3. During the Exile, in the abeyance of the Temple worship, the meetings of devout Jews probably became more systematic (Vitringa, De Symif/. p. 413-429 ; Jost, Judenthum, i, 168; Bornitius, iJe Syiuigog. in Ugolino, Thesaur. xxi), and must have helped forward the change which appears so cons]5icuousIy at the time of the Return. The repeated mention of gatherings of the elders of Israel, sitting before the prophet Ezekiel and hearing his word (Ezek. viii, 1 ; xiv, 1 ; xx, 1; xxxiii, 31), imphes the transfer to the land of the Captivity of the custom that had originated in the schools of the prophets. One remarkable passage may possibly con- tain a more distinct reference to them. Those who still remained in Jerusalem taunted the prophet and his companions with their exile, as outcasts from the bless- ings of the sanctuary. "Get ye far from the Lord; unto us is this land given in a possession." The proph-
et's answer is that it was not so. Jehovah was as truly with them in tlieir "little sanctuary" as he li.id been in the Temple at Jerusalem. His presence, not tlic outward glory, was itself the sanctuary (xi, 15, 1(5). The whole history of Ezra presupposes the habit of sol- emn, probably of periodic, meetings (Ezra viii, 15 ; Neh. viii, 2; ix, 1; Zech. vii, 5), To that period, accord- ingly, we may attribute the revival, if not the institu- tion, of synagogues, or at least of the systematic meet- ings on fasts for devotion and instruction (Zech. viii, 19). Keligious meetings were also held on Sabbaths and fasts to instruct the exiles in the divine law, and to admonish them to obey the divine precepts (Ezra x, 1- 9; Neh. viii, 1, 3; ix, 1-3; xiii, 1-3), These meetings, held near the Temple and in other localities, were the origin of the synagogue, and the place in which the people assembled was denominated nODsn H'^a, the house of assemblij ; hence, also, the synagogue in the Temple itself. The elders of this synagogue handed the law to the high-priest (Mishna, Yoma, vii, 1 ; Sotah, vii, 7, 8), aided in the sacrifices (Tamid, v, 5), took charge of the palms used at the Feast of Tabernacles (SiiUcah, iv, 4), accompanied the pilgrims wlio brought their first-fruits {Tosiphta Bikkuriin, ii), ofhciated as judges (^Makkoth, iii, 12), and superintended the infant- schools (^Sabbath, i, 3). Assuming Ewald's theory as to the date and occasion of Psa. Ixxiv, there must, at some subsequent period, have been a great destruction of the buildings, and a consequent suspension of the services. It is, at any rate, striking that they are not in any way prominent in the Maccab.ean historj', either as objects of attack or rallying-points of defence, unless we are to see in the gathering of tiie persecuted Jews at Maspha (Mizpali), as at a "place where they praj'ed aforetime in Israel" (1 Mace, iii, 40), not only a remi- niscence of its old glory as a holy place, but the contin- uance of a more recent custom. VVHien that struggle was over, there appears to have been a freer develop- ment of what may be called the synagogue parochial system among the Jew^s of Palestine and other coun- tries. The influence of John liyrcanus, the growing power of the Pharisees, the authority of the Scribes, the example, probably, of the Jews of the " dispersion" (Vi- tringa, De Synar/. p. 426), would all tend in the same di- rection. Well-nigh every town or village had its one or more synagogues. Where the Jews were not in suf- ficient numbers to be able to erect and till a building, there was the Trpoatvxih o"" piace of praj'er, sometimes open, sometimes cov^ered in, commonly by a running stream or on the sea-shore, in which devout Jews and proselytes met to worship, and, perhaps, to read (Acts xvi, 13; Josephus, Ant. xiv, 10, 23; Juvenal, Sat. iii, 290). Sometimes the term -n-pofftuxn ( — "^^S^ ^"^5) was applied even to an actual synagogue (Josephus, Life, § 54). Eventually we find the Jews possessing synagogues in the different cities of Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt, and wherever they resided. We hear of the apostles frequenting the synagogues in Damas- cus, Antioch, Iconium, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, etc. (Acts ix, 2, 20 ; xiii, 14 ; xiv, 1 ; xvii, 1, 10, 17; xviii, 4, 19; xix, 8). There were nu- merous synagogues in Palestine : in Nazareth (Matt, xiii, 54, IMark vi, 2; Luke iv, 16), Capernaum (Matt, xii, 9; Mark i, 21; Luke vii, 5; John vi, 59), etc. ; and in Jerusalem alone there were 480 (Jerusalem Mer/illah, iii, 1 ; Jerusalem Kethuboth, xiii) to accommodate the Jews from foreign lands who visited the Temple. There were synagogues of the Libertines, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, Cilicians, and of the Asiatics (Acts vi, 9; comp. ToKiphta Me;/ill(ih,\\; Babylon Mef/il/iih, 2G a). When it is remembered that more than 2,500,000 Jews came together to the metropolis from all countries to celebrate the Passover (Josephus, A nt. vi, 9, 3 ; Pe- sachim, 64 a), this number of synagogues in Jerusalem will not appear at all exaggerated. An idea may be formed of the large number of Jews at the time of
SYNAGOGUE
73
SYNAGOGUE
Christ, when it is borne in mind that in Ecjypt alone, from the Mediterranean to the border of Ethiopia, there resided nearly a million of Jews (Pliilo, Aijaiitft Flac- cus, ii, 523) ; and that in Syria, especially in the me- tropolis, Antioch, the Jews constituted a large portion of the population (Griitz [2d ed.], iii, 282),