Synagogues in Galilee

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All along the road from Tarichaeae to Tiberias I posted a number of others to pass down the line to me any information obtained from those in the town. The next day there was a general assembly in the synagogue, a huge building, capable of accommodating a large crowd.
Jonathan, who entered with the rest, while not venturing to speak openly of defection, said that their city required a better general. Jesus, the magistrate, however, had no such scruple and said bluntly, "Citizens, it is better for us to take our orders from four men than from one, men, too, of illustrious birth and intellectual distinction," indicating Jonathan and his colleagues.
Justus next come forward, and, by his approval of the previous speaker, aided in converting some of the people to this views. The majority, however, were not convinced by these speeches, and a riot would inevitably have ensued, had not the arrival of the sixth hour, at which it is our custom on the Sabbath to take our midday meal, broken off the meeting. Jonathan and his friends, accordingly, adjourned the council to the following day and retired without effecting their object (Josephus, Vita 276ff).

This is the first part of Josephus' account of the activities within a synagogue in Tiberias (Galilee) at the beginning of the Jewish War (67 CE). Here, several of Josephus' rivals try to convince the Tiberians that Josephus, who was in charge of the war-effort in Galilee, was not fit for command.

A measure of the size of this "huge building" can be determined from the fact that Josephus subsequently writes that the "entire city council (boulê) and a crowd of the populace (dêmos)" gathered inside it (Vita 284). The Tiberian council alone had 600 members (BJ 2.641). The above passage demonstrates that not only religious activities but also political discussions could take place within the sabbath synagogue gatherings. This underscores the close relationship between religion and politics within the Second Temple period.

 

They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, [Jesus] entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit,  and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." 
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!"  And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching - with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John (Mark 1:21-29).
After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us" (Luke 7:1-5).
[Jesus] said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum (John 6:59).

These three passages provide triple independent attestation for a synagogue at Capernaum--the remains of which have been found beneath a synagogue built in the fourth century. Note that the Lucan passage is probably a portion of the Q source omitted by Matthew (who usually drops or recrafts passages reflecting a positive relationship between Jesus and Jewish authorities), while the segment from John is likely an early tradition retained to frame a discourse written in a typical Johannine style.

 

But nothing in the procession excited so much astonishment as the structure of the moving stages; indeed, their massiveness afforded ground for alarm and misgiving as to their stability, many of them being three or four stories high, while the magnificence of the fabric was a source at once of delight and amazement. For many were enveloped in tapestries interwoven with gold, and all had a framework of gold and wrought ivory.
The war was shown by numerous representations, in separate sections, affording a very vivid picture of its episodes. Here was to be seen a prosperous country devastated, there whole battalions of the enemy slaughtered; here a party in flight, there others led into captivity; walls of surpassing compass demolished by engines, strong fortresses overpowered, cities with well-manned defenses completely mastered and an army pouring within the ramparts, an area all deluged with blood, the hands of those incapable of resistance raised in supplication, temples set on fire, houses pulled down over their owners’ heads, and, after general desolation and woe, rivers flowing, not over a cultivated land, nor supplying drink to man and beast, but across a country still on every side in flames.
For to such sufferings were the Jews destined when they plunged into the war; and the art and magnificent workmanship of these structures now portrayed the incidents to those who had not witnessed them, as though they were happening before their eyes. On each of the stages was stationed the general of one of the captured cities in the attitude in which he was taken. A number of ships also followed.
The spoils in general were borne in promiscuous heaps; but conspicuous above all stood out those captured in the temple at Jerusalem. These consisted of a golden table, many talents in weight, and a lampstand, likewise made of gold, but constructed on a different pattern from those which we use in ordinary life. Affixed to a pedestal was a central shaft, from which there extended slender branches, arranged trident-fashion, a wrought lamp being attached to the extremity of each branch; of these there were seven, indicated the honour paid to that number among the Jews. After these, and last of all the spoils, was carried a copy of the Jewish Law (Josephus, BJ 7.139–152).

This is Josephus' description of the Roman triumph (essentially a victory parade with public spectacles) following the Jewish Revolt of 66-73 CE. Most synagogue scholars undertand the allusion to the demolished "temples" (hiera) depicted in the parade as a reference to Jewish synagogues ravaged during the course of the war.

Because the triumph seems to have progressed chronologically, the synagogue representations probably correspond to the first part of the war, which took place in Galilee.

To Cite this page:

Donald D. Binder, "Synagogues in Galilee."
<http://www.pohick.org/sts/galilee.html>
 
© Donald D. Binder, 1997-2007
All Rights Reserved

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