Section 971 — A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels

bestowed. AVhen it savours of superiority, it is resented more than scorn. Yet this was never the case with Christ's sympathy. ' He knew what was in man' (Jn 2-=), and was capable of sym- pathizing in the full meaning of the word, — of entering into the state of the individual for the time being, and of identifying Himself with it. An interesting question arises on account of the persistent mention of the need for faith on the part of the recipient of His acts of compassion, and it has been asked whether mutual sympathy was the medium of tiie miraculous cures. Suffice it to say here that the sympathy of Christ was so tactful and so judicious as to inspire confidence, and with it the faith that was needful on the part of the sutterer to co-operate in the work of relief.

(d) It ivas practical. — Christ did not openly sympathize with the sinner as such on account of the supposed beauty inherent in the sinner's nature, as has been suggested by a recent writer of the aesthetic school (Oscar Wilde, De Profundis, pp. 113-116). He sympathized only with the sinner in whom the germ, at any rate, of repent- ance was present. Compassion would have been wasted upon the Pharisees ; stern treatment was necessary there. They were in the position of a man who suffers from a hidden disease, and must have it revealed to himself before he will co-operate in effecting a cure. Divine sympathy is a remedy which can ojDerate only when the wound is open.

(e) It was free from mere sentiment. — The sym- l^athy of Christ has nothing in common with a type of modern humanitarian sentiment, which is but a parody of the Divine compassion. There is a tendency to prize feeling qua feeling, and to praise and admire its possessor. There is a kind of sympathy which exists only to i)alliate sin, — to excuse it on grounds of environment, antecedents, and other causes. Such sympathy rarely does good, and generally leaves the sinner where it finds him. Christ's sympathy was no such exotic, beautiful to look at, too delicate to use. With Him feeling led to this : ' He went about doing good ' (Ac 10^^). With Him sympathy expressed itself in this : ' grace to help in time of need ' (He 4^").

(/) It was co7isistent with sinlessness. — There is an idea that it is necessary to have experienced a state of mind to be able to enter into it with proper .sympathy, and that it is necessary for us to obtain experimental proof of the power of sin in order to sympathize Avith those who are under its sway. This was not so with Christ. He could sympathize with the sinner, because He knew wiiat it was to be tempted. He had all the natural appetites of mind and body. ' He svfj'ered being tempted ' (He 2^*). Yet He exhibited a sinless nature by a perfect subjugation of the desire to sin to the will to do right. And the sympathy of Christ is valuable in disproving the fallacy that only the guilty can .sympathize with the guilty. 'We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; l>ut m as in all i)oints tempted like as we are, yet without sin' (He 4'^). See, further, art. PiTY.

Literature. — F. W. Robertson, Serm. i. 99 ; A. B. Bruce, Gal. Gospel, 128 ; R. W. Dale, Jew. Temple and Chr. CImrch, 88, Laws of Christ fur Common Life, 123 ; Seeley, Eccc Uomo, chs. xix. XX.; B. Jowett, College Serm. 148; t'xpT y. (1894) 156, X. (1899) 300. T. ALLEN MOXON.

SYNAGOGUE.— 1. The name.— (rt i'a7w7?5 is the Gr. equivalent for the Heb. ncj?, derived from the rare verb djs, of which the radical meaning is ' to gather.' The term means primarily a gather- ing together of any objects or per.sons for any pur- pose, in Scrijiture an assembly of the members of a local community either for the purjiose of worship or for joint action under professedly religious sanction's (Lk 12" 21'-). Thence the word was

690

SYNAGOGUE

applied to the building in which such a meeting was held, and in that sense is of frequent occur- rence in the NT. For a time the term was current amongst Christians as the designation of their meetings or places of meeting ; cf. Ja 2^, He 10^^ (Gr.), and such Patristic notices as Epiphanius, Hcer. XXX. 18, <Tvvay(j}yT}v 5e ourot /caXoOcrt ttjc eavrCov iKKXriffiav Kal ovxl iKKk-nciav. This usage lingered amongst the Ebionites and longer still amongst the Marcionites, but in other quarters a distinction early appeared. Either because of the growing divergence between the two faiths, or because iKK\r](xla was regarded as a better expression of the genius of Christianity with its preference for other than ethnic or racial ideals, the terras ' church ' and ' synagogue ' ceased to be interchangeable. The two senses of each were retained, as an assembly and a place of assembly ; but a strictly Christian or Jewish association was definitely attached to each.

2. Origin and history. — In NT times the institu- tion of the synagogue was popular and widespread, and was believed to date back ' from generations of old ' (Ac 15^^) ; but few materials are available for assistance in the attempt to trace its actual history, and its origin can only be conjectured. Later traditions (e.g. Pal. Targ. on Ex IS'-^", a Mid- rash in Pesikta, ed. Buber, 1296) connect it with the primitive times after the settlement in Canaan. During the exile in Babylon, worship at the Temple necessarily ceased, and the conditions of the Cap- tivity have consequently been regarded as a favour- ite soil for the germs of the institution ( Wellhausen, IJG^ 193). But the purposes served by the syna- gogue make it indispensable that some such insti- tution should have been in existence centuries earlier. The synagogue was a school and a court of local government before it became pre-eminently a place of worship. In ancient times the scattered peoples might go up to the Temple at the festivals, and in the intervals avail themselves of the local sanctuaries ; but as business connexions multi- plied (cf. § 7), the father could no longer be relied upon for the regular instruction of his sons, whilst a centre would have to be found in every village or group of villages for the administration of justice, and for the transaction of the affairs of the community, in subordination to the recognized authority, whether regal or priestly. Hence the germs of the institution are to be sought far back in the exigencies that arose as civilization became more complex ; and the Exile marks not the first stage in the origin of the synagogue, but an im- portant modification of its functions, worship be- coming thenceforward the principal though far from the sole occupation, and the administrative functions falling for a time into abeyance. After the Temple was rebuilt, popular usage may well be conceived as temporarily reverting to the pre- vious practice ; hence the silence of the later part of the OT, Ps 74* (though Briggs in loc. substitutes ' festivals ' for ' synagogues,' whilst retaining the latter term in his lexicon, cf. Oxf. Heb. Lex. s.v. lyin) containing the only explicit reference. In the OT Apocr. the silence is even more complete ; and the post-Maccabtean revival of the strong accentuation upon the religious side of the functions of the synagogue was contem- poraneous with the revival of interest in the study of the Law at the close of the bitter struggle for national independence.