Joseph Klausner¹ observed that Graetz² holds the view that the

Name rabbi used in the Gospels is an anachronism, the reason for this

conclusion being given, as Goodenough observes, "because it does not fol-

low later rabbinic usage," the anachronism lying "in taking the later rab-

binic usage as valid in the earl period since for this period we have only

 the New Testament to certify. "Of course we do not accept as necessar-

ily valid such a conclusion even if the New Testament were to present the

only known evidence, on the grounds that other evidence might be forth-

coming. As a matter of fact, we believe there is other evidence from con-

temporary literature and archaeology to verify the accuracy of the New

Testament picture of a Rabbi-teacher-pupil complex in the early part of

the first century A. D.

 

Albright, in commenting on the ascription to Jesus of the Aramaic

name rabbi (literally "my master") or the Greek equivalent didaskalos

(literally “teacher") in John, states that the arguments that the number of

passages where such terms are so ascribed show the relative lateness of

that Gospel to the Synoptics since "these terms are much more frequent...

in the former than in the latter" and "that a teacher would not be called

rabbi in the time of Christ," based on the claim that this was a Tannaitic

development-such arguments are negated by Sukenik's discovery of the

term didaskalos inscribed on a pre-A. D 70 ossuary referring to the per-

son whose bones were interred therein.⁴

 

Albright goes on to say that further study of didaskalos, both ar-

chaeologically and linguistically, needs to be made,⁵ and it is our purpose

make such an investigation of both rabbi and didaskalos using evidence

ch as that set forth by Sukenik.

 

The above article was delivered at the 14th general meeting of the Mid-

western Section of the Evangelical Theological Society, held at Fort Wayne

Bible College, Fort Wayne, Indiana, on April 18, 1969.

 

11

12                                    GRACE JOURNAL

 

    THE WORDS RABBI AND DIDASKALOS USED

IN LITERATURE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT PERIOD

 

In the New Testament the word ~ is restricted to the Gospels⁶

in which it is learned that it was a title sought by Jewish religious 1eaders

(Matthew 23:7), was employed in a popular or semi-popular manner by the

crowds (John 6:25), and even by a religious leader such as Nicodemus

(John 3:2). Jesus is addressed a number of times as "Rabbi" by His dis-

ciples (Matthew 26:25; Mark 9:5; 11:21; 14:45; John 1:49; 4:31; 9:2; 11:8),

and even by women in Christ's group (John 20:16). Even a wilderness

preacher, such as John the Baptist, is called "Rabbi" by his followers

(John 3:26). A caritative form, rabbouni (rabboni) is found in Mark 10:517

and John 20:16.

 

That the terms rabbi and didaskalos are understood in the Gospels

as equivalents is seen John 1:38⁸ and John 20:16.⁹ The complex of rabbi-

didaskalos and mathetes (disciple, learner), that is, the master-teacher

and his group of fol1owers,¹⁰ is presented regarding Jesus and His dis-

fciples in John 1:37-38; 4:31; 9:2; 11:8, and also of John the Baptist and his

group (John 3:26).

 

That Josephus does not use the term rabbi can be explained by ob-

serving that this author is writing in defense of his Jewish nation at least

in part from a Roman viewpoint in which he stresses major military and

political matters. He brings in religious material, as in his discussion of

the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, when necessary explanation is

needed. It is to be observed that this first century A. D. Jewish author

does not even mention Hillel, Shammai, or Gamaliel {except, as far as

the last name is concerned, as father of Simeon¹² and of Jesus the high

priest).¹³

As a possible equivalent of, Josephus uses the term sophistes

(J.W. I, 648, 650; II, 10:Ant. XVII, 152; XVIII, 155),¹⁴ and possibly

exegetes (Ant. XVII, 214, 149). That this kind of substitution in terms is

made is not too startling when it is realized that Josephus does the same

with the word sunagoge which he uses only in Life 277 and 280 (in the lat-

ter section the participle sunagomenon is employed), his normal term for

the concept being proseuche (Life 293).

 

Not too frequently does Josephus employ the term didaskalos, one

interesting lwe being his reference to Jesus as dictaskalos of men (Ant.

XVIII, 63).¹⁵

 

Philo, the Alexandrian Jew, does not use the term Rabbi, but this

is no wonder since the word was just coming into use in Palestine at his

time, and this author writes from an Alexandrian and, in part, a Greek

TEACHER AND RABBI                                13

 

philosophical viewpoint. He uses frequently the Septugint which, of

course, was written at a time before the use of the term rabbi. Philo does,

however, show understanding of the rabbi-didaskalos complex in the em-

ployment in his writing of the word didaskalos with manthano (On the change

of Names, 270, 88; Special Laws IV, 107; cf. Special Laws I, 318), and

also of sophists 16 (an equivalent of didaskalos) with manthano (Posterity

and Exile of Cain, 150), as well as the use of huphegetes with the same

verb (On the Change of Names, 217).

 

The Apostolic Fathers do not use the term rabbi, which would be

expected since the New Testament church, especially after the fall of Jeru-

salem, was developing in a way distinct from Judaism. Didaskalos does

occur but rather infrequently, one use being a reference to "Jesus Christ

our only didaskalos" (Ignatius, Mag. IX), and another to Polycarp as a

didaskalos episemos, famous teacher (Martyrdom of Polycarp. XIX, 1).

 

Rabbi does not appear in the Dead Sea Scrolls material¹⁷ although

there are a number of references to rab ("much, many, great"),¹⁸ which

word also occurs in the Old Testament Hebrew text.

 

The Syriac Peshitta of the 5th century A. D.¹⁹, although bearing

late testimony, interestingly translates didaskalos by rabbi where pronom-

inal suffixes were added.²⁰

 

The second Latin recension of the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus:

The Descent of Christ Into Hell relates that three Galilean rabbis witnessed

the ascension of Jesus,²¹ but this witness is late and proves nothing.

 

RABBI AND DIDASKOLOS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSCRIPTIONS

 

The evidence for rabbi and didaskalos in archaeological inscrip-

tions can be examined in two groups.²² First, there are those inscrip-

tions found outside Palestine in Europe, the materials here being basically

Greek (although sometimes Aramaic found) until the third or fourth

centuries A. D. when Latin became more and more prominent.²³ The

other group consists of inscriptions found on archaeological remains in-

side Palestine,²⁴ these being written in Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew.²⁵

 

There are some instances in this group when two of the languages

are used together on the same stone remains.²⁶

 

In connection with European Jewish inscriptions, most of which are

located in Italy, didaskalos is to be found among those in Venosa and those

in or near Rome, the former inscriptions being basically from the 5th or

6th centuries A. D., while those from Rome come from the earliest cen-

turies of the Christian era.²⁷

14                          GRACE JOURNAL

 

From Venosa comes an Aramaic inscription (Frey, No. 594) with

a questionable reading which may be translated, "Severa, daughter of Ja

cob. Peace"; but the expanded Greek on the same remains reads, “Here

lies Severa, daughter of Jacob, the teacher (didaskalos);²⁸ may her sleep

be in peace."

 

From Rome (via Portuensis) there is an inscription on a plaque of

marble which might possibly be from the first or second centuries A.D.²⁹

It reads: "Here lies Eusebis, ho didaskalos nomomathes (the teacher,

learned in the law) "(Frey, No. 333).

 

The inscriptions in Palestine regarding rabbi-didaskalos are more

numerous and revealing. One of the latest is an Aramaic inscription from

a sixth century synagogue at Beth Alpha in Galilee (Frey, No. 1165), which

in a broken text includes the word rabbi. Another Aramaic inscription

from the fifth century in the synagogue at El-Hammeh in Transjordan

speaks of a Rabbi (rab) Tanhum, the Levite (Frey, No. 857).³⁰ An Ara-

maic inscription in a mosaic at Sepphoris in Galilee, dated in the third or

fourth centuries A. D.³¹ speaks of Rabbi Judan, the son of Tanhum (Frey,

No. 989), and in the same area a funeral inscription also mentions the

same Rabbi (Frey, No. 990). From Er-Rama in Galilee comes an Ara-

maic third century grave inscription which speaks of Rabbi Eliezer, son

of Tedeor (Theodor) (Frey, No. 979).³² The considerable number of in-

scriptions in Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Palmyrene, found in the Jew-

ish necropolis (dated in the first four centuries A. D.) at Beth-Shearim in

Galilee, have several references to rabbi both in Greek and Aramaic from

about the third century A. D.³³ Some of these inscriptions are mixed Ara-

maic and Greek (e.g., Frey, Nos. 1039, 1041, 1052, 1055, 1158), although

the majority are in Greek. The Aramaic inscriptions speak of Rabbi Isaac

(Frey, No. 994) and of another rabbi whose name is not preserved in the

incomplete inscription (Frey, No. 1055). The Greek inscriptions given by

Frey speak of Rabbi Isakos (Nos. 995, 1033), Rabbi Paregorios (Nos. 1006,

1041), Rabbi Joseph (No. 1052), and Samuel, the didaskalos (No. 1158).

This last inscription in the midst of the others, which in Greek and Ara-

maic speak of rabbi, suggests that at this date the two terms, rabbi and

didaskalos, could be taken as equivalents. As a D:latter of fact, the rather

frequent reference to rabbi in this grave complex sug~sts that here we

have buried a family of scholars.³⁴ Among the Greek inscriptions, of in-

terest is the spelling rabbi³⁵ for rabbi in two cases (Frey, Nos. 1006 and

1052).

 

In coastal Palestine a Joppa Jewish necropolis yields a considerable

quantity of inscriptions (70)³⁶ to be dated in the first centuries, a good

number appearing to be from the second and third centuries A. D. It has

been shown that a number of the names of rabbis inscribed here are of

those known from Jewish literature.³⁷ Of the four inscriptions which

TEACHER AND RABBI                                15

 

contain the word rabbi, three are in Aramaic and one in Greek, the for-

mer speaking of Rabbi Tarphon (or Tryphon) (Frey, No. 892), Than(k)-

oum, the son of the Rabbi (Frey, No. 893),³⁸ and Hanania, son of Rabbi

[Laza ]rus, of Alexandria (Frey, No. 895). Actually the inscription in

which the Greek form of rabbi (rab) is to be found (Rab Juda) is in both

Aramaic and Greek, (Frey, No. 900).³⁹

 

At Noarah (Ain Duk) near Jericho there was found an Aramaic in-

scription with the name of Rabbi Safrah (Frey, No. 1199), which inscrip-

tion has been dated on the one hand as late as the fourth to sixth centuries

A. D. (by Frey and Clermont-Ganneau) and on the other as early as the

time of Herod the Great, (argued by Vincent).⁴⁰

 

A group of Jerusalem ossuary inscriptions, some of which refer to

rabbi or didaskalos, are dated between 200 B. C. and A. D. 200.⁴¹

 

The Aramaic ones refer to Rabbi Hana (Frey, No. 1218) and Ben

Rabban⁴² (Frey, No. 1285). Although the title Rabbi is not given to the

name, reference to a Gamaliel is made in an Aramaic ossuary inscription

(Frey, No. 1353), which Sukenik takes to be from around the time of

Christ,⁴³ such a reference possibly being a reference to the Gamaliel who

taught Paul (Acts 22:3).⁴⁴

 

Two Greek inscriptions found on ossuaries among several others

containing both Greek and Aramaic writing, discovered on the slopes of

the Mount of Olives (Frey, Nos. 1264-1272) seem to speak (the words are

abbreviated or misspelied) of Theomnas, the d(i)[da](s)kalou (No. 1269)

and of some other didaskalos not specifically identified (No. 1268).⁴⁵

 

Another in the same group (Frey, No. 1266) is of particular in-

terest. Sukenik dates it at the time of Christ.⁴⁶ The fact that the inscrip-

tions on this ossuary are bilingual, Theodotion in Aramaic being on one

side and didaskalou on the other, suggests the possibility that as the Ara-

maic Theodotion is .equivalent to Greek theodotion so the Greek didaskalos

(which does not seem to have been used in transcription into Aramaic) is

equivalent to the Aramaic rabbi. Here is evidence that didaskalos was

used in the New Testament period in a capacity as teacher-Rabbi.⁴⁷

 

Of uncertain date are Aramaic inscriptions found in and near Jerusa-

lem with the words, R. Kaleb.. .R. Joseph⁴⁸ (Frey, No. 1403, El-Aqsa) and

Rabbi Jehuda (No. 1410, from the northwest of Jerusalem near the way to Jaffa,

and a Greek inscription with the words rabbi Samuel (No. 1414, from unknown

origin). Also of uncertain date are Aramaic inscriptions found at Naoua on

the wall of a mosque which has only a possible questionable reference to

Rabbi Judan and Rabbi Levi (Frey, No. 853); and another on a pillar before

a synagogue at Thella⁴⁹ which speaks of Rabbi Mathiah (Frey, No. 971).

16                          GRACE JOURNAL

 

The testimony to the occurrence of both rabbi and didaskalos in

Jewish inscriptions is consistent from the sixth century A. D. back to-the

time of Christ, both in the few references in Rome-Venosa inscriptions,

and the more numerous ones of Palestine. In two or three instances the

conclusion is to be drawn that rabbi and didaskalos are equivalent, not

only in the later time of the third A.D. at Beth Shearim (Frey, Nos.

994, 1055, 1006, 1041, and 1052), but also at the time of Christ in Jeru-

salem (Frey, No. 1266), this usage showing up to be the same as that de-

scribed in the New Testament where rabbi can be interchanged with teacher.

 

THE USE AND MEANING OF RABBI-DIDASKALOS

 

Having established the fact that the terms rabbi and didaskalos are

to be found in and belong to the first century A. D., we then observe that

in the New Testament one of the clearest illustrations that the two terms

are to be taken as equivalents in meaning can be seen in Matthew 23:8

where Christ warns His disciples against their taking the title, "Rabbi,"

because (gar) He alone is their didaskalos, and in John 1:38 and 20:16

where rabbi (John 20:16, rabbouni) is interpreted as didaskalos. That the

equation be taken at face value in John 1 :38 is to be seen in a similar

obvious equation between Messias and Christos in john 1:41. Sometimes,

however, kurios and epistates equivalents of rabbi (Mark 9:5, rabbi

compared with Matthew 17:4, kurie, and Luke 9:33⁵⁰ epistata; and Mark

10:51, rabbouni with Luke 18:41, kurie) and didaskalos (Mark 4:38, didas-

kale compared with Matthew 8:25~e and Luke 8:24, epistata; and Mark

9:17, and Luke 9:38 didaskalos compared with Matthew 17:15, kurie).⁵¹

 

In the New Testament the title "Rabbi" was one sought by religious

leaders, evidently for its flattering effect (Matthew 23:2,7), is used by

disciples of their teacher (John 9:2), is used in a popular general sense by

the general public (John 6:25), is a term of respected authority (Mark 9:5),

of one coming from God himself (John 3:2), and is a term of endearment

(Rabboni, John 20:16).

 

In the contemporary New Testament literature the "doctors" or

teachers (sophistai) were considered to be experts in the law (Josephus,

J.W. I, 648) and they (hoi didaskontes) were to be respected and obeyed

(Philo, On Dreams II, 68). In the Apostolic Fathers special attention is

called toChris.i, our only teacher (didaskalos) (Ignatius, Mag. IX) and to

Polycarp, a famous teacher (Martyrdom of Polycarp XIX, 1).

 

Although inscriptions could not be expected to yield much in the

way of doctrine⁵² in relation to the fuller meaning attached to rabbi and

didaskalos, they now and again reveal additional information as to the im-

port of the concepts and to the type of person who bore the title. In the

third and fourth centuries A.P. rabbis were honored as having helped mon-

TEACHER AND RABBI                                17

 

etarily with a building (as at Sepphoris, Frey, No. 989) such as an inn (at

Er Rama in Galilee, Frey, No. 979). In an inscription of questionable date

Rabbi Mathiah is commemorated for having given money for the construc-

tion of a pillar before the synagogue at Thella (Frey, No. 971). It cannot

be proved, however, that the persons were addressed as "rabbi " for having

contributed such funds. One rabbi (Tanhum) is identified as being a Levite

(Frey, No. 857), and one (Rabbi Samuel) on a Jerusalem inscription is

called chief of the synagogue (Frey, No. 1414). On one of the early Ro-

man inscriptions the title didaskalos is enriched with the adjective, nomo-

mathes, learned in the law (Frey, No. 333, Rome, via Portuensis).

 

In summary, it is to be observed that rabbi together with didaskalos

began to be used for the idea of teacher-master at about the time of Christ,

as is evidenced by the New Testament Gospels and some early archaeolo-

gical evidence from inscriptions, and the corroborative evidence from

Josephus and Philo in the use of equivalent terms. Then as the transition

between the Jewish economy and Christian Church continued, the term

rabbi no longer had a place in the latter as is evidenced by the lack of the

use of the term rabbi in the New Testament outside of the Gospels.53

Even didaskalos outside the Gospels is sparingly used in the Acts and the

Epistles, this latter term seeming to be reserved basically for Jesus (com-

pare also Ignatius; Mag. IX, Jesus Christ, our only didaskalos). This is

corroborated in the Apostolic Fathers where rabbi doesn't occur at all and

where didaskalos is used but relatively infrequently.

 

But on the other hand, as Judaism continued and developed in its own

way, the title “Rabbi” became increasingly important in Jewish practice

and tradition as is evidenced by Talmudic tradition.

 

How much official technical significance the title rabbi--didaskalos

carried in the New Testament period would be hard to determine on the

basis of the literary and archaeological records. We do know that, accord-

ing to the New Testament Gospels, the scribes and Pharisees desired the

title (Matthew 23:2, 7), that it was used of formally unschooled teachers⁵⁴

such as John the Baptist and Jesus by their inner circle of disciples (ma-

thetai) and by the crowds, and that it carried with it a sense of respect

and authority. Beyond that, the early evidence does not allow us to go.

18                          GRACE JOURNAL

 

   Documentation

1.       Joseph Klausner, Jesus of Nazareth, translated by H. Danby

(New York: Macmillan, 1945), p. 43, footnote 93, and p. 256,

footnote 16.

2.       Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, Ill, 2⁵, 759; IV³, n. 9, pp. 399-

400; through Klausner, op. cit., pp. 29, 43.

3.       Erwin R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman

Period, Vol. 1, (New York: Pantheon Books, Bollingen Series,

XXXVII, 1953), p. 90, footnote 200.

4.       W. F. Albright, "Discoveries in Palestine and the Gospel of

John," in The background of the New Testament and Its Escha-

tology, Studies in Honor of C. H. Dodd, edited by W. D. Davies

and D. Daude (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1964).

pp. 157, 158.

5.       He states, "It should be added that the treatment of this term

in G. Kittel's Theologisches Worterbuch Zum Neuen Testament.

Vol. II (1935), p. 154 (and in general on pp. 150-62) needs fur-

ther amplification archaeologically and linguistically; e.g., it

should have been emphasized that rabbounei (John 20:16) like

the corresponding rabbinic expression. is a caritative of rabbi

standing for *rabboni, 'my (dear [or] little) master. '" Albright,

op. cit., p. 158.

6.       Dalman observes: "The interchange of u and o in pronun-

ciation can also be seen in other cases... sousanna, Luke 8:3

for shoshannah and the Palmyrenian Iakoubos for the name

Jakob. " G. Dalman, The Words of Jesus, authorized English

version by D. M. Kay (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1902). p.

324, footnote 3.

7.       MSS. D it. have kurie rabbi.

8.       I.e., "Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, didaskalos)."

9.       Where the form is rabboni: "Rabboni, which is to say, didas

kalos. " MSS. D  Q latt. have rabooni.

10.     In the Tosefta it is stated: "He who has disciples and whose

disciples again have disciples is called 'Rabbi'..." I. Broyde,

"Rabbi," in The Jewish Encyclopedia. I. Singer, ed., vol. X

(New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1912), p. 294.

11.     Disciples of John begin to follow Jesus at this point.

12.     Life, 190, 191.

13.     Ant XX, 213, 223.

14.     On J.W. I. 648, the Loeb note translates sophistai "doctors"

and comments, "'Greek sophists.' The Greek term originally

free from any sinister associations, for a paid professor of

rhetoric, etc. is employed by Josephus as the equivalent of the

XXX
TEACHER AND RABBI                                19

 

Classical Library, Vol. II (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1927),

pp. 306, 7, footnote. It is to be observed further that the term

sophistes would be better understood by Roman audiences.

15.     It is to be observed, however, that this is a disputed passage.

16.     The term Josephus also used; see above.

17.     See Karl Georg Kuhn, ed., Konkordanz zu den Qumrantexten

          (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1960).

18.     Francis Brown, S. R. Driver and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew

          and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (New York: Houghton

Mifflin and Co., 1907), "rab."

19.     F.F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments, rev. edition(West"

wood, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell, 1963), pp. 194, 5.

20.     G. Dalman, The Words of Jesus, authorized English version by

D.M. Kay (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1902), p. 338.

21.     E. Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, The Gospels, vol. 1,

ed. by W. Schneemelcher, tr. by R. McL. Wilson (London:

Lutterworth Press, 1963), pp. 478,9; also Actas de Pilato, red.

latina B, I, 1, 5, in Los Evangelios Apocrifos, ed. by Aurelio

de Santos Otero, 2nd edition (Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores

Cristianos, 1963), pp. 455-458.

22.     Following the division given by P. J. -B. Frey, Corpus Inscrip-

tionum Judaicarum, vol. I, Europe; vol. II, Asia';Africa (Rome:

Pontificio Instituto di Archeologia Cristiana, 1936 (vol. I), 1952

(vol. II).

23.     "Outside Palestine the names and little inscriptions are pre-

dominantly in Greek till the third or fourth centuries, then in

Latin." E. R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman

Period, vol. 12 (New York: Pantheon Books, Bollingen Series

XXXVII, 1965), p. 51.

24.     According to Frey's second volume on Asia-Africa (op. cit. ),

occurrences of Rabbi--didaskalos in that volume are to be found

only on Palestinian inscriptions.

25.     Gundry notes that from archaeological data "proof now exists

that all three languages in question -Hebrew, Aramaic, and

Greek -were commonly used by Jews in first century Pales-

 Tine.” R.H. Gundry, The Use of the Old Testament in St. Mat-

thew's Gospel (Leiden: E,J. Grill, 1967), p. 175.

26.     Compare Gundry, op.cit. , 176.

27.     For the inscriptions of Venosa, dating from the sixth century

after Christ, still present us with substantially the same picture

          as those of Rome, the oldest of which probably belong to one of

the earliest centuries of our era." Emil Schlirer, A History of

wish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Second Division,

tr. S. Taylor and P. Christie, vol, II (New York: Chas. Scrib-

ner's Sons, 1891), p. 247.

28.     Thegater Iakob didaskalou.

20                          GRACE JOURNAL

 

29.     Frey says that "the catacomb was certainly now in use in the

first century; but the second and third centuries was the period

of greatest activity." Frey, op.cit., vol. 1, p. 211.

30.     See Goodenough, op cit., vol. 1, p. 24i.

31.     See M. Avi-Yonah, "Mosaic Pavements in Palestine," Quarterly

of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine, London, II (1932),

p. 178; III (1933), p. 40. .

32.     Compare also Goodenough,  op. cit., vol. 1, p. 213; and Avi-

Yonah, Q. D. A. P. X (1942), plate XXVI, 8, and p. 131.

33.     M. Schwabe in his work on Greek inscriptions found at Beth-

Shearim in the fifth excavation season of 1953 suggests a date

of the third or the first half of the fourth century A. D. for

these inscriptions. Israel Exploration Journal, IV (1954), p. 260.

34.     Compare Goodenough, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 90.

35.     Compare the remarks of Thlman: "In the time of Jesus rabb6n

had not yet became ribbon." Dalman, op. cit., p. 324 foot-

note 3.

36.     Frey, op.cit., vol. 1, p. 118.

37.     Ibid. , p. 119.

38.     Frey says in a note that "biribi is a contraction for bir ribi

(Jerusalem dialect), son of Rabbi". with which they would honor

the doctors of the law." Frey, op.cit., vol. 2, p. 121.

39.     "The title 'Rab' is Babylonian and that of 'Rabbi' is Palestini-

an." I. Broyde, "Rabbi" in The Jewish Encyclopedia, I. Sin-

ger, editor, vol. X, (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1912),

Rabbi, p. 294.

40.     While granting some problems regarding the paleography of the

inscription, Vincent argues epigraphically and archaeologically

for a date not later than the time of Herod, the Great, seeing

in the Jordan Valley a blend of Jewish settlers (possibly the

Idumeans) and free artistic energy in which animals and even

the human figure are portrayed in architecture which fits in

with this time. L.H. Vincent, Revue Biblique, XXVIII (1919),

p. 558; S. A. Cook, "The 'Holy Place' of Ain Duk, ‘” Palestine

Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement (1920), pp. 86, 87.

Frey, op.cit., vol. 2, p. 245.

41.     Compare Dalman's remarks, "The Targumic mode of using rib-

bon is recalled in Mark 10:51, John 20:16, by the term addressed

to Jesus, rabbounei (another reading, rabboni; D Mark, rabbei;

John rabbonei…) Dalman, Ope cit., p~ Charles in a note

on Pirke Aboth 1:16 says that Rabban was a title first used for

Gamaliel to indicate his being the head of the house of Hillel.

R.H. Charles, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testa-

Ment, vol. 2 (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1913), p. 686.

43.     See Frey, op, cit., vol. 2, p. 305, who refers for this inscrip-

tion to Sukenik.. Juidische Graber Jerusalems um Christi Geburt, 1931.

TEACHER AND RABBI                                21

 

44.     It is interesting that in Acts 5:34 Gamaliel is called nomodidas-

          kalos timos panti toi laoi.

45.     The word there is somewhat deformed , DECDEKALLOU which

Frey readily recognized as didaskalou. Frey, op. cit., vol. 2,

p. 267,8.

46.     Sukenik, Judische Graber Jerusalems urn Christi Geburt (1931),

pp. 17f., through Frey, Ope cite , vol. 2, p. 266.

47.     Frey takes, didaskalos in Nos. 1266 and 1269 as equivalent to

rabbi. Frey, op. cit, vol. 2, pp. 267, 8. See also Albright,

op. cite , p. 158.

48.     The text here is uncertain.

49.     See Josephus. J.W., III, 3, 1 for the location of this place.

50.     Luke 9:33. P 45 has didaskale.

51.     See Dalman’s discussion, op.cit., pp. 327, 328.

52.     Compare Goodenough, op. cit. , vol. 12 (1965), p. 53.

53.     Compare the fading use in the New Testament of another Jewish

religious term, synagogue, as the New Testament ekklesia be-

comes dominant.

54.     Goodenough says, "the word was very casually used in early

Christian circles with no reference ‘scholarship’ of any

kind. ..." Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 90.

 

 

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