What is a Jewish rabbi?

A title of respect among the Jews, signifying 'master, teacher,' but is not known to have been used till the time of Herod the Great. It was applied to the Lord, though often translated 'master' in the A.V. Mark 9:5; Mark 11:21; Mark 14:45; John 1:38, 49; John 3:2, 26; John 4:31; John 6:25; John 9:2; John 11:8. Jesus forbade the disciples being called Rabbi, for one was their Master (καθηγητής), even Christ. Matt. 23:8. According to the Jews the gradations of honour rose from Rab to Rabbi, and thence to Rabban or Rabboni.

Verse 7. They liked to be recognized as something great, "Rabbi," my master. "Rab" means great one, it is of Syrian extraction as "Rabshakeh," etc. "One is your teacher," instructor, "and all ye are brethren." We get two words, "teacher" and "Lord." … "If I then your Lord and master," etc., "one is your teacher"; let not one think of himself above another. The scribes show us the opposite thing to that we ought to pursue. We as Christians have been called unto liberty therefore "by love serve one another." "Love looks for the opportunity, and likes to serve. "If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet." He is doing it now and we are called to be imitators. "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." It shows what a wrong thing it is to bring anyone however blest he may have been to me, into competition with Him. I suppose we all' know now that it is hardly in keeping for us to use the expression, "Our Father which art in heaven," for in the heavenlies, is where grace has put us even now. We are a heavenly people. These were people on earth. It is appropriate that we address Him as "Father," or, "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Then, again, take the title, Master. It is thrice the translation of the word, Karim. Twice we are reminded in the epistles that we have a Master in heaven. Everyone, the most exalted in this world should be in subjection to the Lord. In our treatment of those whom we may employ, we should never forget the fact that we have a Master in heaven. May we ever do His holy will. Despotēs is five times translated Master as applying to the Lord. Otkodespotēs (that is master of a house) is applied by the Lord to Himself in parables that he enunciated. Epistatēs occurs five times as addressed to the Lord, and means Superintendent or Commander. Didaēkalos occurs fifty-eight times, twice explained as meaning Rabbi. This word means Teacher, or, as we should say, Doctor. Our Lord, you may remember, sat among the doctors of the law, asking them questions, when a youth. Kathēgetes means a Guide or Leader, and is used three times, the Lord applying the title to Himself in Matthew 23:8, 10. Then we have the title Rabbi, the Hebrew term for Teacher, transliterated into the Greek, as well as the Aramaic Rabboni.

Literally Teachers: otherwise called DOCTORS OR TEACHERS OF THE LAW. Those who devoted themselves to the study and teaching of the Jewish law. Luke 2:46; Luke 5:17; Acts 5:34.

"Then Jesus spoke to the multitude and to His disciples, saying: The scribes and the Pharisees have set themselves down in Moses' seat; all things therefore, whatever they may tell you, do keep. But do not after their works, for they say and do not, but bind burdens heavy and hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of men, but will not move them with their finger. And all their works they do to be seen of men: for they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the chief place in feasts, and the first seats in the synagogue, and salutations in the market places, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But ye, be ye not called Rabbi; for one is your instructor, and all ye are brethren. And call not any one your father upon earth; for one is your Father, He who is in the heavens. Neither be called leaders, for one is your leader, the Christ. But the greatest of you shall be your servant. And whoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and whoever shall humble himself shall be exalted" (verses 1-12). These are indeed cutting words. Out of His mouth goes a two-edged sword. Well may these words be placed in connection with the church message to Pergamos, in which the glorified Christ saith, "These things says He that has the sharp two-edged sword." Pergamos shows prophetically that period of the church when Ritualism, Nicolaitanism (Clericalism) came in like a flood and a certain class of men assumed the place of authority in the church, as leaders, priests, and began to dictate and teach the traditions of men. And ever since that time and through that into which Pergamos developed, Thyatira (Roman Catholicism), the leaven of the Pharisees, has worked on in Christendom and is still working. The Lord speaks first of all of the place which the scribes and Pharisees had chosen. They had placed themselves in Moses' seat. This no doubt He spoke in reference to legislation and not in regard to doctrine.

They had occupied the legislative seat, and when their sect started it was with a zeal for the law, which God had given through Moses. Soon, however, they became corrupt. In that part of the Talmud which is called the Mishnah* it is stated that they were to be regarded as if put into that place by Moses himself, taking their places in his seat, and were to be obeyed, so far as outward observations were concerned. (The Talmud is composed of two parts, the Gemara and the Mishna. Mishna means "repetition," and was a repetition of the written law.)

As far as the God given law was concerned and its observances, they were to do and to keep what the Pharisees said. What a wise exhortation this is! He, the King, fully recognized the position they had taken; if He had spoken otherwise, they might have accused Him of inciting the multitudes to riot against their authority. Romans 13:1-7 contains a similar wise exhortation by the Spirit of God for this present age. Against which the Lord warns is their works. There were two great schools among these Pharisees as we stated before; the school of Hillel and the school of Shammai. These were occupied with interpretations of the law. What strange interpretations were given, what tedious burdens were bound upon the people, which God never meant, could easily be illustrated and demonstrated by quotations from that tremendous literary work, the Talmud. "The burdens became intolerable. The blame rested equally on both the great rabbinic schools. For although the school of Hillel was supposed in general to make the yoke lighter, and that of Shammai heavier, yet not only did they agree on many points, but the school of Hillel was not unfrequently even more strict than that of his rival. In truth their differences seem too often only prompted by a spirit of opposition, so that the serious business of religion became in their hands one of rival authority and mere wrangling" (Edersheim). But while they put these burdens upon the people and domineered over them they neither kept them nor did they move a finger to remove them. In connection with this external show of religion, for which the Pharisees stood, the Phylacteries are mentioned. The general Christian reader has little information about the meaning of this word. The word "phylacteries" means "observatories" to keep the remembrance of the Law alive. In different parts of the Pentateuch we read these words, "And thou shalt bind these words for a sign on thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and upon thy gates" (Exod. 13:9-16; Deut. 6:9, etc.). The last named injunction, "Write them upon the posts of thy house," is literally practised by orthodox Jews, by writing these words upon a piece of parchment, inclosing them in a tin box, and this box is nailed on the door posts. From the same words the phylacteries, or tephillin, were instituted. These are two strips of leather to each of which is attached a small box; in these boxes there are likewise pieces of parchment upon which the Hebrew text of Deut. 6:4-8 is written. The one leather strip with this box is wound around the forehead, the box resting in the middle of the forehead, while the second strip is wound around the arm, the left arm, which is nearest to the heart. The ends of this one is made to form the Hebrew letter "shin," which stands for Shaddai, the Almighty. Strange and curious laws are connected with the preparation of the phylacteries, the wearing of them; the rabbinical writings contain much on the phylacteries which is superstitious. Thus the talmudical tract Berachoth declares, "It is necessary to wear the phylacteries nights in the home as they drive away the demons." Orthodox Jews use them as their fathers did, and there is no doubt that the wearing of phylacteries in the twentieth century by strictly orthodox Jews and their belief in them is the same as in the days when our Lord spake these words. It is seen that the phylacteries sprung from a literal interpretation of the above passages in the Pentateuch, an outward religious observance for which there was no foundation whatever in the law. The Lord, however, does not attack this, we believe, ancient custom, but He attacks the habits of the Pharisees to wear the phylacteries and the enlarged borders of their garments (Num. 15:38), so as to be seen of men. They did it all for show; selfishness controlled them and they had no heart for the things of God. They loved the first places, the honor and praise of men; flatterers, they enjoyed and loved to receive honoring salutations from the side of men in market places. "Rabbi, Rabbi," which means teacher or instructor, they loved to be addressed as well as "Abba," which is "father." All these titles simply sprang from their self-seeking. The Lord now gives teaching, telling his hearers that which concerns of course disciples alone, that they are brethren and that they have but one teacher, the Christ Himself; that they should not call man father, but one is their Father, God Himself. The greatest of His own is the One, who is a servant of all. This reaches over into the new dispensation. The instructor, the guide, is the Lord and the Holy Spirit. Alas! how the enemy has succeeded in producing and fostering this distinctive mark of Pharisaism in Christendom, with its man-made institutions, titles, honors, offices and leaderships.

ῥαββονί, a word similar to Rabbi, a term of respect among the Jews, signifying 'teacher.' It is applied to the Lord by the blind man in Mark 10:51; and by Mary in John 20:16, where it is untranslated.

Lit. 'My master, or teacher.' Mark 10:51 (translated 'Lord' in A.V.); John 20:16. See RABBI.

Rab’bi - My master

But one word from His lips changes everything, “Mary.” He calls His own sheep by name, and she knows His voice. Turning again, she says, “Rabboni,” which is more than simply “Rabbi” (teacher) but “my great Teacher.” The wonder of the miracle of His resurrection does not even occur to her: all she thinks of is Him whom she loves now there before her eyes. No doubt involuntarily she went forward to touch or grasp Him.

Gamaliel. — The bitterest enemies of the Lord when in life were the Pharisees. His life, His teaching, condemned their practices, and they resented that. The bitterest enemies to the Apostles in Jerusalem after the Cross were the Sadducees (Acts 4:1, 5:17, 23:6-9). The doctrine of the Resurrection, the truth of it in the Lord's case, controverted their peculiar tenets; so they desired to put the Apostles down, and to silence them in one way or another. With that, however, the Pharisees had no sympathy; and by their spokesman Gamaliel, a man held in reputation among the Jews, advice was now to be tendered, the wisdom of which none of the opposite party could gainsay. Of Gamaliel we read again later on, learning there that the Apostle Paul had been in his earlier days one of his pupils; or, as he himself describes it, "brought up at the feet of Gamaliel" (22:3). This the Apostle Paul adduced in proof of his former Pharisaic principles, having been zealous towards God, like his opponents, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers. No one, when St. Paul mentioned Gamaliel, would have accused the latter of any leaning towards Christianity. Certainly on the present occasion his orthodoxy was by all unquestioned. Further, his learning was acknowledged. His reputation, too, was made. Any counsel from him would naturally meet with respect from the rest of the Sanhedrin. It would have weight with the chief doctors of the day. And if he be the man celebrated in the Talmud as Rabban — i.e., our master — the son of Simon, a grandson of Hillel, as is generally thought, we can understand the Apostle Paul speaking of him as his former teacher, as well as the prompt acceptance now of his advice, Pharisee though he was, by the Sadducean part of the council.