Congregation
(Heb. kahal), the Hebrew people collectively as a holy community (Num 15:15). Every circumcised Hebrew from twenty years old and upward was a member of the congregation. Strangers resident in the land, if circumcised, were, with certain exceptions (Ex 12:19; Num 9:14; Deut 23:1–3), admitted to the privileges of citizenship, and spoken of as members of the congregation (Ex 12:19; Num 9:14; Num 15:15). The congregation were summonded together by the sound of two silver trumpets, and they met at the door of the tabernacle (Num 10:3). These assemblies were convened for the purpose of engaging in solemn religious services (Ex 12:27; Num 25:6; Joel 2:15), or of receiving new commandments (Ex 19:7, Ex 19:8). The elders, who were summonded by the sound of one trumpet (Num 10:4), represented on various occasions the whole congregation (Ex 3:16; Ex 12:21; Ex 17:5; Ex 24:1).
After the conquest of Canaan, the people were assembled only on occasions of the highest national importance (Judg 20:1–48; 2 Chr 30:5; 2 Chr 34:29; 1 Sam 10:17; 2 Sam 5:1–5; 1 Kgs 12:20; 2 Kgs 11:19; 2 Kgs 21:24; 2 Kgs 23:30). In subsequent times the congregation was represented by the Sanhedrim; and the name synagogue, applied in the Septuagint version exclusively to the congregation, came to be used to denote the places of worship established by the Jews. (See Church.)
In Acts 13:43, where alone it occurs in the New Testament, it is the same word as that rendered “synagogue” (q.v.) in ver. 42, and is so rendered in ver. 43 in R.V.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
