Turks relate that their prophet, coming near Damascus, took his station on the mountain Salehiyeh, on the west of the hill-girt plain in which the city stands; and as he thence viewed the glorious and beautiful spot, encompassed with gardens for thirty miles, and thickly set with domes and steeples, over which the eye glances as far as it can reach,——considering the ravishing beauty of the place, he would not tempt his frailty by entering into it, but instantly turned away with this reflection: that there was but one paradise designed for man, and for his part, he was resolved not to take his, in this world. And though there is not the slightest foundation for such a story, because the prophet never came near to Damascus, nor had an opportunity of entering into it, yet the conspiring testimony of modern travelers justifies the fable, in the impression it conveys of the surpassing loveliness of the view from this very spot,——called the Arch of Victory, from an unfinished mass of stonework which here crowns the mountain’s top. This spot has been marked by a worthless tradition, as the scene of Saul’s conversion; and the locality is made barely probable, by the much betterauthority of the circumstance, that it accords with the sacred narrative, in being on the road from Jerusalem, and “nigh unto the city.”
“Damascus is a very ancient city, which the oldest records and traditions show by their accordant testimony to have been founded by Uz, the son of Aram, and grandson of Shem. It was the capital or mother city of that Syria which is distinguished by the name of Aram Dammesek or Damascene Syria, lying between Libanus and Anti-Libanus. The city stands at the base of Mount Hermon, from which descend the famous streams of Abana and Pharphar; the latter washing the walls of the city, while the former cuts it through the middle. It was a very populous, delightful, and wealthy place; but as in the course of its existence it had suffered a variety of fortune, so it had often changed masters. To pass over its earlier history, we will only observe, that before the Christian era, on the defeat of Tigranes, the Armenian monarch, it was yielded to the Romans, being taken by the armies of Pompey. In the time of Paul, as we are told in♦2 Corinthiansxi.32, it was held under the (temporary) sway of Aretas, a king of the Arabians, father-in-law of Herod the tetrarch. It had then a large Jewish population, as we may gather from the fact, that in the reign of Nero, 10,000 of that nation were slaughtered, unarmed, and in the public baths by the Damascenes, as Josephus records in his history of the Jewish War,II.Book, chapter 25. Among the Jews of Damascus, also, were a considerable number of Christians, and it was raging for the destruction of these, that Saul, furnished with the letters and commission of the Jewish high priest, now flew like a hawk upon the doves.” (Witsius,§2,¶1.)
♦“2” omitted in the original text.
♦“2” omitted in the original text.
♦“2” omitted in the original text.
The sacred narrative gives no particulars of the other circumstances connected with this remarkable event, in either of the three statements presented in different parts of the book of Acts. All that is commemorated, is that at mid-day, as Saul with his company drew near to Damascus, he saw a light exceeding the sun in brightness, which flashed upon them from heaven, and struck them all to the earth. And while they were all fallen to the ground, Saul alone heard a voice speaking to him in the Hebrew tongue, and saying, “Saul! Saul! Why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against thorns.” To this, Saul asked in reply, “Who art thou, Lord?” The answer was, “I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom thou persecutest.” Saul, trembling and astonished, replied, “Lord, what wilt thou that I should do?” And the voice said, “Rise and stand upon thy feet, and go into the city; there thou shalt be told what to do, since for this purpose I have appeared to thee, to make use of thee as a minister and a witness, both of what thou hast seen and of what I will cause thee to see,——choosing thee out of the people, and of the heathen nations to whom I nowSENDthee,——to open their eyes,——to turn them from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified, by faith in me.”
The sacred narrative gives no particulars of the other circumstances connected with this remarkable event, in either of the three statements presented in different parts of the book of Acts. All that is commemorated, is that at mid-day, as Saul with his company drew near to Damascus, he saw a light exceeding the sun in brightness, which flashed upon them from heaven, and struck them all to the earth. And while they were all fallen to the ground, Saul alone heard a voice speaking to him in the Hebrew tongue, and saying, “Saul! Saul! Why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against thorns.” To this, Saul asked in reply, “Who art thou, Lord?” The answer was, “I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom thou persecutest.” Saul, trembling and astonished, replied, “Lord, what wilt thou that I should do?” And the voice said, “Rise and stand upon thy feet, and go into the city; there thou shalt be told what to do, since for this purpose I have appeared to thee, to make use of thee as a minister and a witness, both of what thou hast seen and of what I will cause thee to see,——choosing thee out of the people, and of the heathen nations to whom I nowSENDthee,——to open their eyes,——to turn them from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified, by faith in me.”
These words are given thus fully only in Saul’s own account of his conversion, in his address to king Agrippa. (Actsxxvi.14–18.) The original Greek of verse 17, is most remarkably and expressively significant, containing, beyond all doubt,the formal commission of Saul as the “Apostle of the Gentiles.” The first word in that verse is translated in the common English version, “delivering;” whereas, the original,Εξαιρουμενος, means also “taking out,” “choosing;” and is clearly shown by Bretschneider,sub voc.in numerous references to the usages of theLXX., and by Kuinoel,in loc., to bear this latter meaning here. Rosenmueller and others however, have been led, by the circumstance that Hesychius gives the meaning of “rescue,” to prefer that. Rosenmueller’s remark, that the context demands this meaning, is however certainly unauthorized; for, on this same ground, Kuinoel bases the firmest support of the meaning of “choice.” The meaning of “rescue” was indeed the only one formerly received, but the lights of modern exegesis have added new distinctness and aptness to the passage, by the meaning adopted above. Beza, Piscator, Pagninus, Arias Montanus, Castalio,&c., as well as the oriental versions, are all quoted by Poole in defense of the common rendering, nor does he seem to know of the sense now received. But Saul was truly chosen, both “out of the people” of Israel, (because he was a Jew by birth and religion,) “and out of the heathen,” (because he was born and brought up among the Grecians, and therefore was taken out from among them, as a minister of grace to them,) and the whole passage is thus shown to be most beautifully just to the circumstances which so eminently fitted him for his Gentile apostleship. The Greek verb used in the conclusion of the passage, is the consecrating word,αποστελλω, (apostello,) and makes up the formula of hisapostoliccommission, which is there given in language worthy of the vast and eternal scope of the sense,——words fit to be spoken from heaven, in thunder, amid the flash of lightnings, that called the bloody-minded, bitter, maddened persecutor, to the peaceful, devoted, unshrinking testimony of the cause, against the friends of which he before breathed only threatenings and slaughter.