son of the great rabbi Hillel and father of Gamaliel, the teacher of Paul, is unlikely.12 The name Simeon means “God has heard,” but the meaning plays no role for Luke (Fitzmyer 1981: 426). The postbiblical tradition that developed around Simeon is interesting. In the Protevangelium of James 24.3–4, he is treated as a priest, a point that may have led to speculation that he had rabbinic ancestry,13 but the Lucan text doesn’t call him a priest. In the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew 15.2, his age is