" Pretty much all Jews of his time were literate."
Jefferson in a letter to Samuels(I believe) wrote that Jesus couldn't write ....I'll add the not able to read myself...
If Jefferson said that, he was clearly wrong.
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And didn't you recently say that most people of that region and that era were illiterate????
I don't believe so. Illiteracy may have been common among most nations and ethnic groups at that time but the Jews stressed education for religious reasons at a very early date so literacy was more common for them.
The Talmud (tractate Bava Bathra 21a) praises the sage Joshua ben Gamla with the institution of formal Jewish education in the 1st century AD. Ben Gamla instituted schools in every town and made education compulsory from the age of 6 or 7. Prior to this, parents in Judea taught their children informally[1].
en.wikipedia.org
Up to Simeon's time there were no schools in Judea, and the instruction of children was, according to Biblical precepts, left to their fathers. Simeon ordered that yeshivot be established in the larger cities in which the young might receive instruction in the Holy Scriptures as well as in the traditional knowledge of the Law.[10]
en.wikipedia.org
The NT records Jesus reading Scripture(Luke 4:17), writing in the dust during the episode of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:8), and using references to writing in his teaching (jot and tittle - Matthew 5:18) and was recorded as saying "Have you not read ... " (Mark 2:25, 12:10).
Jesus was frequently called a rabbi and not only by his own followers:
And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he said, “Rabbi, what is it?” (Luke 7:40)
A lawyer asked him a question to test him: “Rabbi, what is the greatest commandment in the Torah?” (Matthew 22:35-36)
And behold, a [rich] man came up to him and said, “Rabbi, what good thing must I do to have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16)
And someone in the crowd said to him, “Rabbi, order my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” (Luke 12:13)
And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Rabbi, rebuke your disciples.” (Luke 19:39)
Some of the Sadducees came up to him…and they asked him, saying, “Rabbi….” (Luke 20:27-28)
Hard to imagine them calling an illiterate that. |
