Please help with the following question:
The gemara on Brachos 4a-4b ask if the Chachamim hold like R' Eliezer or the R' Gamliel (Rashi - in their interpretation of the word "b'shachbecha"). It then ask a follow up question - if the chachamim hold like R' Gamliel, why don't they say like him. Finally it concludes that they were distancing people for sinning.
But this is all explicit in the end of the first mishna where R' Gamliel explains to his sons that the chachamim actually agree that shma can be said all night?
Thank You for your assistance,
Daniel Strauchler
It seems to me that the Gemara prefers to arrive at its own independent conclusion, as to whether the Chachamim hold like Rebbi Eliezer or Raban Gamliel. The reason for this is because there are a few occasions in Shas, where one Tana misunderstood another. It is therefore feasible for Raban Gamliel to have thought that the Chachamim hold like him, when really they don't.
And the Gemara does indeed conclude that they concur with Raban Gamliel, just as he told his sons.
Kindest regards
Eliezer Chrysler.