Besides the use of this word for any 'collecting together,' as the 'assembly of the wicked,' it has a special reference in the O.T. to the children of Israel as 'the assembly,' whether they were collected together or not. Several Hebrew words are used, some implying 'an appointed meeting,' others a 'calling together,' etc. 'The whole assembly of the congregation' were to eat the passover, Ex 12:6, though each family ate it in its own house. They accused Moses of having brought them into the wilderness to kill the 'whole assembly with hunger,' Ex 16:3; so in many places. When they were especially called together to the feasts it is often called a SOLEMN ASSEMBLY, as in Le 23:36; Nu 29:35; De 16:8; 2Ki 10:20; 2Ch 7:9; Ne 8:18, etc.

In the N.T. the word is also used for any gathering of people, as at the tumult in Ephesus. Ac 19:32,39,41. In Jas 2:2 the word 'assembly' is really the synagogue, or place of meeting. In Heb 12:23 the words 'GENERAL ASSEMBLY' should be joined to ver. 22, reading "and to the innumerable company of angels, the general assembly:" the word 'and' dividing the subjects. The Greek word used in Ac 19:32, etc. is ????????, and this often occurs in the N.T. where it is translated 'church.' It signifies 'called out,' and the church is a people called out by God to Himself from the mass of mankind. The church may more accurately be designated by the word 'assembly.' See CHURCH.