Part 4

[Sidenote: How men reach the spiritual plane]

Man reaches this highest plane of existence only by faith. It requires constant self-denial and continual development. In reality it is living as seeing Him who is invisible. The physical man depends almost entirely on knowledge gained through the senses. The mentally developed depends upon reason. Many combine these two natures, and such individuals are guided by the sense of reason just in proportion as the two natures are developed. Knowledge as a result of sense perceptions and finite reason capture the majority of mankind. The life of faith, the walking with God, takes in the few.

[Sidenote: Israel should live on the spiritual plane]

Do you see why God chose a small people? He chose them, as a nation, to be priests or teachers unto Himself. As individuals, and as a nation, Israel was to stand upon the spiritual plane, attaining and maintaining the position by a life of faith. Standing there, it would be in accordance with the natural law for all on the lower planes to yield obedience. As the mental controls the physical without any friction, so the spiritual controls all others. Therefore (for this reason) said the Lord, “I have taught you statutes and judgments.... Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation _is a wise and understanding people_.”[18]

[Sidenote: Israel as teachers of the world]

Statutes in themselves can not command respect for any people, but God gave Israel a manner of life which linked them with Himself. Living on a spiritual plane, all the world looked to them for guidance. As one can not reach up and help those above him, but must come from above and lift others to himself, so Israel was pointed to a life which made others follow in spite of themselves, while at the same time they were following what they knew to be the truth. This is the exalted position which truth has ever held.

[Sidenote: Peculiarity depended upon the system of education]

Granting it clear that Israel would lead by virtue of the plane of existence upon which they stood, and that this was attained by a life of faith, it is easily seen why there was marked out for the nation a _system of education_ differing as completely from the systems of the other nations of the world as the spiritual life differs from a purely physical or a strictly mental existence. It made it impossible for any mingling of systems to take place without the utter ruin of the spiritual; for as soon as this came down to the level of either of the others, it ceased to be spiritual, and lost its power to lead.

[Sidenote: Result of mixture in educational systems]

Should Israel attempt to adopt the education of surrounding nations, that moment her education would become papal in character, for it would then be a combination of the divine with the worldly. If a man-made theocracy, a church and state government, is papal in principle, the divine and the worldly combined in educational systems is no less a papal principle. Israel formed such a combination more than once, but with the results recorded in Ps. 106:34-38: “They mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters into devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their _sons_ and of their _daughters_, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan.”

Truth and error never form a compound, although they may be mingled. The union of the two never produces truth, and the end is death. Truth amalgamated with error, as gold with mercury, lies dormant until released. Israel could not positively forsake her God-given forms of education without relinquishing her place as leader of nations. Destined to be the head and not the tail, she immediately reversed her position when she adopted a mixed system.

[Sidenote: Spiritual nature of their education]

The education which was outlined for the children of Israel was soul-culture, pure and simple. Its object was to develop the soul which is God in man; and Divinity so planned that every true Jew should be a God-man. Education was to develop the spark of divinity bestowed at birth, and it was the privilege of every Jew to have, as did that _One_ Jew, Christ, the Spirit without measure.

Let us see, then, what the plan was which would take the newborn babe, and follow him through life, making him one unit in a nation of spiritual beings. God recognized prenatal influence, and so gave directions and laws concerning the life of the parents. This is illustrated in the story of Hannah and the wife of Manoah, in Elizabeth, and in Mary the mother of Jesus.

[Sidenote: Jewish schools]

In the early history of the nation, “Education,” says Painter, “was restricted to the family, in which the father was the principal teacher. There were no popular schools nor professional teachers. Yet the instruction of the Jew ... embraced a vast number of particulars.”[19] Hinsdale says: “Jewish education began with the mother. What the true Jewish mother, considered as a teacher, was, we know from both the Testaments and from many other sources. The very household duties that she performed molded her children in accordance with the national discipline. ‘The Sabbath meal, the kindling of the Sabbath lamp, and the setting apart of a portion of the dough from the bread for the household—these are but instances with which every _Taph_, as he clung to his mother’s skirts, must have been familiar.’ The bit of parchment fastened to the doorpost, on which the name of the Most High was written, ... would be among the first things to arrest his attention.

“It was in the school of the mother’s knee that the stories of patriarchs and prophets, of statesmen and warriors, of poets and sages, of kings and judges, wise men and patriots, and of the great Law-giver Himself,—the whole forming the very best body of material for the purposes of child-nurture found in any language,—were told and retold until they became parts of the mind itself.” He then mentions the case of Timothy, and adds: “As teachers of their children, the women of every country may learn lessons from the matrons of Israel.”[20] This was evidently the original plan, and had the families proved faithful to the trust, the greater part, if not all, of the education would have been in the _family school_. Always, however, as long as Israel was a nation, the child (and the term covered the first twelve or fifteen years) was under the instruction of the parents.

[Sidenote: Jewish church schools]

From the home school we follow the Jewish child to the synagogue or church school. Moses was instructed by the Lord to make every priest a teacher, so the nation had a whole tribe of teachers. As every town had its synagogue, so “a town in which there is no school must perish.” Quoting again from Hinsdale: “The children were gathered for instruction in the synagogues and schoolhouses, where the teacher, generally the Chazzan, or officer of the synagogue, ‘imparted to them the precious knowledge of the law, with constant adaptation to their capacity, with unwearied patience, intense earnestness, strictness tempered by kindness, but, above all, with the highest object of their training ever in view. _To keep children from all contact with vice; to train them to gentleness, even when bitterest wrong had been received_; to show sin in its repulsiveness, rather than to terrify by its consequences; _to train to strict truthfulness_; to avoid all that might lead to disagreeable or indelicate thoughts; and to do all this without showing partiality, without either undue severity or laxity of discipline, with judicious increase of study and work, with careful attention to thoroughness in acquiring knowledge—all this and more constituted the ideal set before the teacher, and made his office of such high esteem in Israel.’”[21] These teachers took the youth at the most critical period of their development. And how thoroughly they understood the needs of the developing minds!

[Sidenote: Schools of the prophets]

In the days of Samuel we read, for the first time, of the schools of the prophets, where young men were gathered together for the study of the law, of music, poetry, and history, and of the various trades. The name _School of the Prophets_ would indicate the spirituality of their work, and reference to the time of Elijah and Elisha and the experience of Saul would prove the truth of the inference.

[Sidenote: Studies in Jewish schools]

Concerning the subjects taught we are not left in ignorance, if we study the history of the people. Thus, quoting again from Painter: “The Hebrew parent was not only to impart oral instruction to his children, but to teach them also _reading and writing_. As he was to inscribe the words of the Lord upon his doorposts and gates, he must himself have learned to write; and, as he wrote them for his children, they must have been taught to read. Hence, it appears that the ability to read and write was general among the ancient Jews; and, in this particular, they surpassed every other nation of antiquity.”[22] Hinsdale says: “From the teaching of the alphabet, or writing in the primary school, to the farthest limit of instruction in the academies of the rabbis, all was marked by extreme care, wisdom, accuracy, and moral and religious purpose as the ultimate object.”[23]

[Sidenote: The Bible as a text-book]

“Up to ten years of age the Bible was the sole text-book; from ten to fifteen the _Mischna_, or traditional law, was used; and after that the pupil was admitted to the discussions of the rabbinical schools. So extensive a course of study, however, was taken only by those who showed decided aptitude for learning. Bible study began with the book of Leviticus; then came other parts of the Pentateuch; next the prophets, and finally the Hagiography.”[24]

[Sidenote: Physiology]

In working for this chosen people, God cured physical infirmities with the same case that he healed a sin-sick soul; and with the laws for spiritual growth were given directions for the preservation of health. Every priest was likewise a physician, and the laws concerning the use of simple, healthful foods, proper breathing, ventilation, the use of disinfectants, the bath, etc., were familiar to all who read the statutes of Jehovah.

[Sidenote: Additional studies]

Painter says, concerning other subjects taught: “Among the potent educational agencies of the Jews, that of the annual national festivals merits consideration.... Commemorating important national events, they kept the people acquainted with their past _history_.... These frequent reunions not only contributed to national and religious unity, but they exerted a strong educating influence upon the people.”[25]

“The Levites, more than other Hebrews, were to study the book of the _law_; to preserve and disseminate it in exact copies; to perform the duties of _judges_ and _genealogists_, and consequently to be theologians, jurists, and historians.... As the priests and Levites were to test the accuracy of weights and measures, ... it was necessary that they should understand something of _mathematics_; and as they were to determine and announce the movable feasts, new moons, years, and intercalary years, they had occasion for the study of _astronomy_,” says Jahn.

Since the schools of the prophets flourished in the days of Saul and David, it would not be surprising if David gained some of his musical skill there as well as on the hillside tending sheep, for _poetry and music_ formed part of the course of instruction in these schools. One author pays high tribute to these subjects by saying: “Greek poetry is beautiful; Hebrew poetry is sublime.”

[Sidenote: Effects of Jewish education]

When children were fortified by such an education from infancy to manhood, it is little wonder that the influence which the nation “has exerted upon the world is incalculable. It has supplied the basis of all true theology; it has given a system of faultless morality; and, in Christianity, it has provided the most perfect form of religion. The civilization of _Europe_ and _America_ can be directly traced to the Jews.”[26]

What might have been the result had the nation lived up to its privileges in educational lines is not difficult to determine. Earth’s history would have been shortened by at least two thousand years; for the nation would never have gone into bondage, and Christ would never have been betrayed. As these principles of Christian education are again taking hold of people, with what interest must the progress of the work be watched by the inhabitants of other worlds, who have seen past failures through lack of faith! That Hebrew education tended mainly to a development of the inner man instead of giving merely a conglomeration of facts, is well expressed by Wines. He says: “The Hebrew law required an early, constant, vigorous, and efficient training of the disposition, judgment, manners, and habits, both of thought and feeling. The sentiments held to be proper to man in society were imbibed with the milk of infancy. The manners considered becoming in adults were sedulously imparted in childhood.”

[Sidenote: The threefold nature educated]

The education, however, was not only moral and intellectual, but physical as well; for every Jewish boy was taught some trade which rendered him self-supporting. Nor did wealth or position remove the need of this. Paul, who sat at the feet of Gamaliel while studying the law, was able to gain a livelihood as a tentmaker when preaching the gospel.

[Sidenote: True teaching exemplified]

There was, however, in it all this one thought: all instruction was intended to develop the spiritual nature. It was considered the highest honor to become a priest (every Jew might have been both priest and teacher), and in this office man stood next to God. This was wholly a spiritual position, and prefigured the work of the Messiah. True, Israel as a nation never reached the standard set for her, never mounted, as it were, that ladder reaching from earth to heaven; and it was left for the One Man, the Master of Israel, to bind together the two realms of the physical and the spiritual. But from time to time men arose in the Jewish nation who grasped in a far broader sense than the majority, the meaning of true education as delivered to the Jews, and who, by submitting to the educating influence of the Spirit of God, were enabled to become leaders of the people and representatives of God on earth. Such were Moses, Daniel, Job, and Ezekiel, and, to a certain extent, all the prophets of Israel. In each of these the soul rose above the physical man, until it met its parent force in the heart of God. This made it possible for Moses to talk face to face with the Father, and for Ezekiel to follow the angel of revelation to the border land of God’s home.

These men were but enjoying what _every man in Israel_ might have experienced had the nation remained upon the plane to which they were called, receiving their education by faith. One is tempted to ask why they fell. The answer is the same as to that other question, Why do not we arise? They ceased to look upward; faith failed, and reason took its place, and instead of leading they sought to be like the nations about them.

[Sidenote: Worldly systems of education]

There lay Egypt, with its mighty men, and the carnal heart longed for some of the Egyptian display. To understand it, we must again consider the difference in life and education. Life on the spiritual plane means whole self-forgetfulness; but when carnal desires are heeded, a fall is inevitable. Egyptian education was largely on the physical basis. It is true that mental heights were reached, but only by the few, and those few, bound by earth’s fetters, were unable to break entirely away. The masses, not only in education but in religion, were physical, and _basely physical_. The sacred bull was a personification of deity. Why?—Because God, to an Egyptian, was an embodiment of lust. All their gods, all their rites and ceremonies, every temple wall and religious service, breathed the dreadful odor of licentiousness. Historians state that the priestly class knew better. And so they did; but their grasp was not that of truth, else they could never have been the priests and teachers of such a religion or of such a system of education.

These words, put in the mouth of an ancient Egyptian priest, speak truly the spirit of Egyptian education. He says: “I that have seen nigh four-score years of misery; ... I that have mastered all the arts, sciences, and religion of ancient Egypt—a land that was wrinkled with age centuries before the era of Moses; I that know both all that the priests of Kem ever taught the people, and also the higher and more recondite forms of ignorance in which the priests themselves believed—I verily know nothing! I can scarcely believe in anything _save universal darkness_, for which no day-spring cometh, and universal wretchedness for which there is no cure. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this death?”

And yet the Jews would leave that education which offered eternal life, for this which the best-educated Egyptian might acknowledge to be darkness and only darkness. It was from this that God delivered Israel; but many to-day, claiming to be Israel in Spirit, seek still the wisdom and philosophy of Egypt for themselves and their children. Israel could not come in touch with this form of life without contamination. Nay, more, she fell from her exalted state, and never reached it again. “Jerusalem was destroyed because the education of her children was neglected.”

The ceremonial law given after leaving Sinai, at the beginning of that memorable march of forty years, was necessary because the nation had lost all appreciation of the spiritual in the abstract, and could gain no idea whatever of God as a _Spirit_ except through some appeal to the physical senses. This condition was due to the fact that four generations had been subject to Egyptian education.

[Sidenote: Israel at the Exodus]

The plan of types and ceremonies alone appealed to the mind. And even in this inductive method of teaching, the nation seemed slow to learn; for the forty years between the Red Sea and Jordan served to develop scarcely enough faith to carry the people into the promised land. God’s law, written on the tablets of the heart by the pen of faith, appealed to but few. Men ate manna from heaven, but knew not that it was the token of a crucified Saviour: they drank of water flowing constantly from the smitten rock, never dreaming that it prefigured the shed blood of the dying Son of God. Once settled in Canaan, the whole system of education was so planned as to teach the child to accept Christ by faith. Some grasped this spiritual truth; but a few had eyes which saw the things hidden from the multitude, because faith was an avenue to the very soul.

Having the privilege of living by faith, and accepting the divine teaching in this its highest form, they preferred the old way, and walked by sight. “Except ye see, ye will not believe;” “O ye of little faith.” When we look at what the Israelites might have been, and then at what they were, there is a feeling of intense pain, for the fall is inexpressibly great. By little and little, Jehovah strove to reach the higher nature again, and bring Israel to its heaven-selected place. There was steady progress until the days of Solomon, whose wisdom outshone that of the great men of earth, and Israel as a nation was again on the verge of becoming the leading people of the world politically, intellectually, and morally.

[Sidenote: Solomon’s wisdom]

Solomon was raised to a position of eminence among the great men of earth because he learned from God the secret of true education. His wisdom was not a gift to him exclusively, but was offered to all who would comply with the educational requirements. Of Solomon we read that God gave him a hearing ear. His spiritual senses were awakened by faith, and he found himself so in harmony with the God of nature that all the works of the Creator were read by him as an open book. His wisdom seemed great in contrast with that of other Jews merely because others failed to live up to their privileges. God desired the whole nation to stand before other people as Solomon stood before the kings of the earth.

The surprising feature to most students is the fact that the system of education given by God will, when followed, open to man such material benefits. It is not, as it is often accused of being, ideal and theoretical, but lacking the practical. On the contrary, it is of the most practical nature, and opens to its followers all legitimate lines of prosperity, placing its devotees above all contestants. This is seen in the experience of the king just mentioned. As a statesman and lawyer, Solomon was noted; as a scientist, he excelled the scholars of the world; for wealth and splendor, the half has not been told; during his reign Jewish architecture, as exemplified in the temple, assumed such grandeur that it became the model for even the æsthetic Greek. In tilling the soil and raising fruit it was always intended that Israel should excel other nations.[27] Youth were trained to fill positions of trust, and were taught the practical duties of everyday life. Such training was given to girls as well as to boys, fitting them to fill properly their allotted sphere as housewives and mothers in Israel.[28]

From the fall which followed this exaltation, Israel never recovered. The educational system losing its true character, the nation was at last carried into captivity. When the Hebrew race lost the spirituality of their education, they lost everything; for political power, national reputation, all, hung upon one thread. “Jerusalem was destroyed because the education of her children was neglected.” This destruction did not come suddenly. There was a decline, then a forward lunge, and another relapse, each time the fall being greater and the reaction weaker.

[Sidenote: An educational reform]

Several times a halt was made, and the national life was prolonged by a return to the prescribed methods of education. Jehoshaphat, for instance, appointed Levites as teachers to the different cities of Israel, and, as a result, “The fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war.”[29] Had the reform been carried on which was then begun, the whole national history would have been changed.