'So quick bright things come to confusioo.'
But the Heb. (which is the word tr. 'without form,' RV ' waste,' in Gn V) makes it probable that in all the passages from I.saiah the meaning is dliorder. 2. Shnme, di'tgrare, as Ps 35'- * ' brought to c' (iDij, RV 'confounded,' Cbeyne 'abashed'); Job 10" 'I am full of c.' (\S^;>, RV 'ignominy'); esp. with Heb. bCshcth, 1 S 20«'"», Ezr 9', Ps 109-=', Jer 7", Dn 9'- 8. (Except Ps 70», Is 61', Jer 7'", Mic 1", Zepli 3»- '«, b6sheth is tr. by alaxmr, in LXX. ) See Tongues, Confusion of. J. Hastings.
CONGREGATION is AV rendering of several Heb. terms, esj). -r;\a, ny;, and hn^. It will be necessary to examine minutely the linguistic usage of OT in regard to each of these.
1. ijto (mu'i-d). The root-idea contained in this word is that of a fixed appointed meeting or tryst between (Jod and man. Hence it is frequently employed to mean a 'set time,' or to designate the sacred .■sca.ions {mS'ftdim) when all the males in Israel had to present themselves at J"'8 sanc- tuary (Hos 9» 12», Lv 2.32- ■•• «■ «). It is but a step
from this when ne find the word used to designate the assembly that celebrated the festival, or indeed as a designation for any assembly. In Job 30^" we have "n-VpS t;\o n'3 'the place of assembly^ for all living,' used of Sheol, while in Is 33-" Zion is called uii'iD n;-)p ' the city of our assemblies ' (cf . Pa 74*, La 1*, Ezk 44^''). In particular, lyto occurs very frequently in the phrase lyiD '^nx {'Ohel mO'ed) the Tent of Meeting (between J" and Israel). The familinr AV tabernacle of the congregation fails entirely to suggest the true idea conveyed by the phrase as this is explained in Ex 29*-'- (Cf. W. R Smith, OTJC^ 246.) The Sept. aK-qvfi tov nafrrvpioi and VuJg. tabemaeulum testiinonii, as well as Luther's Stift.ihiitte, have arisen, as Ges. explains, from improperly regarding i^to as synonymous with nny (see Nu 9'', where ' tabernacle of the testimony ' is the correct rendering). lyiD '?ni< is used with great frequency by P(131 times)and bythe Chronicler(l Ch 632 g.:! 0333, 2 Ch P- "• '3 5°), but it is emiJoyed also by E (Ex 33', where its meaning is explained ; cf. Nu 11"-^ J), and occurs in at least two passages which belong to JE, viz. Nu 11" 12*. The source of Dt 31" is uncertain, and 1 S 2" and 1 K 8* can scarcely be taken into consideration, because both contain elements of late date. In Ps 74' W '-j^to-S; = all the synagogues of God, and in La 2* nyto is eniployed as a designation for the temple.
It may be worth while to remind the reader that in the expression solemn assembly, which is occa- sionally used by AV as a rendering of 11:^0, ' solemn has its archaic sense of ' fixed ' or ' stated,' Lat. io^enni? (Driver, Qeut. 189).
In Is 14" mouiLTt of the congregation probably refers to the assembly of the gods, whose dwelling- place, according to Bab. mythology, was located m the far north, upon the ' mountain of the world ' (Driver, Isaiah^ 129 n. ; Delitzsch, Isaiah, new ed. i. 310). See Babylonia, p. 216'.
2. nyj_ ('cdt'th) and hn^ (kahal). Before examin- ing the linguistic usage of OT it may be well to refer to a distinction between these two words which has been contended for by some. Vitringa {de Synngoga vetere, 80, 88), with whom Trench (Syn- onyms of NT, 3f.) agrees, expresses the difference thus, 'notat proprie 7.717 universam alicujus populi multitudiiiem vinculis societatis unitam et rem- publieam quandara constituentem ; cum vocabulum nii! ex indole et vi signiflcationis suae tantum dicat quemcuv^'2ue hominum ccetum et conventum sive minorem sive majorem. . . . avraywyi) ut et .tij; semjier signilicat ccetum conjunctum et congregatum etinin.ti nullo forte vinculo ligatum, Bed 4KK\rj<ria (Srii;) designat multitudinera aliquam quae yo/w/um constituit, per leges et vincula inter se jicnctam, etsi snejie liat ut non sit coacta vel cogi possit.' This is certainly far more plausible and reasonable than the famous distinction which Augustine sought to establish between <rwayioYfi and iKK\ri<rla, or rather between their Latin equivalents, con- gregatio and eonvocatio, the latter being the nobler term, because used of calling together msn, while cnngreqntio designated the gathering together of cattle (grex) ! Vitringa's distinction comes, in fact, pretty near to that of Schiirer, to which we shall advert presently ; but it seems a mistake to en- deavour to carry such a distinction back to OT. It may fairly be questioned whether in a single instance the contention of Vitringa can be estab- lished. Rather are we inclined to see in the choice of the one or the other of these terms ■ mark of authorship. It is remarkable that .inj; finds favour in certain books, while ShiT is prevailingly, if not exclusively, employed in others.
(") ■■'7i'i from the same root as ivte, occurs vari- ously, (is Sx-iif ni:;^ (Ex 12'), Snt^- 'j? trij^ (Ex 16'-'-»), ni.T n-i; (Nu 27"), and absolutely, rnv.i (Lv 4") It belongs, like ii'io, to the vocabulary of P, nevet
CONGREGATION
CONSCIE.NCE
467
occurrinc in D or JE, and its use in the other histonyil Injoks is rare, Jg 20', 21i»- '»• '«, 1 K 8" (=2 Ch 5"), 12" being the only instances (Driver, LOT 128).