5. In conformity with the usual custom of his nation, one of whose proverbs was that _He who taught not his son a trade, taught him to be a thief_, the youthful Saul was instructed in the art of making tents[770], of the hair-cloth known as _Cilicium_, and supplied by the goats of his native province. 6. Carefully nurtured under his father’s roof, speaking Greek, and acquainted with the Septuagint version[771] of the Old Testament, he was removed, probably between the age of 10 and 15, to Jerusalem[772], where he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel[773], and under the superintendence of this wise and candid teacher made progress in his knowledge of Jewish rites above many of his contemporaries in his own nation, and became distinguished for extraordinary zeal for the traditions handed down from his fathers[774] (Gal. i. 14). Under the same teacher he probably added to that knowledge of Greek and of the Septuagint, as also of the elements of Gentile learning, which he had brought with him from Tarsus, a more exact acquaintance with the original Hebrew, as also with the hidden and mystical meaning of the Scriptures; a knowledge of aphorisms, allegories[775], and the opinions of the learned; as also the facility of quick and apt quotation; while the study of Greek authors[776] would not be altogether discouraged. Such was the early life, and such was the training of the champion of the Pharisaic party, who was now to become the great Apostle of the Gentiles. In his determination to make havoc of the Church, Saul was not content to persecute its members at Jerusalem. _Breathing forth threatenings and slaughter_ against them, he determined to seek them out wherever they might be found, and with this intention requested letters of the high-priest[777] empowering him to seize any of “the Way,” whom he might find in the city of Damascus, whether men or women, and convey them thence to Jerusalem to be punished (Acts ix. 1, 2, xxvi. 12, xxii. 5). Armed with these credentials, he set out with a considerable retinue, and having probably passed through Shechem, then called Neapolis, and Samaria, and thence through Galilee towards the sea of Tiberias, crossed the Jordan[778], and made his way along the dreary barren uplands which stretch between the base of Antilibanus and the city of Damascus.