Wisdom's Corner
Boy Jesus at the Synagogue

For some time Jesus had been going to the synagogue once a week on the Sabbath. Now he was old enough to go every morning with the other boys of Nazareth. Inside the low, flat building, on this first day of school, he could look around as he could not do during the services on the Sabbath.

At the east side of the building there was a little alcove in the wall called an "ark." Inside the ark were the scrolls on which were written the first five books of the Bible. Jesus had seen the rabbi on Sabbath days go to the ark and carefully take out a scroll. He would then stand on the platform in front of the ark, and read the scroll which he had placed on a reading desk.

As Jesus looked around, he saw the balcony where his mother sat on Sabbath days with the other women. The women were not allowed to sit with the men.

Now it was time for school to start. The rabbi came in and the boys sat on the floor. He taught them lessons from the scroll, which they learned by repeating them out loud. They wrote with sticks called styli on waxed tablets.

When school was over, Jesus hurried home to tell his mother and father all about the things he had seen and heard. This is not from the Bible but it is very possibly the way it was for Jesus his first day at school at the synagogue. This is the way that young boys were taught at the time Jesus lived.

You can find two of the laws which Jesus learned in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18.

We know that Jesus studied, learned and applied all that he learned. This is how he was able at the age of twelve to ask very difficult questions in the Temple and to give very good answers. He also was subject to his parents (Luke 2:51).

Keep reading and studying your Bible. Follow the example of Jesus and learn as much as you can from God's word. And if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.

(The above is adapted from Thoughts of God for Boys and Girls edited by Edith Frances Welker, 1948,p.23)

Mark McWhorter

Copyright 2002

Published by The Old Paths Bible School
(http://www.oldpaths.org)