Bible Question: What are the six requirements to become a disciple? |
Bible Answer: I'll take a stab. The 1 biggest requirement was to be accepted by the Rabbi. Historically, a Jewish boy would spend from 6 – 11 years old memorizing the first 5 books of the Bible (girls in Galilee memorized Deuteronomy and Psalms among other things). If they showed a propensity to learn and understand scripture, they would move on to the next step of memorizing the remainder of the Tanak (aka Old Testament) as well as many parts of the Oral Tradition and the interpretations of the text by the local Torah Teacher. If one of these students wanted to extend his learning he might seek out a traveling rabbi he admired and ask him if he could be his disciple. The traveling Rabbi would ask many questions of the young man (who would have been a teenager) about the text and his understanding of it. He would then either allow him to be his disciple, or he would send him on his way … “You are a wonderful student of the text, but you are not able to ‘be like me.’ Go and serve God as a …” If they didn’t find a Rabbi who excepted them, they learned their father’s trade. Most did not become disciples of a Rabbi. A disciple was more than a student, but rather a young man who wanted to be like his rabbi in every way. It was often said that a disciple should be “covered in the dust of his rabbi.” Jesus was different in that he called his disciples, not the other way around. James and John dropped their nets and probably were extremely excited to be a disciple of Jesus since they obviously did not make the cut with any of the other Rabbi’s they may have sought out. It was a high honor to be a disciple of a Rabbi, particularly one who had authority like Jesus, Hillel, Gamaliel, and a few others. Jesus had more than 12 disciples, but the 12 were special in that he personally called them out. Other requirements might have been: 1) being male (although Jesus had female disciples and other Rabbis may have as well, but I am not sure.) 2) being a Hebrew or at least a full convert. Resources on this can be found at www.followtherabbi.com. MJH |
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Questions and/or Subjects for NT general Archive 1 | Author | ||
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Aspilos | ||
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Lina954 | ||
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MJH | ||
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Bereaniam | ||
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wlbpdq | ||
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NightJay0044 | ||
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day1961 | ||
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NightJay0044 | ||
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cristy |