Reference: Education
Fausets
Chiefly in the law of God (Ex 12:26; 13:8,14; De 4:5,9-10; 6:2,7,20; 11:19,21; Ac 22:3; 2Ti 3:15). The Book of Proverbs inculcates on parents, as to their children, the duty of disciplinary instruction and training in the word of God. This was the ONE book of national education in the reformations undertaken by Jehoshaphat and Josiah (2Ch 17:7-9; 34:30). The priests' and Levites' duty especially was to teach the people (2Ch 15:3; Le 10:11; Mal 2:7; Ne 8:2,8-9,13; Jer 18:18).
The Mishna says that parents ought to teach their children some trade, and he who did not virtually taught his child to steal. The prophets, or special public authoritative teachers, were trained in schools or colleges (Am 7:14). "Writers," or musterers general, belonging to Zebulun, who enrolled recruits and wrote the names of those who went to war, are mentioned (Jg 5:14). "Scribes of the host" (Jer 52:25) appear in the Assyrian bas-reliefs, writing down the various persons or objects brought to them, so that there is less exaggeration than in the Egyptian representations of battle. Seraiah was David's scribe or secretary, and Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was "recorder" or writer of chronicles, historiographer (2Sa 8:16-17); Shebun was Hezekiah's scribe (2Ki 18:37).
The learned, according to the rabbis, were called "sons of the noble," and took precedence at table. Boys at five years of age, says the Mishna, were to begin reading Scripture, at ten they were to begin reading the Mishna, and at thirteen years of age they were subject to the whole law (Lu 2:46); at fifteen they entered study of the Gemara. The prophetic schools included females such as Huldah (2Ki 22:14). The position and duties of females among the Jews were much higher than among other Orientals (Pr 31:10-31; Lu 8:2-3; 10:38, etc.; Ac 13:50; 2Ti 1:5).
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and it hath come to pass when your sons say unto you, What is this service ye have?
And thou hast declared to thy son in that day, saying, 'It is because of what Jehovah did to me, in my going out from Egypt,
And it hath been, when thy son asketh thee hereafter, saying, What is this? that thou hast said unto him, By strength of hand hath Jehovah brought us out from Egypt, from a house of servants;
and to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which Jehovah hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.'
See, I have taught you statutes and judgments, as Jehovah my God hath commanded me -- to do so, in the midst of the land whither ye are going in to possess it;
'Only, take heed to thyself, and watch thy soul exceedingly, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they turn aside from thy heart, all days of thy life; and thou hast made them known to thy sons, and to thy sons' sons. The day when thou hast stood before Jehovah thy God in Horeb -- in Jehovah's saying unto me, Assemble to Me the people, and I cause them to hear My words, so that they learn to fear Me all the days that they are alive on the ground, and their sons they teach; --
so that thou dost fear Jehovah thy God, to keep all His statutes and His commands, which I am commanding thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all days of thy life, and so that thy days are prolonged.
and thou hast repeated them to thy sons, and spoken of them in thy sitting in thine house, and in thy walking in the way, and in thy lying down, and in thy rising up,
When thy son asketh thee hereafter, saying, What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you?
and ye have taught them to your sons, by speaking of them in thy sitting in thy house, and in thy going in the way, and in thy lying down, and in thy rising up,
so that your days are multiplied, and the days of your sons, on the ground which Jehovah hath sworn to your fathers to give to them, as the days of the heavens on the earth.
Out of Ephraim their root is against Amalek. After thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples. Out of Machir came down lawgivers, And out of Zebulun those drawing with the reed of a writer.
and Joab son of Zeruiah is over the host, and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud is remembrancer, and Zadok son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech son of Abiathar, are priests, and Seraiah is scribe,
And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who is over the house, cometh in, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the remembrancer, unto Hezekiah, with rent garments, and they declare to him the words of the chief of the butlers.
And Hilkiah the priest goeth, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, unto Huldah the prophetess, wife of Shallum, son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the garments, and she is dwelling in Jerusalem in the second, and they speak unto her.
and many days are to Israel without a true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law,
And in the third year of his reign he hath sent for his heads, for Ben-Hail, and for Obadiah, and for Zechariah, and for Nethaneel, and for Michaiah, to teach in cities of Judah, and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijath, and Tob-Adonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. read more. And they teach in Judah, and with them is the Book of the Law of Jehovah, and they go round about into all cities of Judah, and teach among the people.
and the king goeth up to the house of Jehovah, and every man of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, even all the people, from great even unto small, and he readeth in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that is found in the house of Jehovah.
And Ezra the priest bringeth the law before the assembly, both of men and women, and every one intelligent to hear, on the first day of the seventh month,
and they read in the book, in the law of God, explaining -- so as to give the meaning, and they give understanding to the convocation. And Nehemiah -- he is the Tirshatha -- saith (and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites who are instructing the people) to all the people, 'To-day is holy to Jehovah your God, do not mourn, nor weep:' for all the people are weeping at their hearing the words of the law.
And on the second day have been gathered heads of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to act wisely concerning the words of the law.
A woman of worth who doth find? Yea, far above rubies is her price. The heart of her husband hath trusted in her, And spoil he lacketh not. read more. She hath done him good, and not evil, All days of her life. She hath sought wool and flax, And with delight she worketh with her hands. She hath been as ships of the merchant, From afar she bringeth in her bread. Yea, she riseth while yet night, And giveth food to her household, And a portion to her damsels. She hath considered a field, and taketh it, From the fruit of her hands she hath planted a vineyard. She hath girded with might her loins, And doth strengthen her arms. She hath perceived when her merchandise is good, Her lamp is not extinguished in the night. Her hands she hath sent forth on a spindle, And her hands have held a distaff. Her hand she hath spread forth to the poor, Yea, her hands she sent forth to the needy. She is not afraid of her household from snow, For all her household are clothed with scarlet. Ornamental coverings she hath made for herself, Silk and purple are her clothing. Known in the gates is her husband, In his sitting with elders of the land. Linen garments she hath made, and selleth, And a girdle she hath given to the merchant. Strength and honour are her clothing, And she rejoiceth at a latter day. Her mouth she hath opened in wisdom, And the law of kindness is on her tongue. She is watching the ways of her household, And bread of sloth she eateth not. Her sons have risen up, and pronounce her happy, Her husband, and he praiseth her, Many are the daughters who have done worthily, Thou hast gone up above them all.' The grace is false, and the beauty is vain, A woman fearing Jehovah, she may boast herself. Give ye to her of the fruit of her hands, And her works do praise her in the gates!
And they say, Come, And we devise against Jeremiah devices, For law doth not perish from the priest, Nor counsel from the wise, Nor the word from the prophet, Come, and we smite him with the tongue, And we do not attend to any of his words.
and out of the city he hath taken a certain eunuch, who hath been inspector over the men of war, and seven men of those seeing the king's face, who have been found in the city, and the head scribe of the host, who mustereth the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land, who are found in the midst of the city;
And Amos answereth and saith unto Amaziah, 'I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son am I, but a herdsman I am, and a cultivator of sycamores,
For the lips of a priest preserve knowledge, And law they do seek from his mouth, For a messenger of Jehovah of Hosts he is.
And it came to pass, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both hearing them and questioning them,
and certain women, who were healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary who is called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone forth, and Joanna wife of Chuza, steward of Herod, and Susanna, and many others, who were ministering to him from their substance.
And it came to pass, in their going on, that he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman, by name Martha, did receive him into her house,
And the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the first men of the city, and did raise persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and did put them out from their borders;
'I, indeed, am a man, a Jew, having been born in Tarsus of Cilicia, and brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been taught according to the exactitude of a law of the fathers, being zealous of God, as all ye are to-day.
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that the things lacking thou mayest arrange, and mayest set down in every city elders, as I did appoint to thee;
Salute thee do all those with me; salute those loving us in faith; the grace is with you all!
Hastings
In the importance which they attached to the education of the young, it may fairly be claimed that the Hebrews were facile princeps among the nations of antiquity. Indeed, if the ultimate aim of education be the formation of character, the Hebrew ideals and methods will bear comparison with the best even of modern times. In character Hebrew education was predominantly, one might almost say exclusively, religious and ethical. Its fundamental principle may be expressed in the familiar words: 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge' (Pr 1:7). Yet it recognized that conduct was the true test of character; in the words of Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, that 'not learning but doing is the chief thing.'
As to the educational attainments of the Hebrews before the conquest of Canaan, it is useless to speculate. On their settlement in Canaan, however, they were brought into contact with a civilization which for two thousand years or more had been under the influence of Babylonia and in a less degree of Egypt. The language of Babylonia, with its complicated system of wedge-writing, had for long been the medium of communication not only between the rulers of the petty states of Canaan and the great powers outside its borders, but even, as we now know from Sellin's discoveries at Taanach, between these rulers themselves. This implies the existence of some provision for instruction in reading and writing the difficult Babylonian script. Although in this early period such accomplishments were probably confined to a limited number of high officials and professional scribes, the incident in Gideon's experience, Jg 8:14 (where we must render with Revised Version margin 'wrote down'), warns us against unduly restricting the number of those able to read and write in the somewhat later period of the Judges. The more stable political conditions under the monarchy, and in particular the development of the administration and the growth of commerce under Solomon, must undoubtedly have furthered the spread of education among all classes.
Of schools and schoolmasters, however, there is no evidence till after the Exile, for the expression 'schools of the prophets' has no Scripture warrant. Only once, indeed, is the word 'school' to be found even in NT (Ac 19:9), and then only of the lecture-room of a Greek teacher in Ephesus. The explanation of this silence is found in the fact that the Hebrew child received his education in the home, with his parents as his only instructors. Although he grew up ignorant of much that 'every school-boy' knows to-day, he must not on that account be set down as uneducated. He had been instructed, first of all, in the truths of his ancestral religion (see De 6:20-25 and elsewhere); and in the ritual of the recurring festivals there was provided for him object-lessons in history and religion (Ex 12:26 f., Ex 13:8,14). In the traditions of his family and race
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and it hath come to pass when your sons say unto you, What is this service ye have?
And thou hast declared to thy son in that day, saying, 'It is because of what Jehovah did to me, in my going out from Egypt,
And it hath been, when thy son asketh thee hereafter, saying, What is this? that thou hast said unto him, By strength of hand hath Jehovah brought us out from Egypt, from a house of servants;
Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah;
When thy son asketh thee hereafter, saying, What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you? then thou hast said to thy son, Servants we have been to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Jehovah bringeth us out of Egypt by a high hand; read more. and Jehovah giveth signs and wonders, great and sad, on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes; and us He hath brought out thence, in order to bring us in, to give to us the land which He had sworn to our fathers. And Jehovah commandeth us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for good to ourselves all the days, to keep us alive, as at this day; and righteousness it is for us, when we observe to do all this command before Jehovah our God, as He hath commanded us.
and captureth a young man of the men of Succoth, and asketh him, and he describeth unto him the heads of Succoth, and its elders -- seventy and seven men.
Ezra himself hath come up from Babylon, and he is a scribe ready in the law of Moses, that Jehovah God of Israel gave, and the king giveth to him -- according to the hand of Jehovah his God upon him -- all his request.
And all the people are gathered as one man unto the broad place that is before the water-gate, and they say to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, that Jehovah commanded Israel.
Fear of Jehovah is a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised!
And further, from these, my son, be warned; the making of many books hath no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
And Jesus was going about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the reign, and healing every disease, and every malady among the people,
And they go on to Capernaum, and immediately, on the sabbaths, having gone into the synagogue, he was teaching,
and having asked for a tablet, he wrote, saying, 'John is his name;' and they did all wonder;
And it came to pass, on one of the days, that he was teaching, and there were sitting by Pharisees and teachers of the Law, who were come out of every village of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was -- to heal them.
and when certain were hardened and were disbelieving, speaking evil of the way before the multitude, having departed from them, he did separate the disciples, every day reasoning in the school of a certain Tyrannus.
'I, indeed, am a man, a Jew, having been born in Tarsus of Cilicia, and brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been taught according to the exactitude of a law of the fathers, being zealous of God, as all ye are to-day.
'I, indeed, am a man, a Jew, having been born in Tarsus of Cilicia, and brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been taught according to the exactitude of a law of the fathers, being zealous of God, as all ye are to-day.
Smith
Education.
There is little trace among the Hebrews in earlier times of education in any other subjects than the law. The wisdom therefore and instruction, of which so much is said in the book of Proverbs, are to be understood chiefly of moral and religious discipline, imparted, according to the direction of the law, by the teaching and under the example of parents. (But Solomon himself wrote treatises on several scientific subjects, which must have been studied in those days.) In later times the prophecies and comments on them, as well as on the earlier Scriptures, together with other subjects, were studied. Parents were required to teach their children some trade. (Girls also went to schools, and women generally among the Jews were treated with greater equality to men than in any other ancient nation.) Previous to the captivity, the chief depositaries of learning were the schools or colleges, from which in most cases proceeded that succession of public teachers who at various times endeavored to reform the moral and religious conduct of both rulers and people. Besides the prophetical schools instruction was given by the priests in the temple and elsewhere. [See SCHOOLS]
See Schools