Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EDUCATION

Throughout the Bible the language of education (learning, teaching, studying), its effects (writing, knowledge, appropriate behavior), and the desire for education are very much evident. Moreover, we know the general settings where education occurred (court, cult, family, schools) and approximately what the content of much of the teaching would have been. Nevertheless, to speak of education in the Bible is to enter an area with much uncertainty precisely because of what we do not know. Who were the teachers of ancient Israel? Where, specifically, did they teach? And how did they teach? What were their methods, their pedagogy? Despite much good scholarship and study, the identity and function of the sages and teachers, their methods and particular settings in the Bible remain veiled and subject to much debate.

Development and History

Education in biblical times is best understood by looking at many interlocking and overlapping institutions and their respective traditions (e.g., cult, family, court, schools). These institutions of education were located inside and outside ancient Israel in a wide variety of settings. From the earliest times it is clear that the family was the central institution in which learning occurred and continued to be so throughout the biblical period. The “content” of family education varied widely. We assume children were taught not only the skills and way of life of their parents, but also some of the basic values of the society and an orientation to the identity of ancient Israel (who we are, where we are, how we relate to the world around us, and why). The setting presumed for this all-important education is the home.

With the advent of the monarchy (ca. 1000-587 b.c.e.) in Israel and Judah a growing need for literacy is clearly seen. Treaties, the ability to produce lists for purchases and other record-keeping activities, the need to write the histories and stories of the state — all created a special concern for an educated and literate group around the king and the court. Many of the aphorisms in the book of Proverbs can be traced to this setting. The influence of both Egyptian and Babylonian culture was seen to be important in monarchical times as the early Israelites struggled with different models of kingship and the educational needs stemming from them. In both of these cultures there were royal schools where middle-level bureaucrats were trained. While we have no direct evidence of such schools in Israel, special training was clearly necessary for some of the royal officials. The palace and its immediate environs were the probable setting for this education.

At almost all times in Israel’s history the cult was an important center for education. The legal materials and the psalms offer much evidence of catechetical activity for those new to the stories and the faith of the people (cf. Deut. 6:20-25; Pss. 15, 24). Moreover, the cult is assumed to be a central place for speaking of and teaching the moral values of the society (e.g., the Decalogue, Exod. 20:1-17) and the expectations for behavior in all parts of the culture. In Judah the temple was a primary setting for both determining what needed to be taught and the actual proclamation and teaching itself.

Although many scholars believe schools must have existed in the monarchical period, the first clear references to them do not occur until postexilic times in Israel. Rabbinic Judaism, Hellenistic and then Roman culture, and the educational institutions associated with them colored and shaped what education was in Israel in the late postexilic and NT periods. Though Ben Sira and later Jewish texts refer to schools, we know very little about either the content of the curriculum or the goals of these institutions. We assume the study of Torah to be a very important part of the curriculum, but more than this is unclear. How accessible education was for all members of society at this time is subject to much debate. Surely synagogues were another place where education occurred, as witnessed to in the NT and early rabbinic materials (Luke 4:16-30).

In addition to the institutional loci of education associated with particular groups within the mainstream of society, three other sources of education deserve mention. First, the schools and other educational phenomena associated with cultures outside Israel (e.g., Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome) clearly influenced both the shape and the content of the education in ancient Israel. Second, a number of sectarian communities had special educational agendas (e.g., Qumran, the Essenes). Finally, there were always special people recognized for their acumen and the value of their teaching. Sometimes these people were itinerant (e.g., Jesus), sometimes not (e.g., the medium of Endor, 1 Sam. 28:7-25).

Teachers and Sages

Without explicit references to “schools” in the OT it is difficult to determine who were the teachers of ancient Israel. Though the Wisdom Literature (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes) of the OT is often perceived to have been used for pedagogical purposes and authored by sages, it is still difficult to describe what a teacher might have looked like. The nature of the Wisdom Literature and the primary vocabulary used to describe learning and teaching in the Bible does not help clarify who these authors were or even in which of the settings above they were found. By the time of Ben Sira, however, the figure of the sage is associated with both teaching in schools and with special expertise in biblical interpretation. Eventually that figure would develop into the rabbi and the “sage,” those whose interpretation of Torah becomes normative for the community. This development in Judaism begins in the biblical period but is completed much later.

Two interesting examples of “teachers” are the prophet Amos and Jesus. Both were itinerant. Both used forms of wisdom literature and rhetoric to express their message to the people (parables, rhetorical questions). While neither is usually seen primarily as a sage, both are given authority because of their teaching and its power. At the very least Amos and Jesus reflect the existence of wisdom teaching and its influence. Both were educated and educators.

Content and Method

Early texts from Ugarit and other Canaanite cultures (cf. e.g., the Gezer Calendar) suggest that learning was often a matter of memorization (e.g., the seasons of the year), with or without the use of writing. The cultic directives to keep the commandments in some visible place on the body or in the home reflect another attempt at learning by repetition and reminder (Deut. 6:6-9). The teaching represented in the book of Proverbs relies upon careful observation and analysis of experience, drawing some logical and theological conclusions. How such a process was “taught” to students is not known, but biblical literature contains much of this type of teaching and observation. Perhaps the most important content of biblical education and teaching, however, was not a particular skill at observation and writing, not the content of a special law code, but rather an understanding and grounding in the values upon which law, proverbs, prophetic teaching, parables, and all the rest stood. All of this was embodied in very specific oral and literary traditions witnessed to by the biblical text, with settings associated with cult and court and palace. It was probably the family above all else where the locus for passing on these values resided.

Education in ancient Israel is shrouded in mystery while at the same time the Bible reflects a significant amount of it! Education in ancient Israel was not just a copy of Babylon, Egypt, or Canaan, though we know it was influenced by their educational traditions. Education in the Bible was in transition from a family-based phenomenon to something the society saw as its primary responsibility. It was a peculiar mix of institution and individual, sage and prophet, law and aphorism, all grounded in values which could and were given humanistic rationales and, finally, attributed to God the teacher.

Bibliography. J. L. Crenshaw, “Education in Ancient Israel,” JBL 104 (1985): 601-15; M. V. Fox, “The Pedagogy of Proverbs 2,,” JBL 113 (1994): 233-43; J. G. Gammie and L. G. Perdue, eds., The Sage in Israel and the Ancient Near East (Winona Lake, 1990); H. I. Marrou, A History of Education in Antiquity (1956, repr. Madison, 1982); R. N. Whybray, The Intellectual Tradition in the Old Testament. BZAW 135 (Berlin, 1974); B. Witherington, Jesus the Sage (Minneapolis, 1994).

Donn F. Morgan

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EDUCATION

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)