[2057] Jer. Shabb. xvii. p. 16 a.
[2058] The remark in the Speaker's Commentary' (St. Luke iv. 16), that Jesus had been in the habit of expounding the Scriptures in Nazareth, is not only groundless, but inconsistent with the narrative. See ver. 22. Still more strange is the supposition, that Jesus offered to read and to expound, and signified this intention by standing up. This might be done by any member of the congregation.' Most assuredly such would not be the case.
[2059] This seems at first sight inconsistent with Ps. lxxiv.8. But the term rendered Synagogues' in the A. V. has never been used in that sense. The solution of the difficulty here comes to us through the LXX. Their rendering, katapasomen (let us make to cease), shows that in their Hebrew MSS. they read {hebrew}. If so, then the {hebrew} probably belonged to the next word, and the text would read: {hebrew}. Let us suppress altogether - the Sabbath and all the festive seasons in the land.' Comp. Ehrt, Abfass. Zeit. u. Abschl. d. Psalt. pp. 17-19.
[2060] The introduction of morning, midday, and afternoon prayers is respectively ascribed to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. The Targum of Onkelos and the Targum Ps., Jon. on Gen. xxv. 27 imply their existence in the time of Jacob. In B. Kama 82 a, and Jer. Megill. 75 a, its services are traced to the time of Moses. According to Sanh. 94 b, Synagogues existed in the time of Hezekiah. It is needless to follow the subject further. We take the present opportunity of adding, that, as the Rabbinic quotations in this chapter would be so numerous, only those will be given which refer to points hitherto unnoticed, or of special importance.
[2061] The expressions Targum' and targuming' have been previously explained. The first indication of such paraphrasing in the vernacular is found in Neh. viii. 7, 8.
[2062] Baba K. 82 a.
[2063] See Book I. pp. 19, 77.
[2064] These numbers, however, seem to have been symbolical. The number 480 is, by Gimatreya, deduced from the word She that was full of' (meleathi) in Is. i. 21. Comp. Yalkut, vol. ii. p. 40 d, towards the end, or else 480 = 4 x 10 x 12.
[2065] Comp. Megill. 26.
[2066] St. Luke vii. 5.
[2067] Maimonides, Hilc. Tephill, xi 1.
[2068] Comp. Philem. 2.
[2069] See the notes in Maimonides, Hilc. Tephill. xi. 2; p. 75 b.
[2070] Shabb. 11 a.
[2071] Tos. Meg. ed. Z iv. 23.
[2072] Maimonides, Hilc. Tephill. xi. 2.
[2073] Comp. Lieut. Kitchener's article on the Synagogues of Galilee (P.E.F. Report, July 1878, pp. 126 &c.). The inference, that they date from the beginning of the third century, when the Jews were in high favour with the Emperor Alexander Severus, is all the more ungrounded, that at that time, if ever, the Jewish authorities would strictly adhere to Talmudic directions as to the structure of Synagogues.
[2074] From battel,' which here seems to have the same meaning as the Latin vacare rei, to have leisure for a thing.
[2075] This is expressly stated in Jer. Megill. i. 6, p. 70 b, towards the end.
[2076] Comp. Megill. iv. 3; Sanh. i. 6. That ten constituted a congregation was derived from Numb. xiv. 27. Similarly, it was thought to be implied in the fact, that if ten righteous men had been in Sodom, the city would not have been destroyed. But in case of necessity the number ten might be made up by a male child under age (Ber. R. 91, pp. 160 a and b).
[2077] Comp. Jer. Ber. iv. 5; Baba B. 25 a.
[2078] Tos. Megill. iii. 3.
[2079] Baba B. 25 a and b; Jer. Ber. iv. 5.
[2080] On the next page we give a plan of the Synagogue excavated at Tell Hum (Capernaum). It is adapted from Capt. Wilson's plan in the P. E. F. Quarterly Statement, No. 2.