Part 3
Let’s Clear Up Some Misconceptions
In the Old Testament, you will not find one word about anybody having to assemble in any town, city, or village of the land of Israel on the Sabbath day. Not one word. The Sabbath day was kept, but not for assembly purposes, or to have a building like a synagogue like that back in the time of Moses. The only thing you will find is that they did have to go to Jerusalem during the three holy day seasons, and they had to go to Jerusalem if they wanted to offer an animal sacrifice, for a blessing, or sin.
There is another misconception. If a person sinned in the Old Testament time, people have had the wrong impression that you just go out in your backyard, build an altar and offer an animal sacrifice. If you were going to be righteous and holy, a lot of animals would be killed. However, that was completely illegal.
In Order To Understand This We Need To Understand the Sacrificial System
You could only offer a sacrifice wherever the sanctuary was, or the Holy Temple at Jerusalem, once that was established. They did not offer many animal sacrifices. In fact, some people went for years without offering a single sacrifice. They were indeed sacrificing, but the priests vicariously were sacrificing for them in the Temple. On the great day of expiation, the Day of Atonement, where are two goats — one slain and one let go. The one let go was a goat offered by and for all the people of Israel. Technically it was the High Priest that did it, but it applied to everyone. A Jew could say he sacrificed an animal on the Day of Atonement, even though he did not touch it. The same thing goes for most all the other sacrifices.
Once they were done at the end of the year, a pious Israelite praying to God daily could legally say before God, thank you God for accepting my sacrifices, though he did not offer one of them. It is important to realize that somebody else did it for them. The whole teaching of the sacrifices is that somebody else has to do it for you. Someone else did it for us. Is that not true? Jesus Christ did. It all makes sense.
There were not many animal sacrifices done by individuals, but they could if they wanted to and some did. However, the national sacrifices at the Temple took care of all these things. There are many teachings on how the priests were to work in the Temple, and sometimes the Levites who helped them. But that only had to do with the Temple in Jerusalem. There is not one word in the Old Testament where God legislated that you have to build a synagogue in a city or a village.
There is one big difference between a synagogue service and a Temple service. The Temple services were conducted according to biblical revelation only by priests, with the help of Levites. That is all. Once in a while, some representatives of the 12 tribes would come up to help, but it was just superficial. Everything done in the Temple, was done by the priesthood. A priesthood was rather aristocratic, father to son, father to son, father to son, and on down the line. In fact it was very aristocratic. There were not that many priests around.
Synagogues Were Run by Laymen (People like you)
The synagogue system was entirely different. It is evident in history, McClintock & Strong’s Cyclopedia that the synagogue services and system was established on the principle of the layman participating in the worship of God. Indeed, the synagogue system was almost entirely a layman’s work. Priests would come along, but they were superficial to the synagogue service, in the sense that it was not essential for them to be there. It is quite true that when there was the reading from the Law and from the Prophets, they gave precedence to a priest to read it if he was in the synagogue because of his holy station. If the priest was not there, they would give it to a Levite next. If a Levite was not there, they would give it to any ordinary Israelite to read. Anybody could read the lesson. After a prayer, the lesson was read, a talk on the lesson was given, and then the proceedings were opened up for fellowship in the whole synagogue. They had different types of synagogues, but it was entirely a layman’s affair. Priests could come into it but only as they agreed with layman. In fact, synagogues were nothing more than community centers. They were primarily religious community centers among the Jews.
A layman could talk in services, if the time period would come for it, as every Israelite was looked on as important as the next person. They had what they call a “ruler of the synagogue” and he was elected by the congregation, by the people of the community. Other roles also existed. For example they have a man in almost every synagogue called the “maethurgeman.” The maethurgeman is the interpreter. He was in almost all synagogue services, and certainly in those of the “diaspora” away from Jerusalem. This man would read the lesson. If he read it in Hebrew, then he himself would interpret to the people. The way they would do it is that one man would get up and read a sentence or two. Another man, the maethurgeman, in the same tone of voice without any voice inflections would try to repeat the lesson in the local dialect, whether that was Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, or Latin. These men were regular people who were part of the synagogue services, the reader and the interpreter or the “speaker” and “tongues” as their titles really meant.
“Any one of the congregation who was capable of interpreting was asked to do so.” (“Synagogue” in McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia). Anybody could interpret, but they had to have the knowledge to speak, thus anyone 13 years of age and above could do it. One time one person would do it; one time another would do it. The synagogue was a community effort entirely. There was no hierarchy in the early synagogue system. They did have a ruler of the synagogue, and others around to keep control and order, but that was all that they had. However, those offices could change from time to time, and there is not a word in the Old Testament that a ruler of the synagogue has any official capacity as far as God’s revelation is concerned. Obviously because the synagogue was part of the legal system, respect would have been accorded to him. But there is not a word about a hierarchy for synagogues because there is not a word about synagogue or how to make them or anything of that nature in the Old Testament.
What Does All This Have To Do With The Ekklesia?
Out of the synagogue system came the ekklesia system. What a beautiful system it was. There was no hierarchy associated with it, everyone had a chance to speak if they spoke in order. That was a beautiful system in which Jesus Christ could teach in synagogue services. Sometimes He even gave a reading of the Law, as on one occasion recorded in Matthew and Luke:
“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, … Luke 4:14–17
[Jesus read the passage.] And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, ‘This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.’ … Luke 4:20–21
Jesus was allowed an opportunity to speak as a layman. He was not a member of some clergy system. There was no clergy in the synagogues. It was a beautiful system for the spreading of the Gospel. The same opportunity was available to the apostle Paul, and all of the apostles. Paul was allowed to address the synagogue:
“But when they [Paul and his associates] departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, ‘You men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.’ Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, ‘Men of Israel, and you that fear God, give audience ...’” Acts 13:14–16
Paul preached to them about Jesus and His resurrection. His speech to them was short; it may have been 5 minutes (Perhaps it was longer if Luke edited out some portions).
“And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” Acts 13:42–43
Paul