Honorable and Dishonorable Professions

I came across the following material the other day while reading Culpepper's commentary on Mark. It was a quote from the Midrash on the honor/dishonor of different professions. Here is the quote:

Abba Goryom, from Zadyan, said [in the name of Abba Guryah], "A person should not bring up his children to be ass or camel drivers, barbers, mariners, shepherds, or shopkeepers, for these are not honest trades." 12 R. Jehudah says [in the name of Abba Guryah], "Most of the ass drivers are wicked persons, but the greater part of the camel drivers are generally honest; most mariners are pious; the best of physicians is destined for hell, 13 and the best butcher is a suitable companion for Amalek." 14 R. Nahorai saith, "I leave every business, and have my son only taught the Holy Law, for its rewards are partly enjoyed here, but the principal reward is reserved, to those who occupy themselves therein, in the future world. It is not thus with other [worldly] trades, for when a man engaged in them becomes ill, or old, or suffers from other woes, and cannot longer work at them, he must perish of hunger. (Midrash 4.14)1

So from this, we get an understanding of later (than the NT) attitudes toward a number of professions (some of which are mentioned in the NT). Whether these attitudes were around in Jesus' time is questionable. As a side note, care must be taken in reading this material back into the NT as the material post-dates it. Nonetheless, the attitudes are more likely to be reflective of attitudes in Jesus' time than our attitudes (eg. our hierarchy of what is and what is not a dishonorable profession). 


From this data, I derived the following list of dishonorable professions: 

1. Ass/Camel driver
2. Barber
3. Mariner
4. Shepherd  
5. Shopkeeper
6. Physicians (destined for hell/gehenna)
7. Butcher (companion for Amalek)

However, some of these professions were seen as honorable by some and these are:

1. Camel drivers (generally honest)
2. Mariners (most are pious)

In this list of dishonorable professions, being a student of Torah is seen as not just  honorable but the most honorable.  

1. http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/etm/etm148.htm#fr_1140