for ablution as well as prayer: like that at Philippi, in Acts xvi. 13, where we are told that Paul and his companions, "on the sabbath, went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made," (où vouŽETO Aε ;) literally, "where he understood that there was a proseucha." And in verse 16, we are informed that, when he and they were going at another time "to prayer," (ε5 лρоσɛvxv,) literally, "to the proseucha," they were met by a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination. In Josephus's Antiquities" mention is made of a proseucha in Egypt, by the sea-side, whither the Seventy Interpreters resorted every morning, to wash their hands, purify themselves, and pray, before they began their daily task of translating the Scriptures. And in his account of his own life, Josephus informs us, that they were some times built even in cities, particularizing a large one in the city of Tiberias. Indeed, it would appear that they were general among the Jews; for we find even Juvenal saying "In qua te quæro proseucha ?"-But the ritual of the temple and the synagogue service were the principal means employed by providence to teach them the leading doctrines of religion. For the first was resorted to by those in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, when they felt inclined, or were positively commanded; and the last, by being scattered over the land, gave every one an opportunity of associating frequently for the purposes of piety. As the temple service hath been described already, the following notices concerning the synagogues will not be uninteresting. See a good account of the Jewish proseuchas in Prideaux Con. A.A.C. 444. SECT. II. Office-bearers of the Synagogue. Places of erection, and form of the building.-Stated office-bearers-their general duties. ; SYNAGOGUES could only be erected in those places where ten men of age, learning, piety, and easy circumstances, could always be found to attend the service, that was enjoined in them; (hence the difference in Scripture between xμoro2ɛis and xouau; the one signifying those villages that had synagogues, and the other those which had none;) for they considered ten as the minimum which constituted a congregation; but there was no restriction as to the maximum, unless what convenience suggested. Large towns had several of them and, soon after the captivity, their utility became so evident, that they were scattered over the land, and became the parish churches of the Jewish nation. Though it is impossible, at this distance of time, to ascertain their exact number, we may form some idea of it when we consider that there were twelve in Tiberias; and when the erecting of synagogues were marks of piety, or passports to heaven, we need not be surprised to hear that there were no fewer than 460 or 480 in Jerusalem alone.d The form of the building of every synagogue was in general the same. They were at first erected in the fields, for the sake of retirement; but afterwards in cities, from motives of convenience, and generally on the most elevated ground; for their traditions held, that no other building should, if possible, overtop a synagogue. a Lightf, Heb. and Talm. Exer. on Matt. iv. 23. b Bercketh 8. Lightf. Chorographical Century, chap. 36. Lightf. Heb. and Talm. Exer. on Matt. iv. 23. They always consisted of two parts: the one was termed , the icel, or temple, by way of eminence, and formed the most westerly part of the building, like the most holy place in the tabernacle and temple. It was there that they placed the ark or chest which contained the Book of the Law, and the Sections of the Prophets; and the other was termed the body of the church, where the congregation met to offer up their public prayers, and hear the word read and explained:" hence the synagogue was often called Bith-seper (150 ',) or the House of the Book, to distinguish it from Bith Medresh (,) or, the House of Doctrine, those divinity schools where the traditions were taught, and which were commonly attached to the synagogue. The stated office-bearers in every synagogue were ten; and hence, probably, the reason why that number was said to constitute a congregation: their names and duties were as follow: 1. The ruler of the synagogue ( Rash Eceneseth, Apxiovvaywyos, Luke viii. 41. 49.) There were three called by that name, who had the chief care of the things pertaining to the synagogue; who saw that nothing indecent or disorderly was committed, and who told the readers of the portion for the day when to begin, and the people when to say Amen. Dr. Lightfoot also thinks that they possessed a civil power, and constituted the lowest civil tribunal among the Jews, commonly known by The Council of Three, whose office it was to decide the differences that arose between any members of the synagogue, and to judge of money matters, thefts, losses, restitutions, violations of chastity, the admission of proselytes, the ordaining of ministers, &c.; so that Lightfoot's Harmony of the Four Evangelists, Luke iv. 15. Lightfoot's Chorographical Century, chap. 36. Lightfoot's Harmony of the Four Evangelists, Luke iv. 15. with good reason they were called rulers, since they had both the chief care of things, and the chief power." 2. The second office-bearer in the synagogue was the angel of the church (1 b, shelih hetsebur) or minister of the congregation. He laboured among them in word and doctrine, prayed, preached, and (if there were no other person) he kept the book of the law, and the sections of the prophets, appointed the readers, and stood beside them to see that they read aright. Hence he was also called hezen (1) Exoло5, or overseer. 3. The third office-bearer in the synagogue was the deacon, almoner, or pastor of the poor. There were commonly three of them, that the poor might not be overlooked, and these poor were provided for in the following manner: first, there was an alms dish ( c Lethmehui) which was carried round the town by two, or all the three almoners, (but never by one, nor by all of them separately, to prevent the suspicion of embezzlement) to collect something every day for "the poor of the world," or the poor Gentiles. Secondly, there was a poor's chest (p, Lekupè) that stood in the synagogue, into which the charitable put what they could spare when they went thither on the sabbath day;* and from which the poor Jews were supplied by the almoners every sabbath eve. And, thirdly, the alms from the field, as they were called, and which were a considerable help to the indigent at certain times of the year; viz. the corners of the fields not reaped ; sheaves left in the fields either by accident or intention ; the gleanings of the corn fields; the gleanings of the vintage ;k a Heb. and Talm. Exer. on Matt. iv. 23. b Lightf. Harm. of the Four Evangel. Luke iv. 15. Lightf, Heb. and Talm. Exer. on Matt. iv. 23. d Ibid. on Matt. vi. 2. that which grew of itself in the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee; and the poor's tenth, ( ryp, Mosher oni) of which the Talmudists treat largely in the tracts entitled Peah, Demai, and Maasaroth, to all which the poor were called to partake, "by three manifestations in the day, namely in the morning, at noon, and at mincha," or the evening sacrifice; that is to say, the owners of the fields openly showed themselves three times in the day in their fields, that the poor might enter and take their right; in the morning for the sake of nurses, while their children slept; at noon for the sake of children, who were then best able; and at night for the aged, who could neither rise early nor endure the noon day heat." 4. The fourth office-bearer in the synagogue was the interpreter, (1) Thurgemin who stood beside the reader of the portion for the day, to translate it from Hebrew into their mother tongue. 5. 6. The fifth and sixth office-bearers in the synagogue are not exactly ascertained; but Dr. Lightfoot conjectures them to be the doctor of the divinity school and his interpreter; for the doctors in divinity, in order to inspire the people with an opinion of their dignity, did not address their audience in the divinity schools themselves, but delivered their instructions in a low voice to their interpreters, who repeated them aloud to the congregation. Such were the office-bearers in the synagogue, as given by Lightfoot out of the Jewish writers. They were six as to rank, but ten in number; for there were three rulers of the synagogue, one angel of the church, or minister of the congregation, three deacons or almo a Levit. xxv. 6. Ibid. on Matt. iv. 23. Lightf, Heb. and Talm, Exer. on Matt, vi. 2. |