Gania'liel(Heb. Gamliet, htf.'^izl, reward of God; Sept. and N. T. rapaXiijX), the name of two men iu Scripture.
1. Son of Pedahzur, and chief (N"^ w3) of the tribe of Manasseh at the census at Sinai (Numb, i, 10; ii, 20 ; vii, 54, 59), and at starting on the march through the wilderness (x, 23). B.C. 1G57.
2. A Pharisee and celebrated doctor of the law, who gave prudent and humane advice in the Sanhedrim respecting the treatment of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth (Acts v, 34 sq.), A.D. 29. We learn from Acts xxii, 3 that he was the preceptor of the apostl% Paul. He is general!}' identified with the very cele- brated Jewish doctor Gamaliel, who is known liy the title of "the glory of the law," and was the first to whom the title " Rabban," "our master," was given. The time agrees, and there is every reason to suppose the assumption to be correct. He bears in the Tal- mud the surname of "pTH, "the elder" (to distinguish him from a later rabbin of the same name), and is rep- resented as the son of Rabbi Simeon, and grandson of the famous Hillel : he is said to have occupied a seat, if not the presidency, in the Sanhedrim during the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius, and to have died eighteen years after the destruction of Jerusalem (see Lightfoot, Centuria chorographica Matthrro ^wos- missa, ch. xv). But, as this statement would give him an extreme old age, it may perhaps refir to the later Gamaliel; and the elder probably died about A.D. 50. Ecclesiastical tradition makes him become a Christian, and be baptized by Peter and Paul (Phot. Cod. Ill, ]). 199), together with his son Gamaliel, and with Nicodemus ; and the Clementine Recognitions (i, 65) state that he was secretly a Christian at this time. But these notices are altogether irreconcilable with the esteem and respect in which he was held even in later times by the Jewish rabbins, by whom his opin- ions are frequently quoted as an all-silencing authority on points of religious law (see Thilo, Codex. Apoc. p. 501 ; Neander, Planting and Training, i, 46, Bohn). Neither does his interference in behalf of the apostles at all prove — as some would have it- — that he secretly approved their doctrines. He was a dispassionate judge, and reasoned in that affair Mith the tact of worldly wisdom and experience, urging tliat religious opinions usually gain strength by opposition and peir- secution (Acts v, 36, 37), while, if not noticed at all, they are sure not to leave any lasting impression on the minds of the people, if devoid of truth (ver. 38) ; and that it is vain to contend against them, if true (ver. 39). That he was more enlightened and toler- ant than his colleagues and contemporaries is evident from the very fact that he allowed his zealous pujnl Saul to turn his mind to Greek literature, which, in a great measure, qualified Iiim afterwards to become the apostle of the Gentiles ; while by the laws of the Pales«
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tinian Jews, after the Maccabaean wars, even the Greek lanmage was prohibited to be taught to the Hebrew vouth (Mishna, Sofuh, ix, 14). Another proof of the hi'^h respect in which Gamaliel stood with the Jews long after his death is afforded by an anecdote told in the Talmud respecting his tomb, to the effect that Onkelos (the celebrated Chaldaean translator of the Old Testa- ment) spent sevent}' pounds of incense at his grave in honor of his memory {Yuchasiti, &9). These last no- tices, however, have been shown to refer to Gamaliel II, the firandson of the ajjostle's teacher (comp. Gratz, in Frankel's Monatschr!// , i, y20 ; Geschic/ite der Juden [Lpz. 185G], iii, 281); iv, 114, 152; Jost, Gesch. der Ju- denthums [Lpz. 1857], i, 281; and especially Frankel's Hodegetkn in Mischnam [Lips. 1859], p. 57 sq., where all the fragments about Gamaliel are collected). — Kit- to, s. V. See Kitto's DmIt/ Bible Illust. in loc. ; Pfaf- freuter. Diss, de consil. Gamnl. (Jen. 1680) ; Conybeare and Howson, St. Pmd, i, 56, 67 ; Graun, Ilisf. Gamali- elis (Vitemb. 1687) ; Baler, De consilio Gamalielis (Jen. 1680); Bucher, De bumuxoii: (Viteb. 1681); Chlade- nius, De 3!toj.uixia (V^iteb. 1715) ; Lange, Judicium Ga- malieUs (Hal. 1715) ; Meulengracht, De religione Giivia- lielis (Hafn. 1698) ; Palmer, J'aulus u. Gamaliel (Giess. 1806).
Gamaliel bar Simon, also called Gamaliel of Jahxe, or the younger, was born about A.D. 50. He was a man of great erudition ; was the teacher of Aqiti- la, author of a Greek translation of the O. T., and of Onkelos, the Chaldee translator of the Pentateuch. Like his father, he labored earnestly to introduce the Platonian philosophy into Jewish theologj'. On the death of Jochanan ben Zachai, he was elected to the presidency of the rabbinical college at Jamnia. Short- Ij' after his accession he reconstituted the Sanhedrim, M'hich, though divested at this time of all secular author- ity, nevertheless exerted a great influence on the moral life of the Jews of their time. By the vigorous measures which Gamaliel adopted, he made man}' enemies, and was 3ven for a time deposed from the presidenc}', and instead of being superseded by his lineal descendant, as had been customary, K. Eleazar b. Azzariah, was elect- ed, and a re-examination of all the opinions which Ga- maliel affirmed to belong to the Hillel school was or- dered by the Sanhedrim. About twenty years before Christ a division arose among the Jewish rabbis, and the result was the founding of a separate rabbinical college, called " School of Shamai." When the San- hedrim entered upon a re -examination of Gamali- el's doctrines, they " decided in favor of the opinions which were in harmony with the most ancient tradi- tions, iVz'e^pecfzwe of schools.''' "This collection of de- cisions is called Edajolh (n"'"T^', collection of uittiess') or Bechirah (mTlS, selection'). Among the decisions re- considered was the opinion about the hook of Ecclesias- tes and the Song of Songs, which constituted one of the differences between the school of Shammai and Hil- lel." The former excluded and the latter included them in the canon, and "after a minute investigation of the evidence, it was found that, according to the most ancjent traditions, these books were regarded as in- spired, and hence the former decision of the school of Hillel was confirmed, viz. that the said books should be retained in the canon" (.Tadjim, iii, 5 ; Ed'ijoth, v, ,3). Gamaliel was, however, reinstated in his position, hut with defined and restricted power; and tlie regard in which he was held at the time of his death, about A.D. 116, is evinced hy Onkelos, "who showed him royal honors at his funeral, and Inirned costly garments and furniture to the amount of seventij Tyrian mina;, i. e. about twenty-one pounds sterling. Such a funeral pile was generally raised onh' to kings." — Kitto, Cyclopre- dia of Biblical Literature, ii, 62; Etheridge, Introduc- tion to Hebrew Literature, p. 59 ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gen. xix, 382, (J. H. W.)