Gamaliel
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One of the great figures of Judaism. He is the grandson of Hillel, himself a prominent figure. Gamaliel is of great renown among the people, as testified by the Talmud and the Acts of the Apostles.[1] Among his disciples are Stephen (the future martyr), Hermas and Saul (the future Apostle Paul), Joseph called Barnabas his companion, Philip of Canata, the young rich man.
The father of Gamaliel, just like his son, bear the same name: Simeon. But the latter, who sits on the Sanhedrin like Gamaliel, lacks the charisma of his ancestors.
Gamaliel usually resides in Gamala of Judea.[2] This place, identified as Kefar Gamala (Jammāla), is today located 11 km west of Ramah (Judea)llah, north of Jerusalem.
Character and Appearance[edit | edit source]
"[...] his eyelashes rather lowered on his severe eyes, and when he raises them, his deep very dark pensive eyes are displayed in all their severe beauty at the sides of a long thin nose and under the high rather bald forehead of an elderly man. His forehead is marked by three parallel wrinkles and by a large bluish vein which forms a V shaped angle in the centre of his right temple."[3]
"Pharisee and a doctor to the backbone, but still honest and just", says Jesus.[4]
"Gamaliel is tall, of a noble bearing, handsome in his strong Semitic features, with a high forehead, with eyes which are very dark, intelligent, piercing, long and deeply sunken under his thick straight eyebrows, on the sides of his nose which is also straight, long and thin, and reminds one a little of Jesus’ nose. Also his complexion, his thin-lipped mouth remind one of Jesus. But Gamaliel’s beard and moustache, once very dark, are now grizzled and longer", observes Maria Valtorta.[5]
Often dressed in white.
Biography[edit | edit source]
He is among the doctors who are fascinated by the young Jesus during his examination at the Temple at the age of twelve ("Bar Mitzvah").[6] On this occasion Jesus predicts to him a sign that he will now await:
"These stones shall hear My voice again and vibrate hearing My last word."[7]
Meeting the adult Jesus and not making the connection with the child who had fascinated him, he remains skeptical but not hostile:
"«It will not be the miracles of a man of God to remove the thorn I have in my heart, that is, three questions that are always without an answer.»
«Which questions?»
«Is the Messiah alive? Was it that one? Is it this one?»"[8]
"I am friendly to You, Jesus. I do not consider You inferior to me, but greater than I am."[9]
He only comes to decide on conversion at the foot of the cross. This ambiguous attitude is not without favorable gestures towards Jesus: he indirectly informs Him of the plots forged against Him. Upright in spirit, he is scandalized when at the trial for rape of Eleazar, son of Anna, the latter is acquitted while his accuser, a relative of the victim, is condemned:
"May the new Samson come soon to crush corrupt Philistines."[10]
His independence of mind is shown during the stormy session of the Sanhedrin following the resurrection of Lazarus:
"«[...] I also admit that He is the greatest Rabbi in Israel.»
«Are you, Gamaliel, saying that?»
«Yes, I maintain that. And it is an honour to me to be… dethroned by Him [...]»"[11]
As the controversy continues, Gamaliel even briefly confesses his divinity:
"He is He Who is."[12]
But he admits:
"While the light of the Most High lasted I saw Him as such", because his spirit darkened again, without sharing the hatred of the Sanhedrin.[13]
At the trial of Jesus, he rises scandalized:
"It is not lawful to proceed as we are doing. And I will make a public charge against it."[14]
But it is "prostrated on the ground, at the foot of the cross",[15] when the earth trembles at Jesus' last sigh, that he rushes to recognize the Messiah.[16] Shaken, aged, he hides in his house and questions all the foundations of his knowledge.[17] From then on, his conversion is underway: he frequents the house of Nicodemus:
"he is now anxiously seeking truth, light, forgiveness, life"[18]
During the trial of Stephen, he responds to the fanaticized Saul who asks if he is a disciple of the "criminal" Jesus:
"I am not yet. But if He was what He said, and truly many things prove that He was, I pray God that I may become one."[19]
However, it is only about ten years later that, having become blind, he will go to find John and the Virgin Mary at the Gethhsemane to receive definitively, not sight with the eyes, but sight of The Spirit.[20]
According to historical sources, he dies five years later, at about 75 years old.
His name[edit | edit source]
Gamaliel would mean "reward of God".
Where is he mentioned in the work?[edit | edit source]
GRM 114 GRM 116 GRM 123 GRM 160 GRM 162
GRM 225 GRM 272 GRM 275 GRM 281 GRM 282
GRM 339 GRM 340 GRM 354 GRM 364 GRM 365 GRM 376
GRM 464 GRM 470 GRM 475 GRM 474 GRM 477 GRM 478 GRM 486 GRM 487
GRM 546 548 GRM 549 GRM 560 GRM 570 GRM 576 GRM 581 588 GRM 592 GRM 596 GRM 598
GRM 604 GRM 609 GRM 630 GRM 632 GRM 644 GRM 645 GRM 645 GRM 647
Learn more about this character[edit | edit source]
Extracts from the Dictionary of Gospel Characters, According to Maria Valtorta (Msgr. René Laurentin, François-Michel Debroise, Jean-François Lavère, Salvator Editions, 2012).
Saint Gamaliel is celebrated on August 3 by the Catholic Church.
According to the Talmud, he married the daughter of a priest, Simon ben Bartholomew (Nathaniel) the Apostle from whom he had two sons: Simeon and Abibas.[21] He became president of the Sanhedrin (Nassi) at the death of Shammai.
The Acts of the Apostles report his intervention in defense of Peter and John during their trial.[22] According to Clement I,[23] he remained in the Sanhedrin to help the first Christians: he had secretly converted with his son Simon. According to St John Chrysostom, he would have converted before St Paul.[24] According to Photius, he would have been baptized by St Peter and St John, as well as his son Abibas and Nicodemus.[25]
He is said to have died in 52.[26]
The Talmud says of him: "It is the glory of the Torah that disappears with Rabbi Gamaliel."[27]
An apocryphal text, the gospel of Gamaliel, a fifth-century Coptic text inspired by another apocryphal, The Acts of Pilate, is attributed to him.
According to a vision seen by priest Lucien in 415,[28] Gamaliel had Stephen buried in a tomb where he himself wished to be buried with his family, near Kaphar Gamala.[29]
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Acts 5:34-39.
- ↑ GRM 570
- ↑ GRM 160.1.
- ↑ GRM 114.3.
- ↑ GRM 645.3.
- ↑ Maria Valtorta does not use this term, which is more contemporary, but describes this rite of passage to adulthood.
- ↑ GRM 41.9.
- ↑ GRM 114.8.
- ↑ GRM 160.2.
- ↑ GRM 376.9.
- ↑ GRM 549.8.
- ↑ GRM 549.9.
- ↑ GRM 549.9.
- ↑ GRM 603.11.
- ↑ GRM 645.12.
- ↑ GRM 609
- ↑ GRM 632
- ↑ GRM 644.5.
- ↑ GRM 645.2.
- ↑ GRM 647
- ↑ Tosef., 'Ab. Zarah, III. 10.
- ↑ Acts 5:34-39.
- ↑ Recognitiones 1, 65.
- ↑ HomElijah IV on the Acts of the Apostles.
- ↑ Photius quoting Eustratios.
- ↑ Talmud and Msgr.s A. and J. Lemann "Value of the assembly that pronounced the death sentence against Jesus Christ" (1877).
- ↑ Sotah 15, 18.
- ↑ Sources Encyclopedia Catholica and Encyclopedia Judaïca.
- ↑ According to A. STRUS, Kefar Gamala would be identified as Beit Jimal 26 km southwest of Jerusalem "Beit-Gemal può essere il luogo di sepoltura di Santo Stefano?", Review Salesianum 1992. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Kefar Gamala would be identified as Jammāla, a locality 11 km west of Ramah (Judea)llah, north of Jerusalem.