Reference: Congregation
Easton
(3) (Heb. kahal), the Hebrew people collectively as a holy community (Nu 15:15). Every circumcised Hebrew from twenty years old and upward was a member of the congregation. Strangers resident in the land, if circumcised, were, with certain exceptions (Ex 12:19; Nu 9:14; De 23:1-3), admitted to the privileges of citizenship, and spoken of as members of the congregation (Ex 12:19; Nu 9:14; 15:15). The congregation were summonded together by the sound of two silver trumpets, and they met at the door of the tabernacle (Nu 10:3). These assemblies were convened for the purpose of engaging in solemn religious services (Ex 12:27; Nu 25:6; Joe 2:15), or of receiving new commandments (Ex 19:7-8). The elders, who were summonded by the sound of one trumpet (Nu 10:4), represented on various occasions the whole congregation (Ex 3:16; 12:21; 17:5; 24:1).
(4) After the conquest of Canaan, the people were assembled only on occasions of the highest national importance (Jg 20; 2Ch 30:5; 34:29; 1Sa 10:17; 2Sa 5:1-5; 1Ki 12:20; 2Ki 11:19; 21:24; 23:30). In subsequent times the congregation was represented by the Sanhedrim; and the name synagogue, applied in the Septuagint version exclusively to the congregation, came to be used to denote the places of worship established by the Jews. (See Church.)
(5) In Ac 13:43, where alone it occurs in the New Testament, it is the same word as that rendered "synagogue" (q.v.) in ver. Ac 13:42, and is so rendered in ver. 43 in R.V.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Go, gather the elders of Israel together [the mature teachers and tribal leaders], and say to them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, I have surely visited you and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;
Seven days no leaven [symbolic of corruption] shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be excluded from the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born.
Seven days no leaven [symbolic of corruption] shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be excluded from the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born.
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, Go forth, select and take a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover [lamb].
You shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He slew the Egyptians but spared our houses. And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
And the Lord said to Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the rod with which you smote the river [Nile], and go.
So Moses called for the elders of the people and told them all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
God said to Moses, Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu [Aaron's sons], and seventy of Israel's elders, and worship at a distance.
And if a stranger sojourns among you and will keep the Passover to the Lord, according to [its] statutes and its ordinances, so shall he do; you shall have one statute both for the temporary resident and for him who was born in the land.
And if a stranger sojourns among you and will keep the Passover to the Lord, according to [its] statutes and its ordinances, so shall he do; you shall have one statute both for the temporary resident and for him who was born in the land.
When they both are blown, all the congregation shall assemble before you at the door of the Tent of Meeting. And if one blast on a single trumpet is blown, then the princes or leaders, heads of the tribes of Israel, shall gather themselves to you.
There shall be one [and the same] statute [both] for you [of the congregation] and for the stranger who is a temporary resident with you, a statute forever throughout your generations: as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord.
There shall be one [and the same] statute [both] for you [of the congregation] and for the stranger who is a temporary resident with you, a statute forever throughout your generations: as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord.
And behold, one of the Israelites came and brought to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and of all the congregation of Israel while they were weeping at the door of the Tent of Meeting [over the divine judgment and the punishment].
He who is wounded in the testicles, or has been made a eunuch, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. A person begotten out of wedlock shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall his descendants not enter into the congregation of the Lord. read more. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation their descendants shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord forever,
So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem. For they had not kept it collectively as prescribed for a long time.
Blow the trumpet in Zion; set apart a fast [a day of restraint and humility]; call a solemn assembly.
As they [Paul and Barnabas] went out [of the synagogue], the people earnestly begged that these things might be told to them [further] the next Sabbath. And when the congregation of the synagogue dispersed, many of the Jews and the devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked to them and urged them to continue [to trust themselves to and to stand fast] in the grace (the unmerited favor and blessing) of God.
Fausets
eedah. CONVOCATION, qaahaal (restricted to the Pentateuch, except Isa 1:13). The Hebrew, regarded in their collective capacity as a "holy" community, gathered in sacred assembly composed of the homeborn Israelites. Settlers, only if circumcised, were admitted to the privileges (Ex 12:19). Each Israelite was member of a house; the family was a collection of houses; the tribe, a collection of families; the congregation, a collection of tribes. The CONGREGATION was a national parliament, with legislative and judicial powers. The CONVOCATION was restricted to religious meetings (Leviticus 23). Each house, family, and tribe had its head; these representative heads were "the elders" or "princes."
Moses selected 70 elders by God's appointment to share the burden of government with him (Nu 11:16). The sounding of the two silver trumpets was the signal for the whole body of the people assembling at the door of the tabernacle, which was there called "the tabernacle of the congregation," the moed, literally, a place of meeting (Nu 10:2-4). The princes were convened with only one trumpet. The people were bound to abide by the acts of their representatives (Jos 9:18). In later times the Sanhedrin council (corresponding to Moses' seventy elders) represented the congregation. Synagogue, which originally applied to the assembly, came to mean the place of worship.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Seven days no leaven [symbolic of corruption] shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be excluded from the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born.
Seven days no leaven [symbolic of corruption] shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be excluded from the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born.
Make two trumpets of silver; of hammered or turned work you shall make them, that you may use them to call the congregation and for breaking camp.
Make two trumpets of silver; of hammered or turned work you shall make them, that you may use them to call the congregation and for breaking camp. When they both are blown, all the congregation shall assemble before you at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
When they both are blown, all the congregation shall assemble before you at the door of the Tent of Meeting. And if one blast on a single trumpet is blown, then the princes or leaders, heads of the tribes of Israel, shall gather themselves to you.
And if one blast on a single trumpet is blown, then the princes or leaders, heads of the tribes of Israel, shall gather themselves to you.
And the Lord said to Moses, Gather for Me seventy men of the elders of Israel whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them stand there with you.
And the Lord said to Moses, Gather for Me seventy men of the elders of Israel whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them stand there with you.
But the Israelites did not slay them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, [to spare them]. And all the assembly murmured against the leaders.
But the Israelites did not slay them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, [to spare them]. And all the assembly murmured against the leaders.
Bring no more offerings of vanity (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility); [your hollow offering of] incense is an abomination to Me; the New Moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure -- "[it is] iniquity and profanation, even the solemn meeting.
Bring no more offerings of vanity (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility); [your hollow offering of] incense is an abomination to Me; the New Moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure -- "[it is] iniquity and profanation, even the solemn meeting.
Morish
The term is constantly applied in the O.T. to the community of Israel, and also to the actual assembling together of the people according to the unity of the congregation. Every descendant of the twelve tribes formed a part of that community. Those of other nations were received into the congregation on becoming PROSELYTES, q.v. The Ammonite and the Moabite were forbidden ever to come into the congregation of Jehovah, and there were a few other restrictions. De 23:1-4. For various offences an Israelite was cut off from the congregation. Ex 12:19; Nu 9:13, etc. See EXCOMMUNICATION.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Seven days no leaven [symbolic of corruption] shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be excluded from the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born.
But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, yet does not keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from among his people because he did not bring the Lord's offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear [the penalty of] his sin.
He who is wounded in the testicles, or has been made a eunuch, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. A person begotten out of wedlock shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall his descendants not enter into the congregation of the Lord. read more. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation their descendants shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord forever, Because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired Balaam son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia against you to curse you.
Smith
Congregation.
This describes the Hebrew people in its collective capacity under its peculiar aspect as a holy community, held together by religious rather than political bonds. Sometimes it is used in a broad sense as inclusive of foreign settlers,
but more properly as exclusively appropriate to the Hebrew element of the population.
The congregation was governed by the father or head of each family and tribe. The number of these representatives being inconveniently large for ordinary business, a further selection was made by Moses of 70, who formed a species of standing committee.
Occasionally indeed the whole body of people was assembled at the door of the tabernacle, hence usually called the tabernacle of the congregation.
The people were strictly bound by the acts of their representatives, even in cases where they disapproved of them.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Seven days no leaven [symbolic of corruption] shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be excluded from the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born.
When they both are blown, all the congregation shall assemble before you at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
And the Lord said to Moses, Gather for Me seventy men of the elders of Israel whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them stand there with you.
There shall be one [and the same] statute [both] for you [of the congregation] and for the stranger who is a temporary resident with you, a statute forever throughout your generations: as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord.
But the Israelites did not slay them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, [to spare them]. And all the assembly murmured against the leaders.