Part 13 (1/2)
[Footnote 7: Luke iv 29 Probably the rock referred to here is the peak which is very near Nazareth, above the present church of the Maronites, and not the pretended _Mount of Precipitation_, at an hour's journey fro]
This check far froed him He returned to Capernaum,[1]
where he met with a anized a series oftowns The people of this beautiful and fertile country were scarcely ever assembled except on Saturday This was the day which he chose for his teaching At that ti This was a rectangular room, rather small, with a portico, decorated in the Greek style The Jews not having any architecture of their own, never cared to give these edifices an original style The reues still exist in Galilee[2] They are all constructed of large and good materials; but their style is somewhat paltry, in consequence of the profusion of floral ornae, and twisted work, which characterize the Jewish buildings[3]
In the interior there were seats, a chair for public reading, and a closet to contain the sacred rolls[4] These edifices, which had nothing of the character of a temple, were the centre of the whole Jewish life There the people asse of the law and the prophets As Judaisy, the first coave the lessons of the day (_parasha_ and _haphtara_), and added thereto a _midrash_, or entirely personal commentary, in which he expressed his own ideas[5] This was the origin of the ”homily,” the finished model of which we find in the s objections and putting questions to the reader; so that the enerated into a kind of free assembly It had a president,[6] ”elders,”[7] a _hazzan_, _ie_, a recognized reader, or apparitor,[8] deputies,[9] ere secretaries or ogue and another, a _shaues were thus really little independent republics, having an extensive jurisdiction Like all municipal corporations, up to an advanced period of the Roman empire, they issued honorary decrees,[11] voted resolutions, which had the force of law for the community, and ordained corporal punishments, of which the _hazzan_ was the ordinary executor[12]
[Footnote 1: Matt iv 13; Luke iv 31]
[Footnote 2: At Tell-Houm, Irbid (Arbela), Meiron (Mero), Jisch (Giscala), Kasyoun, Nabartein, and two at Kefr-Bereie of those buildings, nor consequently affirreat would be the interest attaching to the synagogue of Tell-Houue of Kefr-Bereim seems to me the most ancient of all Its style is moderately pure That of Kasyoun bears a Greek inscription of the tireat importance which Judaism acquired in Upper Galilee after the Roman war, leads us to believe that several of these edifices only date back to the third century--a time in which Tiberias became a sort of capital of Judaism]
[Footnote 4: 2 _Esdras_ viii 4; Matt xxiii 6; Epist Jailla_, iii 1; _Rosh Hasshana_, iv 7, etc See especially the curious description of the synagogue of Alexandria in the Talmud of Babylon, _Sukka_, 51 _b_]
[Footnote 5: Philo, quoted in Eusebius, _Praep Evang_, viii 7, and _Quod Omnis Probus Liber_, -- 12; Luke iv 16; _Acts_ xiii 15, xv 21; Mishnah, _Megilla_, iii 4, and following]
[Footnote 6: [Greek: Archisunagogos]]
[Footnote 7: [Greek: Presbyteroi]]
[Footnote 8: [Greek: Huperetes]]
[Footnote 9: [Greek: Apostoloi], or [Greek: angeloi]]
[Footnote 10: [Greek: Diakonos] Mark v 22, 35, and following; Luke iv 20, vii 3, viii 41, 49, xiii 14; _Acts_ xiii 15, xviii 8, 17; _Rev_ ii 1; Mishnah, _Joma_, vii 1; _Rosh Hasshana_, iv 9; Talm
of Jerus, _Sanhedrim_, i 7; Epiph, _Adv Haer_, xxx 4, 11]
[Footnote 11: Inscription of Berenice, in the _Corpus Inscr Graec_, No 5361; inscription of Kasyoun, in the _Mission de Phenicie_, book iv [in the press]]
[Footnote 12: Matt v 25, x 17, xxiii 34; Mark xiii 9; Luke xx
11, xxi 12; _Acts_ xxii 19, xxvi 11; 2 _Cor_ xi 24; Mishnah, _Maccoth_, iii 12; Talilla_, 7 _b;_ Epiph, _Adv
Haer_, xxx 11]
With the extreme activity of mind which has always characterized the Jews, such an institution, notwithstanding the arbitrary rigors it tolerated, could not fail to give rise to very aniues, Judaishteen centuries of persecution They were like so many little separate worlds, in which the national spirit was preserved, and which offered a ready field for intestine struggles A large amount of passion was expended there The quarrels for precedence were of constant occurrence To have a seat of honor in the first rank was the reward of great piety, or the e of wealth[1] On the other hand, the liberty, accorded to every one, of instituting himself reader and commentator of the sacred text, afforded ation of new ideas This was one of the great instruments of poielded by Jesus, and the most habitual means he employed to propound his doctrinal instruction[2] He entered the synagogue, and stood up to read; the _hazzan_ offered hi the _parasha_ or the _haphtara_ of the day, he drew fro a lesson in conformity with his own ideas[3] As there were few Pharisees in Galilee, the discussion did not assuainst him, which at Jerusaleood Galileans had never heard discourses so adapted to their cheerful ied him, they found that he spoke well, and that his reasons were convincing He answered the most difficult objections with confidence; the charm of his speech and his person captivated the people, whose simple minds had not yet been cramped by the pedantry of the doctors
[Footnote 1: Matt xxiii 6; Epist James ii 3; Talmud of Bab, _Sukka_, 51 _b_]
[Footnote 2: Matt iv 23, ix 35; Mark i 21, 39, vi 2; Luke iv 15, 16, 31, 44, xiii 10; John xviii 20]
[Footnote 3: Luke iv 16, and following Comp Mishnah, _Joma_, vii
1]
[Footnote 4: Matt vii 28, xiii 54; Mark i 22, vi 1; Luke iv 22, 32]