Chapter 4. The Ruler of the Synagogue.
BEFORE speaking of the Ruler of the Synagogue, let us consider the synagogue itself a little.
It makes this more interesting when we remember how many times our Lord taught in the very synagogues I am going to tell you of. Again and again in the story of His life, we read of His teaching, and in some cases doing miracles in the synagogue. Every town possessed its synagogue, a square or round building placed if possible on a hill, or in some central place.
The inside of the building was arranged in a somewhat similar manner to the tabernacle, that is to say, it had three parts, answering to the court, the holy place, and the most holy. In the first division sat the people, the men and women divided from one another by a wooden partition. In the second part was a raised platform, and a pulpit of wood upon it, and the third part was taken up by a chest or ark as it was called, containing the rolls on which was written the law; a veil hung in front of this, and the lid of the chest was called the “mercy seat.” In this building the people of the town would assemble on the Sabbath days, and there was also service on market days, so that the country people might have the opportunity to attend.
They began the service with two short prayers, one of which I will give you a copy of, that you may have some idea what the Lord heard, and probably repeated when as a boy He went to the synagogue of Nazareth. This is the prayer. “With great love hast Thou loved us, O Lord our God, and with much overflowing pity hast Thou pitied us, our Father and our King. For the sake of our fathers who trusted in Thee, and Thou taughtest them the statutes of life, have mercy upon us, and teach us. Enlighten our eyes in Thy law; cause our hearts to cleave to Thy commandments; unite our hearts to love and fear Thy name, and we shall not be put to shame, world without end. For Thou art a God Who preparest salvation, and us hast Thou chosen, from among all nations and tongues, and hast in truth brought us near to Thy great name, that we may lovingly praise Thee and Thy Oneness. Blessed be the Lord Who in love chose His people Israel.”
And all the time they were speaking of God’s salvation, the very One who was offering them salvation was in their midst, and they would not have Him. Does not this speak to us too, who are perhaps asking God to have pity upon us and save us, when all the time the wonderful work of redemption has been accomplished, and God is offering eternal life, and forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ to all who will receive it.
But we must return to the synagogue and its service; after these short prayers had been offered, the “Shema” was repeated. This consisted of three short portions taken from the books of Num. and Deut. (Deut. 6:4-94Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: 5And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4‑9), Deut. 11:13-2113And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. 15And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. 16Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you. 18Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 21That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:13‑21), Num. 15:37-4137And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 38Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: 39And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: 40That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. 41I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God. (Numbers 15:37‑41).) The prayers and “Shema” were repeated aloud by one man, chosen by the Ruler of the synagogue, and he also called upon someone in the congregation, to read a portion from the law; and another portion from the prophets. They stood up to read, but sat down when about to preach. We see this in Luke 4, where our Lord read to the people a passage from the prophet Isa. and then sitting down, he preached such a wonderful sermon, that all “wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.”
We hear a number of times of the Rulers of the synagogue, in the Gospels. They were men well thought of, and learned in the law, and were appointed to their post by the laying on of the hands of at least three, who had themselves received “ordination.” If we look at Acts, 13:15, we shall see that Paul and his companion, Barnabas, when in the Gentile city of Antioch, went into the synagogue, and there after the reading of the law and the prophets, the Ruler of the synagogue asked them to preach to the people, which they did with such power, that the following Sabbath “Almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.” We may learn several things from this passage if we look at it carefully. First, that synagogues were not only to be found in the land of the Jews but were established all over the known world, wherever Jews could be found. If there were too few Jews in a city or town to build a synagogue, they chose a place by a river or stream, where they could get together for prayer, as we see in the city of Philippi. (Acts 16:1313And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. (Acts 16:13).) Secondly, we see that the office of the Ruler of the synagogue was to arrange who should speak, or preach, or in any manner lead the service. Thirdly, we may notice that the service was held upon the Sabbath day.
Before we leave off talking about the Rulers of the synagogue, we must look for a moment at the power which these men had. They could turn persons out of the synagogue, as was done to the man in John 9 who being healed of his blindness, confessed that Jesus was the Christ. They also had power to scourge and imprison, as we learn from the words of the Lord Jesus in Matt. 10:1717But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; (Matthew 10:17) and Luke 21:1212But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. (Luke 21:12); and in Acts 9 we find Paul getting letters from the High Priest to the synagogues, that through their power he might cruelly persecute the Church of God. Now we must leave the subject of the synagogue and its Rulers, just reminding you first that Jairus, whose only little daughter Jesus raised from the dead, is spoken of as a “Ruler of the synagogue.” (Luke 8:4141And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: (Luke 8:41).)
ML 07/28/1912