Radically Christian Cafe: The Synagogue

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The Synagogue

Daniel Silliman

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Dear Saints~

<< Some interesting dialogue concerning Judaism and the synagogue. it seems like many church traditions come from the Jewish synagogue. >>

To some extent this is a good thing, in that some things from the Jewish culture are inspired by God (though by no means all ~ I believe we can discern the difference between biblical and extra-biblical here). For example it was a Jewish custom to read the law to an assembly, in the NT HC we see this being done with the Epistles and later the Gospels. The fact that something comes from the Jewish Synagogue and/or tradition neither condemns or justifies a pattern that we hold. Some things were inspired by God (e.g. the priesthood, the sacrifice, both of which carry symbolism important to understanding the NT and the church {"Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world", "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people"})

<< The synagogue system had its downside. it was a competitor to the temple,
which was established in the OT. Through the synagogue, the
rabbinical system took hold in Judaism. It is my understanding that the Synagogue allowed the religion of the Pharisees to become the religion of the Jews.>>

I grabbed some history books to look this up and you're right. But it is also the system that preserved the Jews through a lot of persecution, preserved their history and thus their national identity. It was beneficial in preserving Judaism for those who were scatted out of reach of the temple and to all Jews after its destruction in 70 A.D.

From the Jew's point of view this was a godsend, but for us as Christians this not the ideal system or structure. Only at the source of the river does the water run pure. The synagogue is very down river and therefore muddied by a lot of extra-biblical tradition, men's authority, and brilliant ideas. We desire a pure church, thus we must attempt to return to the source, the foundation of Christ and the Apostles and the New Testament picture.

I guess that's the long way of saying: Amen, we gained a lot of unwanted baggage from the Jewish institutional synagogue.

Daniel Silliman
Springville, CA
faithfulsons(AT)juno.com

Ben

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The Synagogue was historially acknowledged to have been birthed during the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, however, a little research will show that the Synagogue was in fact the very institution known as the "High Place", the Old Testment prophets were fighting (unsuccessfully) in Israel. The last stand of Biblical orthodoxy against the Synagogue system was under Josiah who attempted to have them all destroyed, but was killed and the Jews were carried into captivity. The founders of the Synagogue wrote in the Talmud that the Synagogue was to be built on the highest point in a town or village, failing this it had to have a "pole" or "steeple" [Latin word for "tower"] attached to it to make it the highest point. In the New Testament, it was called "the Synagogue of Satan". Church theologians claim this title was simply due to the fact that the Synagogue rejected Christ. But the record in the New Testament contradicts this. There were Jewish leaders (rulers) of the Synagogue who converted to Christianity and withdrew their role from the synagogue to return to the biblical practice of keeping the Jewish faith in the home, keeping the example of Abraham and the partiarchs and commanded under the Mosaic law in the festivals and Passover. Only ONE temple in all of Israel was permitted in the Mosaic law and it had to be built in Jerusalem. The Synagogue was considered a local "temple" and as such it was in direct vilation of Jewish law. Later, during Constantine, a law was passed that the synagogue could no longer be the highest point in the city, it had to be the new Christian temples (viola, "steeples") and to this day, most synagogues no longer have steeples on them.

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