GAMALIEL gə mă’ lĭ əl, a proper name, Heb. גַּמְלִיאֵ֖ל, of two persons named in the Bible.

1. A chief of the tribe of Manasseh who was chosen to aid in the wilderness census (Num 1:10; 2:20; 7:54, 59; 10:23).

2. Also a famous Jewish sage mentioned twice in the Acts (5:34; 22:3). He was the head of a large family of prominence תַּנָּאִים, or teachers whose words are quoted in the Mishnah. The one mentioned in Acts is known as Gamaliel ha-zaqen, “Gamaliel the Elder,” and lived during the first Christian cent. Tradition states that his grandfather was none other than Hillel the Elder. However, as with many other legends about him, this statement is unsupported by reliable documents. He often is confused with his grandson also named Gamaliel, and like the first a patriarch of the Sanhedrin. The elder Gamaliel is quoted in the Mishnah, the rabbinic commentary on the Torah, in a number of passages. His legal actions are of an intensely practical nature dealing with such matters as the invalidation of a bill of divorcement through a duplicity of names, the problem of leavening dough by mixed lots of leaven and the extension of the Sabbath prohibition on journeys of mercy. However, some rather legendary and superstitous material also is attributed to his teaching and his followers. He was accorded the highest of all Jewish titles for teachers, that of Rabba/on (cf. John 20:16). His memory has been one of the greatest favor and gentility in rabbinic tradition. His precise opinion in regard to the early Christian Church has been the subject of much debate in ecclesiastical circles. A tradition of the pseudep. Clementine Recognitions, a much disputed early Medieval document, that Gamaliel embraced Christianity toward his death in a.d. 70 is totally without foundation. In the first mention in Acts he is pictured as advocating a course of moderate pragmatism in regard to the captive apostles. In the second instance, he is mentioned by Paul in his defense before the crowd in Jerusalem where Paul claims Gamaliel as his teacher. Considering the meager mention of Gamaliel in the M ishnah as inconclusive, it does appear that each of his enactments was liberalizing and humanitarian in its underlying motive, and this accords well with the speech quoted in Acts and with Paul’s favorable mention of him as a man held in the highest esteem by the Jews. It may well be that Paul mentioned his name as a veiled suggestion that in his own case the policy of Gamaliel be adopted by the crowd. It is noteworthy that Paul casts no aspersions on the ability or insight of Gamaliel in regard to the law of Judaism. Yet he assumes that such a teacher’s pupil would feel no compunction about persecuting the new and thriving “way.” Paul does not again mention Gamaliel as his new-found faith had irrevocably broken off his association with the Jewish sage.