Monday, January 20, 2020

Isaac Levy on the Pre-Exilic Origin of Synagogues


Writing in 1963, Isaac Levy argued in favour of the pre-exilic origin of “synagogues”:

As one pursues the search for evidence on the place which prayer occupied in early forms of worship one is inevitably drawn to the ceremony of dedication of the first Temple, and particularly to the prayer uttered by King Solomon on that occasion, Throughout his long and detailed supplication he makes no reference to the many sacrifices which might be offered on its altar; instead he speaks only of the prayers which would be rendered by the pilgrims who came there to worship. The various circumstances and the national and person vicissitudes which demanded the presence of worshippers in the Temple, to which he refers, would normally have called for the offering of some special sacrifice, for this was the normal practice of the repentant sinner or of a people in time of national calamity or anxiety; yet in each of the instances which he specifies he speaks only of the prayers and supplications which shall be directed towards the Temple (I Kings viii). His constant repetition of the words tefillah and hitpallel (prayer and praying) seems convincing proof that this form of verbal worship was an acknowledged practice and was to take its place alongside the sacrificial system which would obtain in the newly-built Temple.

This close association of prayer and sacrifice was apparently not new even in Solomon’s time, for one may cite an instance of an even earlier period. Long before the Temple was built there existed a sanctuary at Shiloh where Eli, the High Priest, officiated. It was to this sanctuary that Elkanah, the father of the prophet Samuel, made annual pilgrimage, and we are informed that he came there ‘to prostrate himself and to sacrifice’ (I Sam. i.3). Such prostration must obviously imply the utterance of some form of prayer. But even more precise evidence is made available by the behaviour of his wife Hannah who accompanied him on that pilgrimage, and whose praying so stirred the heart of the aged High Priest as he watched her in her silent devotions. From these precise descriptions of the practices current during the early centuries one feels impelled to conclude that the synagogue inherited these spiritual influences at the very commencement of its existence and that it based its procedure of worship on the ancient pattern devised and developed during this pre-Temple period.

But eloquent as is this Biblical testimony to the mode of prayer employed at this time, it does not point with any clarity to even an approximate date on which a form of synagogue as a place of worship, came into being, but would lead us to believe that the development was a gradual one rather than a creation at a given moment in time. Yet even in this respect there is a modicum of evidence which would point to the possibility that some form of meeting place for prayer did exist outside of the precincts of the central sanctuaries, such as those of Shiloh and the Temple of Solomon We read, for example, of the visit of the Shunamite woman to Elisha and her request to intercede on behalf of her sick child. The question which her husband posed to her was ‘Wherefore wilt thou go to him today? It is neither New Moon nor Sabbath’ (II Kings iv.23). This statement would surely imply that it was customary for people to visit the prophets on such days, and since it was not the practice of individuals to offer sacrifices on such occasions one may assume that at special times a form of prayer meeting was conducted by the ‘man of God’.

One reads of similar religious assemblies convened by Samuel at Mizpah, when he offered prayers on behalf of the people and called upon them to fast and repent of their sins (I Sam. Vii.5). It would also not be presumptuous to assume that during the prophetic period, when idolatry was so rife and the Temple was defiled by such malpractices, private and secret meetings were held by the prophets and their followers at which prayers were offered and a form of worship observed, since no sacrifices would have been brought outside the Temple precincts. The reference constrained in II Chronicles to the circuits made by priests and Levites who ‘taught in Judah and had a book of the Law of the Lord with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people’ (xvii. 9) throws additional light on this subject and points to a well-organized religious activity conducted outside the established centres.

Such prayer meetings or religious conventions held at a very early age may well be deemed the earliest known form of synagogue, and whilst we have little evidence that such gatherings took place in specific buildings, they seem to point to the pattern and type of activity which was later incorporated in the synagogue building. When, however, one approaches the immediate pre-exilic period one becomes aware of the existence of some form of building which was used for these purposes.

Although the evidence is based on the use of certain scriptural expressions it deserves to be treated seriously, since the accepted interpretation of these passages ultimately became incorporated in common popular usage and formed part of a long-standing tradition.

Thus in the literature of this pre-exilic period we find Jeremiah describing the havoc created by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar and stating ‘The Christians burned the king’s house and the house of the people (Beth Am) with fire’ (xxxix. 8). What was this Beth Am which was so worthy of special mention in this context? The Jewish commentators, Rashi and Kimchi, unhesitatingly describe it as a synagogue, doubtless relying on a passage in the Talmud which speaks disparagingly of those who call a synagogue by this name (Shab. 32a). The fact that this expression was later associated with the synagogue points to the close affinity of the two types of building. An even more poignant reference is to be found in Psalm lxiv which depicts the agony of a people who witnessed the destruction of the Temple and felt themselves forsaken by God. They saw ‘all the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary’ and the havoc wrought by the invading forces who ‘burned up all the meeting places of God’. These places were undoubtedly recognised buildings, since in this context they cannot be identified with the Temple itself, for reference had already been made to the enemy’s destruction of the sanctuary. The inference must surely be that these buildings were distinct and acknowledged meeting places for the purpose of worship. Hence the Authorised Version translated the words ‘meeting places’ as synagogues.

The final piece of evidence available to us from this sad period is the reference to the House of God which was to be visited by a group of eighty men from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria Jer. xli.5). These men came as mourners, with heads shaven and clothes rent, to bring an offering to this House of God. This building could not have been the Temple for the context clearly states that by this time the Temple had been destroyed. One can only assume therefore that the house served as a place of worship, enjoying a status similar to that of the Temple, or that at least it was acknowledged as such by those who felt moved to proceed to it for the purpose of participating in some divine office.

These observations lead us to the inevitable conclusion that the pattern of the Synagogue began to take shape long before the destruction of the First Temple, a form of worship having been a recognised feature of religious observance at a very early age. But in consequence of the national calamity the exiles in Babylon were naturally inclined to cherish the memories of some of the practices which had been observed in their homeland, especially those which involved verbal prayer worship. Now that they were denied a Temple and could no longer offer sacrifices they concentrated their attention on the use of prayers, and doubtless those they offered were largely devoted to expressions of penitence and supplication for restoration.

To this they probably added the readings of the works of the prophets which they possessed. But with the passing of time and the slackening of the ties with the past, and especially because of their failure to preserve their knowledge of the Hebrew language, much of the influence which might have been exerted by a close development of their meeting places for prayers waned. Only when active steps were taken by Ezra and Nehemia to re-educate them, and the Men of the Great Synod devised and formulated the procedure of prayer worship, could organised religious life be restored and the synagogue become a firmly established institution. (Isaac Levy, The Synagogue: Its History and Function [London: Vallentine and Mitchell, 1963], 11-14)

Levy has further been vindicated by discoveries after his study came out, most notably Lee Levine, The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years (2d ed.; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005), esp. pp. 21-34, wherein Levine shows that pre-exilic synagogues existed as chambers in city gates. As I wrote in On Not Understanding the Book of Mormon:

Synagogues in the Book of Mormon

It has been a long-standing criticism of the Book of Mormon that its mention of “synagogues” represents an impossibility in the text. But Webster’s 1828 dictionary defined the term in a rather generic manner as a place of assembly for Jews, so its appearance in the Book of Mormon as an English translation is not problematic.

The original scholarly consensus was that synagogues did not exist until after the destruction of the second temple in AD 70, notwithstanding the mention of synagogues in the Gospels. With the discovery of synagogues in Egypt dating to the first and second centuries BC, the date was extended to the postexilic era. And further evidence indicates an even earlier date for the origin of the synagogue. In 621 BC, with the discovery of the Book of the Law (probably Deuteronomy), the Deuteronomic reformation occurred with Josiah at its head (see 2 Kings 22–24). At this time blood sacrifices and temple worship were centralized in Jerusalem, resulting in local congregations of Israelites who met for worship, prayer, and instruction.15 According to some scholars, such gatherings that took place in the chambers of city gates were the original synagogues. Furthermore, the use of certain terms such as bet haʿam (Jeremiah 39:8), miqdash-me ʿat (Ezekiel 11:16), and moʿade ʾel (Psalm 74:8) have been invoked to substantiate a preexilic date for synagogue origins.

In light of scholarship, the common charge that “synagogues” in the Book of Mormon is an anachronism has been refuted and shows our critics have not bothered to study this (and many other) issues.

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