Rabbi Gamaliel, the Pharisee Who Spoke Truth About Jesus by Myra Kahn Adams for Town Hall
Today we discuss a first-century Jewish rabbi who saved the apostles from death sentences because they were attracting growing numbers of Jewish followers. Raise your hand if you have ever heard the name, Gamaliel. I see very few, so let’s learn how the Lord used this rabbi at two critical times in early church history.
The dramatic verses we study are from Acts 5:12-42 and condensed below.
Teaching in the name of Jesus, His apostles “performed many signs and wonders among the people.” Subsequently, “more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” Peter especially was blessed with the miraculous gift of healing:
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“People brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed” (Acts 5:15-16).
Predictably, the temple high priests “were filled with jealousy,” so they arrested and jailed the apostles. But, that evening, the apostles were miraculously freed by “an angel of the Lord” who commanded them, “ ‘Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people all about this new life’ ” (Acts 5:20). Thus, by dawn, the apostles were back in the temple courts to “teach the people.”
When the Sanhedrin (Jewish supreme court) next convened, they sent for the jailed apostles, but “the officers did not find them there.” Then Sanhedrin members heard, “the men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” Promptly, they issued orders to retrieve those disobedient apostles.
Standing before the court, the apostles were scolded by the high priest who said:
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