The Childhood of a Parisee's Son

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" (Prov. 22:6).
The familiar utterances of Proverbs 22:6 were not mere words to the ancient Hebrews. The passage represented one of the sternest commands of God towards the Jew. "Train a child in the way he should go." To the strict Jew, only one way existed for a child to go: the way of his father and his father's father. theirs was the responsibility to direct the child in that familiar way. The words of Deuteronomy 4:7-9 had been rehearsed in the ear of every faithful Jew from the time of Moses.

7What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”
Deut. 4:7-9

Paul told us he was "a Hebrew of Hebrews." A Jew would have known exactly what he meant. Virtually nothing but Jewish influence touched him in his early childhood.

The Code of Jewish Law certainly condemned overt harshness in childbearing. jewish parents considered children the utmost blessing from God and loved them dearly. The ancient Josephus said of the Jew, "We lay greater stress on the training of the children than on anything else, and regard observance of the Law and a corresponding godly life as the most important of all duties." Although young Saul grew up in a very strict home, he enjoyed the utmost devotion of his father to his godly upbringing: something only the very fortunate among our children enjoy.

The rabbinic laws taught fathers to begin teaching their children the ways of God from their earliest understanding. In the Code of Jewish Law, it states that "It is well to train a child to respond Amen and other responses at the synagogue. From the time that an infant begins to respond Amen, he has a share in the world to come"

As little more than a toddler, Saul learned to say the Schmone-Ezre- the primary prayers of the Jews- morning, noon, and night. he learned to pray before and after every meal. He actively participated in the traditional feasts as soon as he could talk. Even today in an orthodox Jewish passover celebration, the youngest child in the family asks the traditional questions which provoke the father to retell the rich history of Israel's exodus from slavery.

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Deut. 6:4-9

Soon after his sixth birthday, Saul memorized Deuteronomy 6:4-9, the words on the tiny scroll inside the Mesusah on the doorway of his home. Far more impressively, he also memorised Psalms 113-118. Being a Hebrew defined who you were, how you thought, when you felt. By the time Saul was ten years old, he knew the intricacies of the oral law. Young Saul's mind was thoroughly steeped and vastly stretched with constant memorization. He had little choice but to "meditate on the law both day and night" just to prepare for the following day's lessons.

By 13 years of age, Saul was considered a son of the law. He assumed all the religious responsibilities of the adult Jew. He started wearing phylacteries, called teffilin, during weekday morning prayers.

Phylacteries were 2 black leather cubes with long leather straps. The cubes encased certain passages from the Torah written on strips of parchment. Saul wore one of the cubes on his left arm facing his heart. The other cube was placed in the centre of his forehead. The leather straps on the left arm were wound precisely 7 times around his arm.

The Code of Jewish Law prescribed that a Jewish Law prescribed that a Jewish man 13 years or older was to put on the tefilin at the first moment in the morning when enough daylight existed to recognize a neighbour at a distance of 4 cubits. These practices seem very strange to us perhaps, but we should appreciate their attempt to interpret Scripture as literally as they knew how.

9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.
Exodus 13:9

The left arm was chosen because it was ordinarily the weaker. They were to wear God's Word as a banner and shield over their weaknesses.

We don't practice the outward expression of the Jew, but we are wise to share the inward principle. How has God's Word been a shield of protection in a time of weakness for you?