SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/30/2021 9:29 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Works of
the Lord “Teaching”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 9:35
Message of the
verses: “35
Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their
synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of
disease and every kind of sickness.”
We have been talking about the
history of the Jewish synagogues and how they got started, how they functioned,
and how it is believed that one of the functions of the synagogue was to have
visiting Rabbis come into the synagogue in order to speak, which is exactly
what Jesus did and later on Paul also did.
We mentioned in our last SD that prayer
was the first part of the service, and after prayer was given in the synagogue
service, a designated reader would stand up and read from the law of Moses,
which of course is the first five books of the Bible entitled “The Pentateuch.” In our Lord’s day the passage was read in
Hebrew and then translated into Aramaic which was the common speech of that
day. (“They read from the book, from the
law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading”
Neh. 8:8). This would be followed by the
reading, translation, and exposition of a passage that came from the
prophets. John MacArthur quotes the
Jewish scholar Philo, who lived in Alexandria during the time of Christ: “Synagogues are mainly for the detailed
reading and exposition of Scripture.”
We
spoke about having visiting Rabbis speak and also read the Scriptures and this
happened to Jesus in His hometown, and as you may remember it did not go well
with Him as after reading from the prophet Isaiah He sat down and said that
what He had just read from Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled in Him, and so they
took Him out to throw Him off a cliff, but He walked through them and left His hometown. What He read was from Isaiah 61:1-2 and the
scene is found in Luke 4:16-21 “16 And
He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He
entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of
the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the
place where it was written, 18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE
ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM
RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE
WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." 20 And
He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of
all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today
this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”
I
mentioned earlier about having guest Rabbi’s speaking in a synagogue, and that
policy was called “freedom of the synagogue.”
Now
the typical worship service at the synagogue was closed by a benediction and
then a final congregational “Amen.” Now
once again as we look through this order of service in a typical synagogue we
can see that it is similar to a typical church service found in a New Testament
church, even today.
I
want to talk about a word for synagogue that comes from Yiddish and that word
is “schul, a kin to our English school and as we have mentioned it was a
place of learning as it was a public school or seminary where Jewish boys were
trained in the Talmud which is the official commentaries on the Law of Moses
and it is also where many Jewish men (besides the elders and rabbis) often
spent time studying the Scriptures as an example is seen in Acts 17:11 “Now
these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the
word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether
these things were so.”
MacArthur
concludes this section: “Religious and
community affairs were administered by the ten elders, or rulers, of the
synagogue, which as Jairus (Mark 5:22).
All of the elders acted as judges, and from their number they selected a
chief ruler, and interpreter of Hebrew for the worship services, a director of
the school, and other such officers. All
religious disputes were settled in the synagogues, and in most countries and provinces
during New Testament times, Roman government permitted the Jews to handle many of
their own civil disputes and even to administer punishment. Cases would be tried, judged, and the
punishment carried out in the synagogue (see Matt. 10:17.”
Lord
willing in our next SD we will move onto our Lord’s preaching as found in
Matthew 9:35c.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It was refreshing to me to see that the
church services that I have attended since becoming a believer are similar to
what our Lord attended while here on earth.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the Lord to continue to bring people
He desires to our after prayer meeting prayer service for revival. My prayer is that there are many of these
going on around our country and around our world as the need of revival is
great in the day we live in.
6/30/2021 10:04 AM
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