Qehal: Synagogue / Church

Blow a shofar in Zion, . . . proclaim a solemn assembly,

. . . sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders - Joel 2:15-16

"In the midst of the congregation I will praise Thee." - Psalm 22:22

TIMELINE                       OFFICERS                       SERVICES

Timeline of the Church

AM stands for Anno Mundi, Year of the World.

Beginning with Adam, God established the priesthood with the firstborn male. A priests responsibility was to lead others in the ways of God. The office could be lost to someone else as a result of sin; we find this situation with Esau – Jacob, with Ham – Shem, and with Reuben – Levi.

About the year AM 1656, the great flood enveloped the earth. Noah held the priesthood of the firstborn.

About the year AM 1948, at the time of Pentecost, seventy families of descent from Noah were dispersed from Babel, to form seventy nations with different languages. Noah’s son Shem held the priesthood, Ham having lost the position through sin.

Abraham was forty-eight years old at the dispersion: God called him a Hebrew – “from the other side.” He spoke the language from the other side – Hebrew. He paid tithes to his priest, Shem, who was a malchi tzedek (Genesis 14:18) – a ruler of righteousness.

Five-hundred years later, about the year AM 2448, at the time of Pentecost, Yahweh gave His gracious instruction – Torah, at Mt. Sinai. A mixed multitude, millions of people from the seventy nations, heard God’s words in their own languages. God called this group His Qehal / Church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38). He then took the Levites, instead of the firstborn, to be the priests (Numbers 3:12). The Tabernacle was established as the “Tent of Meeting,” and a seder / order for services was given.

The Hebrew qehal is translated variously in the Greek Septuagint as sunagoge and ekklesia. These Greek terms are subsequently translated in English Bible versions as synagogue, church, assembly, congregation, etc. The perceived distinction between the terms synagogue and church is due only to centuries of polarization of Jews and Christians. These ancient paths have been largely lost on Christendom today, partly through interpreting the Apostolic Scriptures without their Biblical foundations – ignoring Torah.

About the end of that third millennium, the Temple was constructed. Further instruction for the  sederim / order for services was given through David. Synagogues served as extensions of the Temple for people of distant cities. The offices of the qehal / synagogue were formalized.

The Temple (Beit HaMikdosh - lit. House of the Holy One) is the appointed place for man to meet God. It was the center for the festivals and sacrifices. It was the center for interpretation and teaching of the Torah (The place of the Sanhedrin). It was the place of origin for prophecy ("Her prophets" - Jer 8:1, 29:15-20, Zech 8:8-9, Acts 11:27, I John 4:1)

The Synagogue (Beit HaKenesset) is called a little sanctuary (Ezek 11:16). It functions as a local extension of the Temple. We are commanded to build a sanctuary for God (Exodus 25:8). This is interpreted as a literal, physical building as well as a spiritual place in one's heart. Psalm 74:8 refers to "synagogues (qehal) of appointed-places-of-God in the land."

The offices are described in the next section below.

About a thousand years later, Yeshua came in fulfillment of the Messianic promise. At the time of Pentecost, Yahweh gave His gracious instruction – the gospel, at Jerusalem. Through the writings of His apostles, the offices of the qehal / church are confirmed. Yeshua said that He would “build up” His ancient church, and it would never die out (Matt 16:18). Gentiles who are of the faith of Abraham are graffed into that church.

As the world’s people were dispersed from Babel, so the church was dispersed from Jerusalem. As people of all nations followed the God of Moses, now people from all nations would follow the same God of Yeshua.  

It has been almost two-thousand years, and we are nearing the end of the sixth millennium.

For the Sabbath Millennium, the qehal / church will be purified. The Levitical priesthood will be affirmed to function under the High Priest (Ezek 45:45). Yeshua will be High Priest after the order of malchi tzedek: the One called “First” (Rev 22:13) will hold the priesthood of the firstborn (Heb 6:20).

Structure of the Church

The historical offices of the ancient qehal / synagogue are recorded in Talmud: Megillah 1, Tephillah 11, & Sanhedrin 4. They were affirmed in order by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:11.

For a town to have a synagogue, it required ten men called Batlanin – men of leisure. These were not lazy men, but unencumbered with worldly things, learned men who were studious of Torah, who were at leisure to take care of the affairs of the synagogue. They were required to be above reproach, not seeking office for monetary gain or pride (Titus 1:6-9). These men were chosen from elders, not to be elders (Titus 1:5). While the rule was for men to fill these offices, some were held by women (e.g. deaconess in Romans 16:1).

For a person to use one of these positions, or otherwise use a service of God’s Word, in order to earn money, is known as “using the Torah as a shovel:” it is contrary to Ethics of the Fathers. From an opposite perspective, those who are served should share earthly needs with those who serve (Galatians 6:6). The difference is largely the intent of the heart.

When a town thus established a synagogue, it was then considered a city. In Israel, this synagogue was also the City Hall – the civil was also sacred. The church was the seat of city government, and the Temple was the seat of national government.

Though in some circumstances meeting places were large homes (e.g. Philemon 1:2), that did not change the requirements. A smaller congregation, with less offices and functions, was called a Beit Midrash – a House of (Bible) Study.

The Messenger was the officer who took messages from the Holy Temple to the congregation (See Revelation 2:1,8,12,18, 3:1,7,14), including Sabbath Scripture readings, and halachic rulings from the Sanhedrin (Supreme Court) to the Synagogue judges This office only fully functioned when there was a Temple in Jerusalem (for about 1,000 years). He was called an overseer (Acts 20:28; Titus 1:7), because watched over the shoulder of the message readers on Sabbath, correcting any misreading.

Qualifications:
Mastery of Hebrew language and Torah cantillation (trup), hence called a Cantor (Hazzan).
Mastery of Hebrew blessings (required for readings), hence called Master of Prayer (Baal Tefilah). Other qualifications are found in Shulhan Arukh and 1 Timothy 3:1-10.

Yeshua was the antitype of the Temple, and He chose twelve apostles to take His messages to the congregations; to qualify as apostles, they had to be witnesses in the flesh (Acts 1:21-22); the final twelve will sit in judgment of Israel (Matt 19:28), and their names will be on the twelve foundations of the Holy City (Rev 21:14). These Apostles were sent-out-ones from the Living Temple on earth.

This officer interpreted the Hebrew Scriptures and messages from the Angel of the Church (above) into the languages of the congregants – the language of angels to the languages of men. He also interpreted blessings – which were always recited first in “prayer language” – Hebrew.

A prophet is one who “forthtells” – interprets, expounds, or shows application of Torah. This synagogue office is not the same as an anointed “Prophet of Jerusalem,” such as Elijah.

There was a “bench of three” judges – called the Beit Din / house of judgment. These elohim / judges made halachic rulings, and thus were referred to as rulers – not in the sense of lords. They made judgment rulings concerning how people should walk (halach) to fulfill Torah, explaining how Torah applied to their unique situations. They also judged smaller civil and criminal matters (See 1 Cor 5:12-6:5, Mark 5:22). Higher matters went before a district court of 21, and the highest matters before the Sanhedrin – the court of 71 (Deut 17:8).

These were also called evangelists, since they brought the good news of God’s Torah way to the people. Yeshua is the Living Torah – the Way.

These were not the preachers or controllers of the church, but literally “fed the sheep”. In Scripture, no one is ever called “the pastor of a church.” The term is always plural. Two collected alms and one made determinations of who was really needy to receive them. Giving to the needy in this manner is preferred, so that donor and recipient are anonymous, saving the recipient embarrassment. It also eases the donor’s burden of judging true need.

The primary responsibility, in Temple times, was to train boys to be responsible Torah observant adults – i.e., for bar mitzvah. The boys were expected to grow up to be the spiritual leaders of their families.

When a man fails in his family spiritual obligations, it is certainly good for a woman to make up for it.

Sederim / Order of Services

The sacred assembly, the synagogue / church service, is a fundamental requirement for the weekly Sabbaths and the seven Holy Days (Leviticus 23).

The Temple or a synagogue building is called a house of prayer – “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people” (Isaiah 56:7; Matthew 12:13); it is a dedicated sanctuary. There is a Biblical order for services, the synagogue services being patterned after the Temple services (not including animal offerings). The entire sacred service is a prayer service: that is why a siddur (program book) is called a prayer book. The communal blessings, petitions, songs, Scripture readings and expositions are all done in order (1 Corinthians 14:40), the whole for blessing and seeking God.

God did not leave it up to individuals to make independent determinations of what the general service order should be. He required it to be after the patterns He showed Moses and David.

Songs of Ascent, Psalms 120-134, are for singing on the way up to services.

Until the last couple of centuries, the inspired Psalms were sung almost exclusively within services. Certain Psalms were designed for particular times: Psalm 92 is specifically a “Psalm for the Sabbath”, and Hallel – Psalms 113-118, was sung at each of the Feasts. Congregants were free to choose other Psalms (1 Cor 14:26).

Corporate blessings are fixed, in contrast to personal prayer outside of services. That is, there are specific blessings recited before and after various portions of the service. The most extensive are prior to and following Scripture readings.

The synagogue of the Second Temple era had an established Scripture reading cycle. Based on reading the Torah in three years, a seder was read each week. A portion of the prophets, dealing with the same subject, was also read. A Psalm, chosen in numerical order, also related to the Torah subject each week. [We have added an Apostolic portion relating to each week's Torah reading.] The common subject of the readings was expounded. The cycle started on the first Sabbath of Nisan, and the subjects coincided in date with major events, such as Feasts. [During the past millennium, Jewry has mostly replaced this with an annual cycle starting a half-year later.]

Congregants could offer explanations or insights to the readings (1 Cor 14:26). Yeshua did this (Luke 4:15-29).

A detailed Sabbath order may be found in our Siddur at www.messianic.ws/PDFfiles/Siddur.pdf .

See Commentary Y3-15

See Temple Torah Cycle.

See Psalms for Worship.

Matthew 23   From Triennial Commentary Y3-15

The scribes (those who wrote copies of the Scriptures) and Pharisees (the strictest religious sect) were among the judges of the Sanhedrin – the God-established judgment seat of Moses. Therefore, Yeshua instructed that they should be obeyed (v.3), as they spoke for God. But, they were not worthy to be followed in their actions, because they were hypocrites, not acting according to their own words. They made rulings that were difficult to obey (perhaps for the share of sin-offerings that they might receive), but would not act to help those in need of justice. In other words, they were not passionate for God’s people’s prosperity, but for their own riches 

Furthermore, they sought their own glory, rather than God’s. They performed mitzvot (instructions of Torah) with wrong motives – to be seen of men: they wore showy tzitzit (tassels), and enlarged tefillin (boxes with Scriptures inside, worn of forehead and arm). They took the seats in the Synagogues that were for important persons, and loved to be recognized as “Rav” (Teacher) or spiritual “Father”.

Yeshua teaches that we should not seek recognition by titles (such as Rabbi, Pastor, or Father), but that we should be servants – caring for the prosperity of others, seeking the elevation of others!

The devolution of “Rabbi”:

Rabbi comes from rav, which means great. It originally applied to a master – a slaveholder. It is not used in the Tanach. Talmudically, rabbi refers to one who was an interpreter and expounder of Torah and Talmud, and was supported by another occupation. The office of rabbi was originally honorary, based on the principle that the Torah must be taught free of charge. Our subject usage came into being during the generation after Hillel’s time, and was condemned to by Yeshua. In the middle ages, rabbi became a (further corrupted) term for one who was employed as a preacher / spiritual head of a Jewish congregation. The modern halachic basis for paying a rabbi is compensation for lost wages in his otherwise profession; however, today rabbinic salaries are commonly negotiated contracts. Proven and tested knowledge is required, as well as integrity and excellence in character and conduct, according to the Jerusalem Encyclopaedia Judaica.

To be recognized as a rabbi today, one must be knowledgeable in the Hebrew language, in Torah and Talmud, and in Blessings and ceremonial ritual. In “Messianic” circles today, we have many who take on themselves the title “Rabbi,” without even basic knowledge in these things. They tend to make a laughingstock of Messianism in general, so that we are not taken seriously by the Jewish population.

So, those who take on the title violate Yeshua’s words, and those who take it without even the normal basis of character and knowledge make laughingstocks of themselves and those they claim to lead.

Pastor is from the Latin Pascere – to feed (pasture), as a shepherd. In the NASB and KJV-NT Bibles, the term is used only once, in its plural form, in Ephesians 4:11. It does not even seem to mean the head of a church. It does not mean the same as overseer.

© 2007  Beikvot HaMashiach
(Followers of the Messiah)

The Worship Texts of the Synagogue / Church

The synagogue of the Second Temple era had an established Scripture reading cycle. Based on covering the Torah in three years, a parasha was read each week. A portion of the prophets, dealing with the same subject, was also read. The Psalms, being read in numerical order, also related to the Torah subject each week. The following chart also suggests an Apostolic portion relating to each week's Torah reading. The common subject of the readings was expounded. The cycle started on the first Sabbath of Nisan, and the subjects coincided in date with major events, such as festivals. See Temple Torah Cycle.

Other Psalms were sung each Sabbath, inspired Psalms being the only songs used in public worship services.

See Psalms for Worship.

© 2003  Beikvot HaMashiach
(Followers of the Messiah)