I Appeal To Caesar!

opened for him that would not have been possible in Jerusalem alone. * * * * * Before Saul started Sabbath School in the local synagogue of Tarsus, his father had already taken the toddler to the shop where the family business functioned and prospered. From an early age, the youngster observed the efficient ways of business, particularly how to handle tools, merchandise, and people. Under the strict but loving oversight of his proud father, the boy was immersed into the Jewish culture and religion, including the lifestyle of a strict Pharisee, as modeled by his loving father. His was a disciplined childhood with all childish questions answered from an adult perspective. His parents asked for and received a son, and he became their pride and joy: an excellent student, dedicated family-member, and budding tradesman. Saul excelled in Sabbath school and was given some limited access to the secular teaching of this great, university city. In his early teens (14 or 15 years old), Saul was sent to Jerusalem to study under the greatest of the rabbis, Gamaliel. A proud work ethic of training children with a profession existed among the Jewish people, in contrast with the lack of concern by the Greeks and Romans. Saul was trained in the working trade of his father, a vocation he could fall back on, and even practice during his rabbinical training in Jerusalem: in this case, “tent-making,” one of the key trades of Tarsus. 19 AD Education in Jerusalem