"There is throughout Paul's writings an irrational or pathological element which could not but repel the disciples of the Rabbis. Possibly his pessimistic mood was the result of his physical condition; for he suffered from an illness which affected both body and mind. He speaks of it as "a thorn in the flesh," and as a heavy stroke by "a messenger of Satan" (II Cor. xii. 7), which often caused him to realize his utter helplessness, and made him an object of pity and horror (Gal. iv. 13)."
https://www.
jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11952-paul-of-tarsus
Right?
Regards
No, he was just another announcer of the good news.
I have read the provided Jewish encyclopedia link about Paul.
What a long and hateful group of sentences here and there.
To make the story of Paul very simple, he was from the tribe of Benjamin. But when the original kingdom was divided by the two sons of king Salomon, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin jointed together to form the kingdom of Judah. From here, the descendants of Benjamin became citizens of the the kingdom of Judah, and they were also called Jews.
The apostles, including Paul, weren't sent to teach the Law. So, the arguments about the Law from Paul's side, was to focus more in faith than in the Law itself.
In a meeting between the apostles, they decided not to talk about the Law, but solely to prevent the new members of idolatry and similar. They decided to leave the teaching of the Law to the synagogues around. This is why they say, "gentiles have Moses at the synagogues every sabbath".
This decision carried huge problems to the priests of the synagogues. First, lots of Jews started to ask the priest about Yeshu, because they have heard the good news by other members. Besides this situation, the gentiles started to assist sabbath services at the synagogues, obeying the suggestion of the apostles.
Here is when the High priest can't handle it anymore. His synagogues started to be places of reunion for the new adepts of the good news: Houston, we have a problem.
Here is when Saul was sent to persecute and prosecute Jews who "converted" the the message of the good news. Oh yeah, Saul was very obedient and had no problems killing every "good news dude" on his way.
In his way persecuting new adepts of the gospel, the story says he changed his uniform and played for the apostles team.
Like the apostles, Saul also received wisdom.
This is not something uncommon in the Bible. King Saul, also received that kind of inspiration from the God and started to prophesy. Same it happened in times of Moses when others started to prophesy as well. With King Saul, the others were surprised and said, "what the hell?! Saul also between the prophets?!"
With Moses, he said, "Hope all you guys become prophets, because to tell the truth, you really are stiff-necked people! Please take my job, I need vacations...
Well, Saul's Job encountered lots of troubles, but he didn't quit. About his health, who cares? Nobody is perfect.
So far, the apostles fulfilled their jobs, the announcement of the good news, which was the only message they were assigned to preach in Jerusalem, Samaria and all around the world.
On the other side, the Jews lost their Temple, and were scattered and adopted mystical paths in order to compete with the extraordinary teachings from the apostles. Oh, sure, with that "spirit" they received, sheesss! they really rolled on.
The Jews ended with the same old, same old: one Rabi with his Gemara saying "it's black!", the another saying, "it's white", and a third one saying: "it's black and white", and everybody happy.
The article is weird. Apparently the author of it has no knowledge of the word game found in ancient Hebrew.
Criticizing Paul the article states:
which he takes as signifying that Abraham was to be the father of the Gentiles instead of nations...
UH?
In the Tanach, when the descendants of Japheth are mentioned, in Genesis 10:5, the word
goyim is interpreted and even translated as "nations". However, this word is also the same word for "gentiles".The first ones to be called
gentiles are the descendants of Japheth.
And
goyim is later on used in the Bible to describe the ones outside the chosen people. It's meaning became more expanded. That's all.
Definitively the guilty part is not Paul but the translator to Greek language of that book in the new testament. Paul didn't write that book, a scribe or someone else did that task.
To conclude, Paul is not Paul, because his name was Shaul.
Who knows who changed his name in the books of the new testament, but surely this name Paul is more a curse or a mockery. That name was not given by the God to this individual, as it happened with other biblical characters.
At the end of the day, he did OK. He worked for his God.
