perfect example, their Divine yet most truly human Redeemer.
The scene of our Lord's appearing in the crown of thorns and the purple robe is naturally one to appeal to artists ; and many great pictures, notably one of the greatest and most striking of modern times (by Munkacsy), have borne the title ' Ecce
Eccc IIuiHo is also the title of a very notable book by the late Sir John Seeley. 'the book cannot be discussed here. It deals with the man- hood of our Lord In an original and striking way, and does not deny, although it does not discuss, His Divinity.
LiTER.*Ti RE.— Conini. on passage cited ; Seeley, Ecce Homo ; Knox Little, Ferfecl Li/e (1898), p. 140 ; R. J. Campbell, City Temple Sermons (1903), 60 ; Rosadi, Trial of Jesjts : Farrar, Christ in Art, p. 384 £f. ; art. ' Christusbilder ' in PHEi.
Geo. C. Watt.
EDUCATION.— Among the Apocryphal Gospels' fables of what befell during the Silent Years, there are some that are concerned with the school-days of Jesus— mostly silly and sometimes blasphemous stories of the sort which St. I'aui liraiids as • profane and old-wili>h myths ( 1 Ti 4' ). I'nr instance, it is told in.lnih. Knni,/. li,f. xIIn. that the wondrous Child one d.ay had a disimtu witli lli> tcaclier aljout the Hebrew alphabet ; and when the latter would have chastised Him, his impious arm was withered, and he died. Such stories are, of course, abso- lutely unhistorical ; but it is indubitable that dur- ing His early years at Nazareth Jesus had to do with school and teacher. It is mentioned incident- ally by St. Luke that He could read (4"), and by St. John that He could write (8*) ; and it is im- possible that He should have grown up without an education. It is not the least merit of the Jewish people that they recognized the value of education, and brought it within the reach of the poorest. ' Our ground,' says Josephus,* ' is good, and we work it to the utmost ; but our chief ambition is for the education of our children.' A father, ac- cordinu to K. SaIomo,t had as well bury his son as ncgli't hi-, instruction; and it was a saying of K. .Iu(hih till- Holy that ' the world exists by the breatli ul srli.M.l-dnldren.'
A child's lirst school was his home and his fir.st teachers his parents, in accordance with Dt 6"- ' ; and his instruction began veiy early, since youth was recognized as the season of opportunity. ' He who learns as a lad,' said K. Abujah, ' to what is he likeV To ink written on frcsli paper. And he who learns when old, to what is lie like? To ink written on used jiaper.'J St. Paul testifies tliat Timothy had known sacred literature ' from his infancy' (airb ^p44>ovs), his teachers being — since his father was a Greek and apparently deceased — his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice (2Ti 3'^ 1') ; and Josephus says that ' from the very dawn of understanding' a Jewish child 'learned the Law by heart, and had it, as it were, engraved on his soul.'§ It may be assumea that Joseph and Mary would be no less zealous than others in the discharge of this sacred and imperative duty.
When he reached the age of six or seven years, '] the boy was sent to the elementary school, wdiicli, since the subject of study was the Book of the Law, was styled the House of the Book {beth ha- Sepher). This admirable institution, comparable to John Knox's parish school, was attached to the synagogue ; and since there was a synagogue in every village in the land, there was also an
II According to the i'as high priest from
; of Joshua ben Gamla. Joshua A.D. 63 to 65, but his ordinance was merely xisting requirements. Cf. Schiirer, HJ}*
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EDUCATION
elementary school in every village.* The estab- lishment of this system of education was ascrihed to the celebrated Simon ben Shetach, brother of .Salome Alexandra, the queen of Alexander Jan- naius (B.C. 104-78), and his successor on the throne (B.C. 78-69). Schiirert summarily dismisses the tradition with the remark that ' this Simon ben Shetach is a meeting-place for all kinds of myths.' Whatever be the worth of the tradition, Jose- jihus' reiterated ascription to Moses of the exceed- ingly thorough system of education which prevailed in liis day,t proves it no recent institution.
From the House of the Book such as desired to prosecute their studies and become teachers them- selves passed into the Scribal College, styled the House of the Midrash (beth ka-Midrdsh),% where the great Rabbis taught. There were several of these colleges in Palestine. Sometimes, like the Cluistian iKK\Tjala (cf. 1 Co \&^, Col 4''), they met in an upper room in a private house,|| but gener- ally in some special place. The college at Jabiie, where It. Elea.sar and R. Ishmael taught, met in a place called the Vineyard. The principal college was that of Jerusalem, and it met within tlie Temple - precincts (cf. Lk 2*'), probably in the Temple-synagogue. The Rabbi occupied a low platform, and his disciples sat rotind him on the rtoor, ' powdering themselves in the dust of tlie feet of the wise,' II— an arrangement which ex- plains St. Paul's expression, ' educated at tlie feet of Gamaliel '(Ac 22^).