GAMALIEL II. B. Simox II., also called CAMALIEL OF JABNE, or the younger, to distin guish him from his grandfather Gamaliel I., was born about A.D. 50, succeeded to the presidency or patriarchate about A.D. 80, and died about 116 [EDucATioN]. He was the teacher of both Aquila, the Greek translator of the O. T., and Onkelos, the Chaldee translator of the Pentateuch ; and we have records of his encounters with Christians and infidels, which shew the state of Biblical interpre tation in the Apostolic age. The great maxim which he propounded to his disciples was, Get thee a teacher, eschew that which is doubtful, and do not multiply uncertain tithes' (Aboth. 16), and this lesson of beim., well grounded in the word of God by the aid obf regular teachers, had its desired effects, as may be seen even from the con duct of his daughter. Thus, on one occasion a heathen philosopher derided the Biblical account of the creation of Eve, remarking to Gamaliel, Your God, in the creation of the woman, went to work like a thief, inasmuch as he secretly abstracted a rib from the man ;' whereupon Gamaliel's daugh ter begged him to secure her redress against rob bers who had robbed her of a silver pitcher, and left behind a golden one. The heathen philoso pher remarked, I should not rnind if such a mis fortune were to befal me every day." This being the case,' said Gamaliel's daughter, Adam ought to be glad that God took a rib and gave him a wife for it." But why did God do it secretly ?" That Adam ' said she, might not see the rough mate rial, but be surprised with the perfected beauty ' (Sanhedrin, 39). On another occasion a heathen philosopher remarked to him, Your Law says, God is a jealous God.' Why, then, does he manifest his jealousy against idolators, and not against the idols?' Whereupon Gamaliel spake a parable. There is a king who has a son that delights in calling his dog by the name of his own royal father. Now, with whom will the king be angry, with the dog or with his son ?' Then said the heathen philosopher, Why does not God destroy these idols if they are such worthless things ?' Quoth R. Gamaliel, If the heathen simply worshipped useless things, God might do it, but they worship the sun, moon, the water, etc., and shall God destroy the world because of fools?" (Aboda Zara, 54 a, 55 a). On another occasion, arrain, a Christian believing that life and immor tality are brought to light in the Gospel' (2 Tim. i. to), extolled the doctrines of the N. T. by questioning Gamaliel, How do you know [with out the N. T.] that the dead will rise ?' To this Garnaliel replied: From the words, the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give THEM' (Deut. xi. 21), but as the fathers were dead, the promise must have premised a resurrection when alone the land could be given to these fathers' (Sanhedrin, go b). This shews the force of the interpretation and argument used by Christ in Matt. xxii. 32. These frequent attacks upon Judaism by Christians, and the rise of different heretical sects amona the Jews, caused to a great extent by heathen j!hilosophers who were now enabled to read the Jewish Scriptures in the Greek version, made this Gamaliel sanction the famous pmyer against all heretics which has wrongly been ascribed to Gamaliel I. The vigorous measures,
however, which Gamaliel adopted to establisE uniformity of faith and practice greatly embittered the Jewish community, and resulted in his tem porary deposition from the presidency, and the election of R. Eleazar b. Azzariah in his stead [EnuciatoNj. This circumstance, as we shall see, deeply affects the history of the O. T. Canon.
About twenty years before Christ, Shammai, a disciple of Hillel, and others, who entertained opinions upon several subjects adverse to those of their master, founded a separate school, which went by the name of the School of Shammai in oppo sition to the School of Hillel. The interpretations of Scripture, and the decisions peculiar to each school, were orally transmitted by the respective members. This was all the more easy in the school of Hillel since its presidency became hereditary. When, however, the direct lineal descendant was deposed, and Eleazar inducted as president, the Sanhedrin determined to re-examine all the opinions which Gamaliel affirmed to belong to his ancestral school. For this purpose, the college, which then consisted of the unusual number of seventy-two members, took down most carefully the depositions of upwards of twenty-two persons who were in pos session of traditions, and according to these deposi tions decided which opinions were in harmony with the most ancient traditions irrespective of schools; and to their honour be it said that in the course of this examination the Sanhedrin not 'infrequently abandoned some of their own opinions for those of the school of Shammai, which they found more in harmony with the oldest traditions. This col lection of depositions is called Edajoth (nr-tv col. lection of witness) or &chiral (1114111, selection). Among the decisions reconsidered was the opinion about the book of Ecdesiastes and the Song of Songs, which constituted one of the differences between the school of Shammai and that of IIillel, the for mer excluded them from the Canon as not emanat ing from the Holy Ghost ctrnpr; !Inn) but from Solomon's own wisdom, whilst the latter induded them in the Canon as being inspired productions ; and after a minute investigation of the evidence it was found that according to the most ancient tradi tions these books were regarded as inspired, and hence the former decision of the school of Hillel was confirmed, viz., that the said books should be retainalin the Canon Uadjim, iii. 5; Edajoth, v. 3). If we bear in mind that this investigation took place almost in the apostolic age, that the said books were then in the Canon, that the question was whe ther they should be retained, and that it was then found necessary to retain them in harmony with the ancient traditions, few, if any, will doubt that Eccle siastes and the Song ofSongs were in the Canon ante rior to the Christian era.