Education (Hastings' Dictionary)

Every student of the history of education will endorse the judgment of the Alex- andrian scholar (Prol. to Sirach), that Israel must needs be commendud for its zeal in the cause of moral and intellectual culture (irotSe/a nal (ro0ia), since the canonical Books of Deuteronomy and Proverbs, the deutero-canonical Wisdom of Jesus ben-Sira, .and the Mi.shna treati.

se commonly called the Sayinrjs of the Fathers (nSiti -pis PirM ^Abulh), provide a catena of pedagogic principles' without a parallel in ancient literature. Two sentences only • Now read Artama-Ya or Artamaanja by Winckler. may be selected for quotation at this stage. The one is the motto prefixed to the Book of Proverbs : ' The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge' (Pr 1', cf.

9'°) ; the other is attributed to Simeon, the son of the famous Gamaliel : ' Not learning but doing is the chief thing' (Ab. i. 17).* In these maxims we find the two distinguishing notes of Hebrew education, which from first to last was at once religious and practical — an education which sought to combine instruction in the positive truths of the ancestral faithf with preparation for the prac- tical duties of life.

It was this successful com- bination which led Josephus in his treatise Against Apion to contrast the education of his countrymen with that of the Lacediemonians and Creta,ns on the one hand, and mth that of the Athenians on the other — the former being too severely practical, the latter too exclusively theoretical. ' But our lawgiver with great care combined these two methods, for he neither left the practice of right habits without oral instruction (lit.

' dnmh,' Kaip^r), nor did he permit the rules thus taught to remain unpractised.' We propose here to study the educational methods ot the Israelites historically. For this purpose it will be convenient to group the material at our disposal under three historical periods, as follows : — i. Hebrew Education from the Conquest to THE Exile.

— When the Hebrews came to settle in the valleys west of the Jordan, they found them- selves among a race or races immensely their superiors in all the arts of civilization and culture. Of this there can be no reasonable doubt, though we may doubt whether the country was so thickly studded with schools, teachers, and libraries as has recently been maintained.? In any case the troublous times of the conquest were not the most suitable for assimilating tlie higher civilization of the Canaanites.

Reading and still more writing (Jg S") must rather have been the accomplishment of the few than the custom of the many. How- ever that may be, one fact of Hebrew history remains indisputal)le, namely, that throughout the long period closing with the exile, education was exclusively domestic and private.

It is true that the late Jewish writings, Talmud, Targum, and Midrash — those storehouses of magnificent anachronisms — represent even the patriarchs as attending school and college, but sucli statements are merely harmless flights of fancy. In the whole range of pre-exilic literature there is no trace of any provision by public authority for either elementary or higher education.

The word ' school ' occurs neither in tlie OT nor in the Apocrypha, and in the NT only of the lecture- room of a Greek rhetorician at Ephesus (Ac 19"). The explanation is that the home was the school, and the parents, in all but the highest ranks of societj', were the only teachers.

The duty of reverence for and obedience to parents imposed on children by the oldest legislation (Ex 20''^), had its counter- part in the duty incumbent on the parents (and in particular on the father) to instruct their children in religion and morals.

This aspect of parental responsibility is rejieateilly emphasized in tiic Book of Deuteronomy (4" 6'), 'Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittost in thine house, and when • Quotations from Aboth will be made from 'The Authorized Dail^v Prayer-Book of the United Hebrew Congretfutions of the British Empire' (ed. Singer), as providing the most easily acoes-sible text and translation. Refereiit-es to other treatisea of the .Mishna are given ace.

to the sections of Jost's edition. f Contrast this with the statement of Ivvan Miiller ; ' Special instruction in religion was not known to either the Oreeks or thfl Romans of antiquity '(i/OTMift. d. ktats. AUrrthumgicieeeiuchaJt^ iv. p. 451 6). 1 Esp. by Sayce in Patriarchal Paleitine ipauim), and elvy where. EDUCATION EDUCATION 647 thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, anil when thou risest up' (C*""" ll'" 3i2«).

The special provision of Dt SI'"'", requiring the presence of the children at the reading of the law in ' the year of release,' i.e. every seventh year, can have had only a very limited application before the great calamity of tlie exile (cf. Dt 31"" with Neh 8"). In the families of the aristocracy the place of the parents, the child's natural teachers, was taken by tutors (O'jjx 2 K 10'- ').

The infant Solomon, according to the simplest rendering of 2 S 12", was entrusted to the care of the prophet Nathan. It is now impossible to form an exact estimate of the extent to which education, as tested by the ability to read and write, was common among the people. The standard of learning would naturally be liigher in the cities than in the country dis- tricts, highest of all in the neighbourhood of the ooort.

Yet such facta as that Amos and Micah among the literary prophets belonged to the ranks of the people ; that Mesha, king of Moab, could count on readers for the stele commemorating his victories ; that the workmen who excavated the tunnel from the Virgin's spring to the pool of Siloam carved in the rock the manner of their work, — these facts, taken along with more than one passage of Isaiah (8' 10" 'a child may writ* them' ; cf.

29"- " the distinction between the literate and the illiterate), should make us j)ause before drawing the line of illiteracy too high m the social scale. A single word must sutUce for the schools of the prophets (an expression with no scriptural authority), of which so much was made by scliolars of former days.

All that the Scripture narrative warrants ns m holding is that in a few centres, Buch as Bethel (2 K 2>), Jericho (2»), and Gilgal (4®), men of prophetic spirit formed associations or brotherhoods (hence the name 'sons of the pro- phets ') for the purpose of stimulating their devo- tion to J" through the common life of the brother- hood. Edification, not education, was the main purpose of these so-called 'schools.' ii. From the Exile to Simon nEN-SHETACii, e. u.C. 75.

— The arrival in Jerusalem of Ezra the • ready scribe ' (n?5) in the law of Moses ( Ezr 7*) was an event of epoch-making importance in the educa- tional not less than in the reli'^ious history of the Jews. For Ezra had set his heart to sttt^ij (a-\-\h) the law {Torafi) of J" and to do it, and to teach (1?^^) in Israel statutes and judgments (Ezr 7'°). The story of Ezra's activity belongs to the genersJ history of the period.

For our present purpose it is enough to recall the fact that the culmination of that activity was the acceptance by the Jewish community of the Torah, in its written form, as the regulating norm in every relation of life. From this time onwards the Jews were pre- eminently 'the people of the book.' But in order that the moral precepts of a book may be obeyed, and its ritual requirements duly observed, the book must be circulated, must be read and studied.

The first step in this direction was the great assembly of which we read in Neh 8 ff. The centre of interest throughout is not the living word of a prophet, but the book of the law and the ex- position of its contents by accredited teachers (note Neh 8'- ' d'vjc, the same word as is rendered ' teacher' in 1 Ch 25" and in Kzr 8" UV). We would gladly know what measures were taken by Ezra and his associates for the continuance of the puldic instruction so auspiciously begun.

Unfortunately, we have no information on this point from con- temporary records, and what a late age has to tell of the work of the so-called 'Great Svnagcjgue' belongs to the world of fahle.* There can be little • See cap. Ktienen's cla«4[ca1 eewiy, 'On the Men of the (}rc»t BynogOL^ie,' now occeSHiblo in Gennon in Buddo'l GwamintiU A'lhaTtdlungen, tte., von Dr. A. A'ii«n<n (1804).

doubt, however, that one of the oldest institutions of Judaism, the synagogue, goes back to the time of tzra, if not indeed to the days of the exile. The synagogue, it is important to remember, was not originally a place of worship but a place of re- ligious instruction, and indeed it is so named by a writer so late as Philo of Alexandria ( Vita Mosi.^, iii. 27, tA TrpoaiVKTfjpia ri Hepov iffriv ij otSacTKaXeia, K.T.X.)

With this agrees the fact that in NT times SiSiffKeiv, to teach, is still used to express the function of the preacher in the synagogue (Mt 4^, Mk P', Lk 4" and often).* But whether we regard Ezra as the immediate founder of the synagogue or not, there can be no doubt of the fact that, by securing the recognition by the public authorities of the need of organized religious instruction, he accomjilished a work of supreme importance in the educational history of the Jews.

'The Bible became the spelling-book, the community a school, religion an aii'air of teaching and learning. Piety and education were inseparable ; whoever could not read was no true Jew. We may say that in this way were created the beginnings of popular education. In what way this took place is, it is true, wrapjied in mystery ; in the synagogue men did not learn to write and read, and the scribes were not elementary teachers.

But the ideal of education for religion's sake was set up and awoke emulation, even though the goal was not reached all at once ' (Wellhausen, Isr. u. jiid. Gesch.^ p. 159). During the whole of the period under review the early education of the Jemsh child continued, even more than before, to be the business of his parents. Elementary schools were still unknown. Now, as in much later times, it was ' the duty of the father to instruct his .son in the Torah (Kiddushin, 20'?)

,' a duty in which the mother took her share (Pr (i'^ 31', .Sus'). The obligation extended even to 'child- ren's children ' (Dt 4"). A noteworthy feature of the pentateuchal precepts, from the view-point of pedagogic method, is the extent to which certain religious rites are to be used as object-lessons to the children [Ex 12=«'- IS^passover) 13" (lirst-fruits), cf. Jos 4*].

Their interest and attention are first to be aroused, and only after question asked is the ex- planation of the rite to be given. In the case of the passover the question, ' What mean ye by this service?' (Ex 12=°) — now expanded to four — has re- mained as part of the ceremony to the present day. The leading feature of the educational history of this period is tlie rise of a body of men as pro- fessional teachers. These are the SophCrim (cirb, literally ' book men '), or scribes.

For the circum- stances which led during the exile to a species of literary renaissance, or rather to a new interest in the literature of the past, and thereby to the growth of a body of literati (ypaniuxTeh), — students, copyists, and teachers, — we must refer to the article Sciiliiics. We have seen, however, under what circumstances the study and the exposition of the Torah, in particular, were begun among ' the children of the captivity' in the new community at Jerusalem.

From that time to the end of the Jewish state and beyond it, the ollice of the scribe was one of ever-increasing importance. But to identify, as is too often done, the scrihoa of the Persian and early Greek period with those who^e character and aims are familiar to us from the Gosjicls, is to do the former great injustice.

For these ancient scribes have shared in the rehabili- tation of the late Persian and earlj- Greek perimls of Jewish history, which is so remarkable a feature of the critical scholarsliip of the day.t Here we • For further testimony by I'liilo and Joseptuis to the teacliing funi-tion of the svnaKOnue »ee Schiirer, ////' il. ii. p. ''4. I See. intrr a«o<, WelUuiuea, Ifoetitifcht u. jiiiMu Oet. clilchtti.p. IM.

648 EDUCATION EDUCATION are concerned with them only in so far as they continued the work of instruction committed to them by Ezra. Unfortunately, from the lack of historical material, it is now impossible to trace the development of education under their guidance.

We know, however, that by the time of the Chronicler (1 Ch 2") they had been 'organized in regular " families," or as we should now say "guilds," an institution quite in accordance with the whole spirit of the East, which forms a guild or trades-union of every class possessing special technical knowledge' (W. R. Smith, OTJC^ p. 44).

From the proverbial form of 1 Ch SS**" — ' as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar ' — we may further infer that the relation of master and pupil was by this time (c. B.C. 300) a familiar one ; which, of course, implies facilities for education other than the Levitical music schools to which the proverb is here applied. Here we are met by one of the most interesting but difficult problems in the history of Hebrew education.

Not the least important of the critical results above referred to, is the bringin^down of the compilation of our present Book of Proverbs, and so of the Golden Age of the Wisdom Litera- ture, to the Persian period. In this case, who are the ' Wise ' (o'^jn), the sages of whom this depart- ment of Hebrew literature is the characteristic and enduring memorial ? May we identify them with the older race of Sopherira, the book-men or literati of the period ? * The temptation is great.

Thus the scnbes were the accredited teachers of the people (see above), and the most venerable of the traditions preserved by the fraternity from the 'men of the Great Syn.igogue' was the obligation to 'raise up many disciples' (Ab. i. 1). But the sages were also teachers (onto, D'Tj'pa Pr 5"), who address a pupil as ' my son,' and whose teaching is kno^vn as ' tlie words of the wise ' (Pr 1* 22", Ec 9" 12" ; see also the Oxf. Heb. Lex. sub d:ij).

Again, the scribes formed, as we have seen, a guild or corporation. But we have abundant evidence that the sages are also to be regarded as forming a distinct fraternity (Pr 1« 13" 22" 24=3, gg lo". Cf . Cheyne, tAoJanrfio^omon.p. 123andpamm; Kiehm, Handivort. d. Bibl. Alt.^sub ' Weise't ; Kautzsch, Abriss d. Gesch. d. AT Schrifttum.i\ 1897, P. 135 flf.) Wellhausen in his recent history, while maintaining their original independence, admits that by the time of Jesus ben-Sira (B.C.

200-180) the scribes ' were scarcely any longer to be distin- guished from the sages ' {Gesch. p. 154, note 1). This admission is due to the factr— and here perhaps we have the strongest argument for the identity of the two classes — that Ben-Sira, the last of the sages, was himself a scribe. Of this there can be no doubt ; one has but to read his glowing panegyric on ' the wisdom of the scribe,' and the glory of his calling (Sir 38"-39").

It is therefore but natural that ' the best, and almost the only data, regarding the earlier scribes, are to be found in the I$ook of Ecclesiasticus, G"'- g""- U^'- 38"«-' (Wellhausen, lo:. cit). For our present jmrpose the final answer to our query regarding the personnel of the sages is immaterial ; for whether we hold that they are identical with the Sopherim or book-men, or regard them as forming a distinct but allied class in the pre-Maccab.'

ean community, the fact remains that the sages represent a great educational force in the period under review. The Book of Proverbs is the • This identification was flret proposed by A. T. Hartmann(/)i> tnge Verbindumj d. A T. mil d. Nfuem, 1831), and more rev-cntly ftnd indei>endentlv liv .'^nund in his Altfe^t. Hrlif/inrunjfiichichle, 1893, p. 512 tr. Ct. Miinteflore, UM. Lrct. SflOf.

t * They (the sabres) orriipy in the everyday life of ancient Israel a iK>8ition precisely similar to that of tiie scrihes in later Judaism.' Riehm is. of course, assuming the prt'exilic date of Proverbs. repository of their pedagogic experience (see esp. P"'), and so the oldest handbook of education. Life is here conceived as a discipline (^^'0, a word occurring 30 times in the book ace. to Driver, LO'D 380). This is its central thought.

' The whole of life is considered from the view-point of a pedagogic institution. God educates men, and men educate each other' (O. Holtzraann in Stade's GVP ii. 296-97). Father and mother are the child's natural instructors (1» 4'-* S'" 13> 30") ; from them he shall first learn that ' fear of the Lord which is the beginning — or it may be the chief part^— of wisdom' (9'").

Their duty in this respect is emphasized ; they are to study tlieir child, since his character la known by his conduct (20"). To them is addressed the golden maxim, ' train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not de- part from it ' (22» RV). The child is by nature foolish, and needs the ' rod of correction ' (22"). Corporal punishment is repeatedly advocated ('he that spareth his rod hateth his son,' 13**, cf. 19" 231s.

14 29i»- ", also La 3"), yet with the intelligent child reproof is better than ' a hundred stripes ' (17"*). From the parents' care the child — of the upper classes only, in all probability, cf. 17" 4' (kV) with Sir 51^ — if he would attain to 'wisdom,' passes into the hands of professional teachers (5"), the sages, whose words 'spoken in quiet' (Ec 9" RV) 'are as goads' (Ec 12"), and whose direction (m» is ' a fountain of life ' (Pr 13").

The pupil's Erogress in religion and morality Is the teacher's ighest joy (23'°- "), but not all are capable of receiving this higher instruction (27**). Prudence and forethought (24"), temperance (21" 23-»- "• =»"•») and chastity (7^^- 29' and oft.)

, diligence (6'"") and truthfulness (17'), consideration for the poor (14" 19" 22"), and a truly noble charity towards enemies (25"- " = Ro 12), the value of tme friendship (17" 18** 27'°), and the dignity of woman- hood (SI"'''), — these are some of the moral lessons to be learned in ' the house of discipline ' (oUi^ Traidetas, Sir 51^) from ' the lips of the wise ' (Pr 15').

* The foundin" of Alexandria was an event the importance of which for the history of Jewish life and tliought even in Palestine it is impossible to over- estimate. What would we not give to be able to trace the working of the subtle influences on the religious thought of the time, in particular, of those forces of Hellenism by which the little Jewish state was girt about on every side (cf.

1 Mac 1") 1 For something like a century Alexandria, with its great library and university, its brilliant array of scholars and litterateurs, was the capital of Southern Syria as well as of Egj-pt. How was popular education afl^ected by this close connexion of Alexandria and Jerusalem ? A solitary notice, so far as we have been able to discover, from the period in question, almost warrants us in believing that the Greek educational methods had penetrated to Jerusalem.

The infamous tax-farmer Joseph (c. B.C. 220),t we are told, sent his sons ' severally to those that had the best reputation for instructing youth ' (Josephus, Ant. XII. iv. 6). The education re- quired was certainly of the Greek type, and this fact, taken in connexion with the rapid jirogress of Hellenism at this particular eiiocli, even under the shadow of the temple (see 1 Alac 1, 2 Mac 2-4), makes it very probable that schools on the (Jreek model were then established in Jerusalem.

When the author of Ps 119 says, 'I have more understanding than all my teachers,' etc. (vv.*"- '""), there is good reason for thinking that he wishes • How much, one wonders, of what is best in our Scottish char- arter to-day is due to llie use till almost the other day of thi^ threat book (ii »at,.)t,«T»< ro^t«) as the reading-book of our parish schools? ( For this corrected date see Wellhausen, op. cit. pp. 197-98.

EDUCATION EDUCATION 649 to exalt the study of Holy Scripture above the secular learning of the Greek ecfiools. However this may be, Ben-Sira was still true to Jewish traditions and uninlluenced by Hellenistic culture. He had travelled in other countries, and studied perhaps in other literatures, but he remained ' a true "scribe," and gloried in the name' (38").

The object his translator had in view, as we learn from his preface to his grandfather's work, 'was to correct the inequalities of moral and religious culture (watdeia) among the Jews of Egj-pt by setting before them a standard and a lesson book of true religious wisdom ' (Cheyne, Job and Solomon), 'llie Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach,' or * Ecclesiasticus,' is therefore avowedly a manual of ethics, and as such deserves more space than we can give it in this review of Jewish educational history.

' Draw near unto me, ye unlearned,' we read in the ei)ilogue, ' and lodge in the house of instruction. Say, wherefore are ye lacking in these thinjjs, and your souls are very thirsty ? ' (Sir BV"-). His religious standpoint is essentially that of the Book of Proverbs, on which his own is modelled. Thus the fear of the Lord is not only 'the beginning of wisdom ' (1"), but also wisdom's fulness (1") and crown (1"). Yet the author's ethical tone is distinctly lower than that of his model.

As a disciplin.arian he is severe even to excess (30'"" 7"- **). Tlie principles of humane conduct are exhibited in many lights, including even the 'manners' of the dinner table (31""^'). The notable passa<j;e (38°^-39") in wliich he sketches his ideal of the scribe has been already adverted to. One point, however, must be further emphasized, viz. the assertion that learning is the monopoly of the wealthy: 'Tlie wisdom of the scribe cometh by opportunity of leisure.

How shall he become wise that holdeth the plough,' etc. (SS-"-) Educa- tion is costly (SI'"), but he himself oilers the means of culture 'withoutmoney and without price' (cf. 51*). Many questions regarding the practical aspects of education in this period suggest themselves, to which only tentative answers can be given. Where, for example, did the teachers of whom we read (Pr 5», Ps 1199», perhaps Dn 12')— be they sages or scribes — meet their pupils? What were their methods of instruction ?

The synagogues first occur to one as the scene of those expositions of Scripture to which the name of MUlrash was already applied (2 Ch 13, 24'"). There the people were instructed on Sabbaths and fea-st-days oy competent expounders of the .Scriptures, as a rule, no doubt, by the scribes, although these never had a monopoly of the synagogue teaching.

As early as the beginning of the Srd cent, the scribes had apparently facilities for teaching within the temple precincts : such, at least, seems the legiti- mate inference from their description as 'scribes of the temple' in the edict of Antiochus III. (Jos. Ant. XII. iii. 3). 'Within the massive city gates or in the adjacent squares or " broad places on which the streets converged (Pr l""", cf. Job 29') the " wi.se men " awaited their disciples ' (Cheyne, op. cil. p. 124). Most of the in.

struction, however, was doubtless given by sage and scribe alike in private houses, their own or those of wealthy dis- ciples. ' My son,' saj's Hen-.Sira, ' if thou .secst a man of understanding, get thee betimes unto him, an<i let thy foot wear out the steps of his house' (Sir 6^ K\'). With this advice wo compare that of Jos6 l>en-Joezer of Zeredah, in the early Macca- ba'an days: 'Let thy hou.se be a meeting-place ("lit'! n'3) for the wise ; sit amidst the du.

st of their feet, and drink their words with thirst' {Ab. i. 4).* " The n'lS^S;;'^ which, occorilins,' to Solo, Ix. 9, coued since JoHd> ttme, cannot, u somo have thouKhl. mean Dchools (r^'Aii —In late Ueb. '7^3px); Me Dcrenljourg, Hint, dt la PaUttint, p. 4MIIT. Here was found the opportunity for those ' words spoken in quiet' that were ' like nails fastened by the masters of a-ssemblies' (Ec 12"). As to methods, we have still less information.

To judge from the practice of a later aL-e, the pupus would learn by frequent repetition tlie pro- verbs of the wise (cf. Cheyne, loc. cit.) The alphabet was already used in ways calculated to assist the memory, as in the 119th Psalm. To this period may be assigned the invention of the mnemonic device known as Athba.ih (irnnx), of which the pre.sent text of Jer 25-' 51' aHbrds the classical examples (see Giesebrecht's Comm.

in loc), as also the introduction of the ' numerical ' pro- verbs, so much In vogue in later times (cf. Pr 30""" with A both, v.) Finally, we may assume that, at least from the beginning of the Creek period, a fairly high standard of general culture prevailed. It was now that the editor, if not the author, of Ecclesiastes could write : ' Of making many books there is no end ; and much study is a weariness of the tlesli ' (Ec 12'-).

At the beginning of the Maccaba-an revolt, also, the possession of copies of the ' book of the covenant' was certainlj' not the exclusive privilege of priest and scribe (1 Mac 1"). HI. From Simon hkn-Shbtacii (c. b.c. 75) to THE END OF THK JEWI.SH STATE (A.D. 70).— Just as the synagogue was the novel feature of the preceding period from the educational point of view, so is the elementary school the feature of this third period.

Such, at least, is the tradition preserved in the so-called Talmud of Jerusalem. In a pas.sa"e comintmorating the merits of the famous scribe and leader of the Phari.see.s, Simon ben-Shetach (or Shatach), brother of ([iieen Alex- andra, we read that three additions were made by him to the statute-book, so to say, the second of which runs thus — -i!:d.-t n-a'j i-^Sin nipu-ri.T rn'e ' that the children shall attend the elementary school ' (Tnlm. ler. Kethuboth, viii. 11, p.

326; see the whole passage in Derenbourg, op. cit. p. 108). The words quoted, it will be seen, are not altogether free from am- biguity. They may also be interpreted to mean that attendance on schools already existing was henceforth to bo compulsory. In view of wluit was said above regarding tne spread of Greek ideas in pre-MacciUja!an days, it is dilHcult to believe that schools preparatory to the more ad- vanced instruction in the scribal college (.

see below) were not to be found — at least in .lerusaleni. One can hardly escape the conviction that the erection of the Greek gymnasium at Jerusalem (1 Mac 1", cf. 2 Mac 4'"'-) was not the lirst step, but the last, in the assimilation of Jewish and Greek eilucation. Be this as it may, there is no good reason for rejecting the tradition reganling Simon ben-Shetach's eilorts on behalf of popular educa- tion.

All that we know regarding the predomi- nant inlluenco of the scribes in the reign of Alex- andra (B.C. 78-69) prepares us for more aggressive measures for the extension of their priMeijiles among the people. According to unanimous tra- dition, the elementary school (icr.T n'S ' house of the book,' see below) was always in intimate con- nexion with the .synagogue.

Either the synagogue jiroper — in this period to be found in every com- si<lerable village in the land — Wius used for this [mrpose (Liiw, Div Lcben.s-n/tcr in jiid. Literatur, u. 287, where the rcH". are to licrarhnth, \Tn, Titnvitli, 2:iA, Kiddn.ihin, .SOn), or a room in the same builil- ing. The school might also be held in the teacher's house (Hamburger). liy all writers on Jewi.sh education it is stated * See .Sohiirer. II.I P. index ; Dcrenbourc, l\>tmi mr riiixtoirt df la PaUntiiie. pp.

tWV-lU, and Ihu Jei^iah hiiilorians Orut^ llerzfeld, el<;. 650 EDUCATION EDUCATION that the gynagoKue officer (njjsn jin) — the minister (i>in)p^rTjs) of Lk 4" — was the teacher of the syna"OOTie school. This uniform tradition seema founded on a precept regarding Sabbatli observ- ance in the Mishna treatise of that name, where, even on the sacred day, 'the [iri (^azzan) is allowed to look on where the children are reading, but he may not read himself {Shahbath, i. 3).

Now it will be observed that the proper title of the synagogue official, as given above, is not found here — a fact hitherto overlooked. For [in is a word of general application, meaning ' overseer,' ' in- spector,' or the like, and its exact significance has to be decided by the context (see the Lexx. of Buxtorf, Levy, and Jastrow). In the passage quoted the context requires us to render 'over- seer' or 'master (of the school).'

This rendering is supported by a passage in the treatise Sota (ix. 15), wnere R. Eliezer says : ' Since the destruction of the temple the sage (k-cdh) has become like the scribe (k'tsd), and the scribe like the Hazzan (N:>n), and the ^azzan like the uneducated man.' Here we have evidently the hierarchy of the teaching profession, and it may fairly be assumed that they all belong to the ranks of those who, in the NT, are kno\vn as po/ioSiSdaKaXoi, ' doctors of the law ' (Lk S'"), i.e.

the scribes. Now this passage of St. Luke (cf. Mt 9*) is of the utmost importance, as showing that these doctors or teachers were to be found in 'every village (kw/";) of Galilee and Judaea.' It is absurd to suppose — even granting the hyperbolic nature of the evangelist s state- ment— that the higher colleges, where alone the scribes are usually supposed to have taught, were to be found in such numbers througliout the country.

But there would, at this time, be an elementary school wherever there was a sj'nagogue. We conclude, therefore, that teachers of all grades were members of tlie powerful guild of the scribes (o! ypafjLtiaTeU, cf. ypaixijanarfi^, 'a schoolmaster'). In the Aramaic of the period trite no doubt already meant ' teacher ' in general, since we find ni2d tvi = ' school' (see the Lexx., and cf. Targum on 1 Ch 25*, where ' the teacher as the scholar ' is rendered KToVn av KiDD).

It follows, therefore, that the Hazzdn or master, who conducted the elementary school, was an official of a higher social grade than the ' Hazzan of the synagogue,' who had to perform such menial offices as the wliippiug of criminals (Makkoth, iu. 12). The most usual form of address to a teacher was Rabbi ('ST ' my master,' lit. ' my great one '), but it ' does not seem to have been used as a title [e.g. Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Akiba, etc.] till after the time of Christ ' (Schiirer).

In the N'T our Lord is addressed by His disciples as jiafi^el [Im^^ovuel), xupie, StSi(TKa\(, and — in Lk only — as ^irio-rdra. The opinion just stated, that in the time of our Saviour every place of any size in the country was provided with an elementary school, does not quite coincide with that of the Jewish doctors of a later day, unless we suppose (as is not unreason- able) that the political and religious troubles of the period injuriously aflected the provincial schools.

We refer to the oft-quoted eulogium on Joshua ben-Gamala (Gamaliel), who was high priest about a.d. 63-65 : ' Verily let it be remembered to that man for good, II. Joshua ben-Gamala is his name, for had he not been, the Law would have been forgotten in Israel. At first every one that had a father (alive) received from him instruction in the Law, but he that had no father (alive) learned not the Law. . Thereafter teachers for the children were appointed In Jerusalem. .

But even this measure sufficed not, for he that had a father was brought by him to school, and was taught there, but he that had no father was not brouglit to be taught there. In consequence of this, it was ordained that teachers should be appointed in every district. To tliem the children were sent when they were 16-17 years of age. When a teacher became angry with a scholar, the latter stamped his feet and ran away.

In this condition education remained until the time of Joshua ben-Gamala, who ordained that in every province and in every town there should be teacliers appointed, to whom children should be brought at the age of six or seven years' {Baba bathra, 21a).* It is not now possible to speak with certainty regarding the condition of the elementary school at the period of which one would most like to know, tne period of the childhood of our blessed Lord.

The Mishna, almost our only authority, is not, as a whole, older than A.D. 200. Accordingly, we must be content to infer — and always with caution — that some, at least, of the methods '.here referred to as of long standing may have been operative in the 1st cent. But before attempting even such hesitating results, it will be convenient to give at this point what requires to be said of the education to be got beyond the synagogue schools.

For the great mass of the boys — for the girls no public provision was made (see below) — these schools sufficed. Only those destined for the study of the Law were sent to the Beth ham- Midra.sh (cj^^5.^ n'3) or ' house of study,' as the colleges of the scribes were caUed. These colleges were prob- ably a development of this period. They were, naturally, most numerous in Jerusalem, where the most famous scribes seem to have had each his ' house of study.' Josephus mentions two by name (Wars, I.

xxxiii. 2; Ant. XVIII. x. 5) who drew crowds of students in the last days of HeroJ the Great. But by far the most famous of these ' doctors of the law ' were the two heads of the rival schools, Hillel and Shammai, although for Christian students a greater interest attaenes to Hillel's grandson, himself the most respected teacher of his day, Gamaliel I., who numbered the young Saul of Tarsus among his pupils (Ac 22').

At these colleges the scribe-aspirant received a professional rather than a general education, for which reason the further discus.'iion of their sub- jects and methods of study belongs rather to the article Scribe. Returning now to the elementary school, we propose to touch briefly on such of the outstanding teatures of the school system as we have rea-son to believe existed in the century preceding the destruction of Jerusalem.

As regar ■'^ the age of the pupils on admission, our authority, though often quoted, is unfortunately too late to be of value for the period in question. ' At five years the age is reached for the study of the Scripture (N-ipp), at ten for the study of the Mishna, at tliirteen for the fulfilment ol the Commandments, at fifteen for the study of tlie Talmud, at eighteen for marriage,' etc. {Ab. v. 24).

There is a con- sensus of opinion, on the other hand, in the Tal- mudic writings that six was the earliest age at which school life should begin. t The child had already learned from his parent to repeat the Shema (see Driver on Dt 6*), selected proverbs, and verses from the Psalms. He had also had the liistorical significance of various rites and cere- monies explained to him (see p. 647'' above).

It is extremely unlikely tnat the subjects ot instruction included more than reading, writing, and, perhaps, the elements of arithmetic. The first of these was by far the most important, and * The above Ib Wdnsche's tmnsladon In Der babpL Txlmnd, etc, t For the curious ceremonies observed at a later period on the child's flmt appearance at school, tee Schecbter, SttLdiet in Judaixin, p. 3(i8.

EDUCATION EDUCATION 651 the fact that the much esteemed privilege of read- ing, anJ even of exiioundin", the law in the syna- gogue was open to all, must have acted as an incen- tive to diligent study. The only text-book waa the Scriptures — hence tlie most usual name for the elementary school Tjrn n'j the ' house of the Book ' — mostly out not exclusively the Pentateuch. 'Turn it (the Torah), and turn it over again, for everything is in it' (Ab. v.

25), well expresses the attitude of the orthodox Judaism of the time to secular literature. Even bo early as the beginning of our era, it was probably usual to begin with the Book of Leviticus, as the book whose contents it was neces.sary for every Jew to know. Care would be taken that the words of the sacred tongue (for only Hebrew was allowed in school) should bo cor- rectly pronounced * and reverently read.

Foreign languages were no part of an ordinary Jewish education, as Josephus expressly informs us {Ant. XX. xii. 1) ; yet few lads can have grown up in the bus-y cities of Palestine without learning to speak both Aramaic and Greek, and at least to read Hebrew. Tradition has it that a knowledge of Greek was an essential qualification for member- ship of the Sanhedrin (Sanhed. 17a). + The Latin maxim, ' repetitio mater studiorum,' may be taken as the keynote of Jewish educational method.

So great was the importance attached to constant repetition, that the verb njp 'to repeat' came ultimately to mean both ' to learn ' and ' to teach.' J After the letters were mastered § the teacher copied a verse which the child had already learned by heart, and taught him to identify tlie individual words.

The absence of vowel signs in Hebrew, as then written, prevented the child from learning to read syllaliles as he does in the ' Talmud Torah ' schools of the Jew ish communities in the East at the present day. In one point, however, the schools of 1900 years ago resembled those schools of to-day, namely, the babel of childish voi<:ea that rose from every corner of the scliool- ro(un, for 'avidible study and distinct pronuncia- tion' (Ab. vi.

6) were the first of numerous re- quisites for the proper study of the Torah. Was tnere not once a pujal who learned his tasks with- out repeating the words aloud, and who, in con- sequence, forgot all he had learned in three years? {Enthin, 54<-«). The ideal schoolboy of the period was R. Eliezer, whom his teachers likened to ' a cemented cistern whicli loses not a drop ' (^ 6. ii. 11). The scholar sat on the ground facing the teacher (cf. Ac 22', Ab. i.

4), who sat slightly raised above his pupils. Benches were a later invention. The old conception of education as aliove all a dis- cipline was not forgotten, and probably never before was education so exclusively religioiis an<l scri|)tural, with so little reference to the teachings of nature and history.

The teacher's function, as then conceived, was not to inform the mind or to impart knowledge for its own sake, but to train up his pupils in the fear of the Lord, and so to prepare them for the ceremonial and moral duties incum- bent on them as the true sons of the covenant of Abraham. It has become a commonplace that the scribes taught gratuitously.

This may have been true of the great doctors of the capital, — although even • On th« detect of the Oalllcan pronunciation (Mt 28"), see Buxtorf tub 7^3, and Ltghtfoot's ditwertatioD tn U^. Uebr. (ed. Oandell) I. 170 IT. ( See also Sota, \x. 14, for a Htatement that the stndy of Greek had only het-n utopped Hiiice the ' war of Titua ' — for which road 'war of Uiiletus,' with most modem Hcholara. 1 Cf. the IntercatinK quoUition from St^ Jerome In Schtlrcr, •p. <n'(. n. I. 324.

I On the later metho<l of tvacliiiiv; the alphabet on the * A-waa- an-Archcr' principle dee Shahhath, 104a. i^iven in full in Wl\ni«che'a Der liahyU>n. Talmud, etc., I. pp. lf>5-&7, cf. Lowit 'title below), p. 47. then, perhaps, only as regards judicial work (Schiirer), — but scarcely of the elementary teachers in the i)rovinces. It ha-s been suggested that the honorariiuu was paid under some pretext, such as comjiensation for loss of time, etc. (Lewit, p. 26).

This is quite in the spirit of the casuistry of the time. Still, as is well known, the scholars of the day had a much worthier conception of the dignity of work than had Jesus the son of Sirach (Sir 38^"-), and taught that the study of the Law should be combined with the exercise of a trade (Ab. ii. 2). We must not suppose that the educational system here outlined was tlie only system then to be found in Palestine.

It was the system adopted by the strict Jews, it is true, but there were other schools of the Greek type, not only in the many Hellenistic centres, — whence came some of the most famous poets, philosojihers, and orators of that age (see Schiirer, II. i. 28),— but even in Jerusalem itself. Such a school was that which the youthful Herod attended (Josephus, Ant. XV. x. 5). In nothing, however, did the Jewish educational ideal (for which cf. Josephus, Ant. XX. xii.

\, ^kois 5i (jotplav fMafyrvpoOffi rots tA. vdfxifia aafpu/i ^trifrra^voLSf ic.T.X.jditi'er so widely from the Greek as in the value attached to physical training. For the ordinary forms of gymnastic exercise the Jew apparently had little inclination, unless, perhaps, for swim- ming (Kiddiishin, 29a), while wrestling in public was peculiarly abhorrent to his sense both of dignity and decency (1 Mac 1""-, 2 Mac 4'"'^). We have said nothing hitherto of the education of Jewish girls.

These were from their birth to their marriage their mother's sjiecial care, by whom they were taught, like their brothers, ' to fear God and keep his commandments.' By her, too, they were taught to read, and perhaps to write, as boys in former days were taugiit by their father, and thereafter instructed in the domestic arts corresponding to their station. The deepei study of the Torah, and still more the higher secular learning, were discouraged.

The ideal to which every Jewish daughter was — and we may add, is — taught to aspire is that of the ' virtuous woman' who 'looketli well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her, saying : M.any daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them air (Pr SI""**). Truly a noble ideal of womanhood I LiTKRATUKl. — A critii^l history of Hebrew education is still a desideratum.

The 8tiin(lard works of the hiHturians, Jewish and ChrlKtian, contain only in<MdfnLul rcferctioes. Professor Laurie's Ilintorual Surt'ei/ 0/ Pre-Christian Education, 1S95, pp. OD-105, (fives a good account of the subject from the con- servative standpoint. Quite a number of Jewish writers have fl(-alt with it in recent years, mainly, however, as organized by the Jewish authorities from the 2nd cent. a.d. onwanls.

The foll'iwinjf are the best of these special works ^only those with the number of pat'cs mlded have been consultca); M. Uuschak, .Srhul'fxrtZijelmitii uini Mrthodik d. alten luroflitrn, 1872; E. van (lildur, Die ' V < •IkHs.hule d. jOd. Aiterthuim, 1802, 31 pp. ; Seidel, Ufl/er die I'iFdatjiHjik d. Proverbien, 1875 ; S. ManMig, Die i'iedatjo<fik des Israrl. Volkes, 1877 ; J. ISinion, L' Kdncation et I'ijuitructwn deg Eiifantjt ettfz leg ancicnn .lui/t^, 1879,03 pp.; A.

Astruc, V Ensrignment chrz tetiancienlt Juifg, 18S1 ; U. Spiers, The .^'chiml .^unlerrtit/the Taltmul, 1882, 27 pp.; B. Slrnssl)ur>fer, Genrhirfile d. Erziehttwt und d. Uuterrirhtg bei d, Ittraeiiten, etc., ISS.^, 310 pp. (Pre-'ralnuidic period, up. 1-24; bibliography of Jewish pedo^o^ncs, pp. 273-77) ; J. Ijewit, Dartteltumj a. thenretigehen u, prak'igchen Paxlagoijik injiid. Al!frtume, i896, 80 pp.; Oehler's ' I'adaL'oi.'ik d. Alten Test, in Scbmid's Knct/clo- ptidie d.

{leeammten hrziehungt und thiterriehtnu'e.irri, vol. v. 188''., pp. (Vill-finfi (1883, pp. 637-ri78). is full and su(fi,'e8tive, but in great part antiquated; Oustav Uaur in S<:tiruid's Grgctl. d. Erzifhutifi, 1892, pp. 654-570 (not seen). Ilamburtrer's liial- eru-i/<-'"j>'tdif d. JudenthumM, 18.S3 (vol. 1. art. ' I'Ir/.iehunj;' ; ii. ' Ix-hrer,' 'Schule,' ' Unterricht, etc.) is a mine of informa- tion for the later perio^l ; see also .SchUreKs UJ P u. I. 25, '.Soribisiu.' vol. II.

27, 'School und Svnago^'ue' (older literatur« of the subject, p. 40); Uinsburg In Kitto'e liiUiral Ci/ctn- pijedia^, art. ' Education ; Kilersheim, Skttehet of Jewish Suciai 652 EFFECT EGLO.N Lift K the Dai/t of Christ (esp. chs. \ni. vlii.), and Life and Tinu4 of Jesxu the Messiah ; L. Low, Die Lebensnlter in d. jiid. Literature 1876, passim (esp. p. 130 S. : Education Id Bible Times,' and relative notes); S. Schechter, Studies in Judairm, 1896 (p. 343 IT.

: 'The Child in Jewish Literature'). The standard authorities for Jewish education in the Middle Ages (which may be ad(l'_d forcomplet^'ness' sake)are the works of M. (tudemann, Geschichle d. Krziehuiigsu^esen u. d. Kultur d. Jud-n, etc., France and Germany, 1880; Italy, 1884; Spain, 1888. See also I. Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Aga, 1896 (esp. cha. xix. xx.\ A. R. S. KENNEDY. EFFECT In 2 Es 9« ' effect' is used in the obsolete sense of ' deed,' ' the times also of the Highest have . .

endings in effects and signs ' (consummatio in actu et in signis) ; cf. Shaka. Lear, u. iv. 182— •Thou better know'st The offices of nature, bond of childhood. Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude.' In Ezk 12^ the sense is purport, significance. 'The days are at hand, and the effect oi every vision ' (i?i ' word,' as RV^m). So Chaucer, Merck. Tale, 153— And for his freendefl on a day he sente. To tellen hem th effect of his entente.

With those exceptions, the use of ' effect ' is much as In mod. English, though the phrase in Ko 9^ may be noticed, aa though the word of God hath taken none effect' {ixTtw-ruxtr. lit. 'has fallen out,' RV ' hath come to nought '). The usual phrase Is ' to make of none effect,' always a single vb. in the original, of which the most interesting is xavafi^ia' (Ro 41*, Gal 317; tr^ ' make without effect ' Ro 3^), a characteristically Pauline word.

Its opposite is i*if>yi^, a word always in NT of some principle or power at work, esp. in the soul (see Mayor on Ja 61").

Wher- ever 'effectual and 'effectuallv occur in NT they translat« either iri^)-<r>, as Gal 2S, 1 Th 213 -work effectually'; 2 Co 1« ' be effectual ' ; Ja 61" ' the effectual fervent prayer of a right- eous man availeth much ' (RV ' the supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working, Rendel Harris, ' the energized prayer of a righteous man is of great force ' ) ; it« ad], itifiyin, as 1 Co 16^, Philem " ; or its sul^t. ii/fyvit, whence Eng.

' energj',* as Eph 37 4i" 'effectual working,' RV 'working.' In all these places we should now UM 'effective,' ' effectively.' J. Hastings.