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Augustine3
Guest
I remember Scott Hahn referencing in the Old testament the first synagogues being built. Does anybody know where in the Old Testament?
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Joe_Kelley
Guest
I don’t know. However, I have heard that synagogues started among the exiles after the destruction of the First Temple. At the same time the office of rabbi [teacher or scholar] became important, since the priesthood could no longer act.
The word “synagogue” is used only in the New Testament in the KJV.
The word “synagogue” is used only in the New Testament in the KJV.
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patrick457
Guest
The exact origins of the synagogue building is obscure, but the idea of a ‘gathering’ (which is what the word in Greek means anyway) seems to be as ancient as the Israelites themselves. This page could be of some help. I quote:
What are the Origins of the Synagogues?
The question of synagogue origins is still a matter of debate among researchers. Nevertheless, one view that is gaining momentum holds that, in one sense, “synagogues” have been in existence as long as Israel has been a people. That is to say, if we understand the Greek term synagoge in its earliest meaning, i.e., “congregation,” then the “synagogue” on one level was the national and cultic assembly of Israel. Hence synagoge is commonly used in the LXX (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) to represent the gathering of the tribes before the Tabernacle (e.g., Lev 8:3, Deut 5:22, LXX). The same word is later used to describe the assembly before the Temple (1 Chr 5:6, LXX).
On a more local level, “synagogues” (plural) would have been the popular village or city assemblies, held first at the city gates and later in the agoras or civic squares. At some point, these regular public gatherings moved inside public buildings that the ancients referred to with various words, including synagoge (see above). In Egypt this transition came in the third century BCE. By the first century CE, sources indicate that synagogue buildings existed in every city in the Jewish diaspora.
In Palestine, synagogue buildings began to crop up by the first century BCE, though perhaps even a century earlier. Aside from the Qumran settlement, the earliest architectural evidence from Palestine is the synagogue at Gamla. Located in the Golan, this building was constructed in the second half of the first century BCE. (Recently, a synagogue dating to 75-50 BCE was reportedly discovered outside of Jericho. See the announcement on the homepage.)
Literary sources suggest that earlier synagogue buildings existed in Judea, and these may yet be discovered. Two devastating wars in Judea during the first and second centuries CE help explain the difficulty in finding remains of such buildings, since the explain the difficulty in finding remains of such buildings, since the local civic and religious centers would have been the first structures in every town to be demolished by the Romans.
In this regard, we should point out that the Jewish philosopher Philo states that the Essenes had assembly halls called “synagogues” (synagogai). The excavator of Qumran identified several rooms that functioned in this capacity. Since these were built during the reign of Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BCE) and thus predate the Gamla synagogue, these halls actually represent the earliest examples of Palestinian synagogues–albeit sectarian ones.
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chosen_people
Guest
Your answer is found in the Jewish scriptures:
Ezekiel 11:16
טז לָכֵן אֱמֹר, כֹּה-אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה, כִּי הִרְחַקְתִּים בַּגּוֹיִם, וְכִי הֲפִיצוֹתִים בָּאֲרָצוֹת; וָאֱהִי לָהֶם לְמִקְדָּשׁ מְעַט, בָּאֲרָצוֹת אֲשֶׁר-בָּאוּ שָׁם.
Thus said the LORD HASHEM/ELOHIM: Though I have removed them far away among the nations, and though I have scattered them among the lands, yet I have been for them a small sanctuary in the lands where they arrived.
The centrality of God’s presence is represented by the miniature sanctuaries of synagogues and study halls (see Talmud Megillah 29a) for it is in them and through them that Jews hark back to to the sounds of the Sinai and the radiance of the Temple (for the concept of Sanctuary see Exodus chapter 25)
“I have given them small sanctuaries, in the form of synagogues, which are second to My
Temple” (Targum); even in the darkest exile, the Jews can find the Divine Presence in their synagogues and study halls.
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Augustine3
Guest
Cool thanks very much!
Can I ask you a question that’s a little off the topic…Do you believe Jesus is the Messiah?
God bless,
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chosen_people
Guest
The question is somewhat in incongruous in the context of the Jewish perspective of the Messiah ben David. The need to ask the question is in itself conclusive proof that the Messiah ben David has yet to come.Cool thanks very much!
Can I ask you a question that’s a little off the topic…Do you believe Jesus is the Messiah?
God bless,
J
Joe_Kelley
Guest
Thank you. I appreciate your efforts in helping us learn more of our origins.
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Augustine3
Guest
Have you read the Gospel of St Matthew? He shows the ancestral genealogy of Jesus through the line of Abraham and David.
God bless,
R
Robbinson
Guest
Do you believe Jesus was the Messiah ben Joseph? (and if so, is it not possible that they are one and the same rather than two different Messiah’s as discussed/suggested in the Talmud?)Blessings,
Brian
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patrick457
Guest
I’m not the one being asked, but I’d like to drop my two yen here.
Blessings,
Brian
I doubt that Jesus would even qualify as the Messiah ben-Joseph, aka Messiah ben-Ephraim (which itself is an idea that was only developed in rabbinic writings after Jesus’ time), since the ‘son of Joseph’ - the Biblical patriarch Joseph, of amazing technicolor coat fame, is being referred to here - is supposed to muster all Israel to war, successfully wrest Jerusalem from gentile control and set up his (earthly) kingdom from there, and eventually be slain in combat against Gog and Magog or the evil king Armilus, only to be later raised up by the ‘other’ Messiah, the son of David.
Really, the only similarities between Jesus and Mb-J is that they are both known as ‘son of Joseph’ and that they both die and are resurrected. But whereas Mb-J is a victorious earthly conqueror who dies in battle, Jesus was put to death as a condemned criminal.
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