I Appeal To Caesar!

The city also became known for the woven, goat-hair cloth used for shoes, cloth, and tent fabrics. It was here that young Saul learned the trade of “tent-making” from his father: a craft which sustained him on his later missionary trips. The Jewish colony in Tarsus became well established in the booming cosmopolitan city, but it was very different from the Jerusalem the Jews loved, admired, and tried to visit annually. Although moderate in lifestyle, the Jews came to enjoy the excitement of a thriving economy and good relationships with the Romans. Traders and people of all backgrounds came to exchange and sell their goods, and Greek was the common language that facilitated the universal appeal of Tarsus. The Jewish lifestyle, however, was monitored by Hebrew Scripture, giving the Jewish colony a reputation for very different moral and physical standards: such as, keeping the seventh day of the week (the Sabbath) as a religious day of rest, strict food customs, marital fidelity, circumcision, and total abstinence from idolatrous practices. Since the Jews made no effort to force their convictions and religious beliefs on others—or convert Romans to their beliefs —their customs were tolerated in the community. The Jewish business ability and industriousness was valued as a major asset to the city. Thus, Paul in his boyhood became an educated Jew in Scripture and custom, but he was also exposed to … The business life of a dynamic, world-class city, the mighty mountains, many people groups, ships coming and going from distant shores, Hellenistic thinking, Greek the common language of Rome and Jewish Scripture, and the Roman military presence — everywhere! This social setting lifted the boy Saul from being merely Jewish, his eyes were opened to a world view. All the while, however, he held tenaciously to his Jewish standards, morality, and spirituality, iron convictions that would not compromise. The Cilician Gates: “ … the single crack in the great mountain barrier. From here, the road ran west, a mere trail, barely wide enough for two men to walk abreast, through a series of narrow, hazardous defiles. Nearly two thousand years later, travelers would still call them the Cilician Gates.” The Christians, Vol. 1, p. 117.