Gamaliel in Fausset's Bible Dictionary
1. Numbers 1:10; Numbers 2:20; Numbers 7:54-59; Numbers
10:23.
2. A Pharisee and eminent doctor of the law, who
advised the council wisely to let the apostles alone (Acts
5:34, etc.), "for if this counsel or work be of men it will
come to nought; but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it,
lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." He was
Paul's teacher, "at whose feet he was brought up and taught
according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers"
(Acts 22:3). The Jews celebrated him as "the glory of the
law," the first designated Rabban "our master."
Son of rabbi Simeon, and grandson of Hillel;
president of the Sanhedrin under Tiberius, Caligula, and
Claudius; he died 18 years before the fall of Jerusalem. His
counsel as to the apostles was not from any leaning to
Christianity, but from opposition to Sadduceeism in a case
where the resurrection was the point at issue, and from
seeing the folly of unreasoning bigotry (Acts 23:6-9). Saul
his pupil was a leading persecutor when Stephen opposed
Pharisaism; and probably Gamaliel would not altogether
disapprove of his zeal in such a cause, though his own
tendency was to leave the claims of Christianity to be
tested by time.
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