In youth St. Paul learned the trade of tent- making, this being, it would appear, the character- istic industry of Cilicia, where a coarse haircloth was manufactured on a large scale, to be used for tents and other purposes. This circumstance might be supposed to indicate that he belonged to the lower class of the population. But it is said that among the Jews it was the custom at that time for even the sons of the wealthy to acquire skill in some manual art, as a resource against the possible caprices of fortune ; and, in the sequel, the possession of this handicraft proved of eminent service to St. Paul, enabling him to earn his bre.ad by the labour of his hands, when it was not ex- pedient to accept support from those to whom he preached the gospel. Ramsay {St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, p. 311 if.) has accumulated evidence to prove that St. Paul's relatives were persons of substance and social standing, and he considers himself able to show that, in later life, he came into possession of an inheritance, by which he was enabled to defray the heavy expenses of his trials before the Roman courts. Evidence more convincing of social stand- ing is supplied by the fact that St. Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin, if this can be inferred with certainty from the statement in Ac 26'" that, when the followei's of Jesus were put to death, he gave his 'vote' against them. It is frequently stated that members of the Sanhedrin had to be
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mairieil men, and from this the inference has heen drawn that he was married in youth. If so, his wife must have died early, as tliere is no hint of a wife in the records of liis life, the fancy that he married Lydia and addressed her in the Kpistle to the Philiiipians as 'true yokefellow' bein^ ridicu- lous, though it goes back as far as Eusehius {HE iii. 30) aiul has been resived in recent times by E. Renan (Saint Paul, 18G9, p. 115).
So comiiaratively near to Jerusalem was Tarsus that, as a boy, St. Paul may have been taken by his parents to one of the annual feasts, as Jesus was at the age of twelve ; and from the experience of the boy from Nazareth we may infer what were the feelings of this other Jewish boy at the first sight of the Holy City. It cannot have been very long afterwards that he was sent thither, to reside in the place, learning to be a Kabbi. Along with other aspirants to the same office he sat 'at the feet of Gamaliel ' (Ac 22^), whose intervention in the Book of Acts on the side of clemency and common sense is probably intended to be looked upon as a characteristic act. But, whatever else the disciple may have learned from this master in Israel, he did not copy this trait of his character ; for the first thing we hear of him after the termina- tion of his education is his persecution of the Christians.
There seems little doubt that Jesus and St. Paul were treading the soil of Palestine at the same time ; and it is an old question whether they ever crossed each other's path. Though Weiss [Paultis unci Jesns, 1910) and Ramsay {The Teaching of Paul, p. 21 fF.) have recently attempted to make it probable that they did, there is little to be said for this view of the case. It is argued, indeed, that on the way to Damascus St. Paul could not have recognized Jesus, if he had not been already familiar with His appearance. But he did not recognize Him by sight: he had to ask, 'Who art tho\i. Lord?,' and it was only through the hearing of the ear that he ascertained who was speaking. It is true that, in one place, St. Paul demands, 'Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?' (1 Co 9'), but the sight referred to was that on the way to Damascus.
(b) Persecution. — The whole situation creates the impression that St. Paul's first collision was not with Christ in the flesh, but with Christianity in the hands of its first representatives and apostles, and it is not difficult to understand the violence with which he opposed it. As a man of logic, he considered the case against Christianity complete. Jesus had died the cursed death of the Cross. This the Messiah could not have done. It was the destiny of the Messiah to live and to reign. A Messiah who dies and is buried must have been a pretender ; and an exposed pretender is no very respectable figure. As a Pharisee and a patriot, Saul cherished Messianic hopes ; indeed, these formed the most sacred part of his religion ; but they had been turned to shame by One who died upon a tree. No doubt it was this resentment at the despite done to that which to him was so sacred that led to his taking up the rdle of grand inquisitor; and he fulfilled in his own person the prediction, made by Jesus to His disciples, that a day was coming when whosoever killed them would think he was doing God service (Jn 16"). His zeal was winning for lum golden opinions in the minds of the authorities of the nation, and he was con- fident that it was, at the same time, accumulating merit in the hands of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.