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Now [Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.
But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing (Luke 13:10-17).

This passage, which is peculiar to Luke's Gospel, specifically mentions the presence of a woman inside a Palestinian synagogue.

 

On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a synagogue; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us. One day, as we were going to the synagogue, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling (Acts 16:13-16).

This text is puzzling because it seems to indicate that, aside from Paul and his entourage, only women were present in this synagogue just outside of Philippi. Possibly the Jewish population in Philippi was so slight that it consisted only of the Jewish wives of Roman citizens (Philippi was a Roman colony) and female God-fearers. Alternatively, men and women may have assembled at separate gatherings. In this case, Paul, as a newcomer, would not have been aware of the segregated assembly times.

 

After Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three sabbath days argued with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you." Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women (Acts 17:1-4).
That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas off to Beroea; and when they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue. These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, including not a few Greek women and men of high standing. But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Beroea as well, they came there too, to stir up and incite the crowds.  Then the believers immediately sent Paul away to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained behind (Acts 17:10-14).
Now there came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord; and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately (Acts 18:24-26).

This series of passages from Acts portrays both Jewish and Gentile women as routinely being present in the sabbath synagogue services in the diaspora.

 

A woman, then, should not be a busybody, meddling with matters outside her household concerns, but should seek a life of seclusion. She should not shew herself off like a vagrant in the streets before the eyes of other men, except when she has to go to the temple, and even then she should take pains to go, not when the market is full, but when most people have gone home, and so like a free-born lady worthy of the name, with everything quiet around her, make her oblations and offer her prayers to avert the evil and gain the good (Philo, Spec. 3.171–172).

Because Philo is writing about Alexandria and within a Jewish context, the mention of the "temple" (hieron) is likely a reference to the synagogue, as this word is elsewhere used in this way. Displaying his patriarchy, Philo recommends that women stay indoors, except to go to the synagogue to offer their prayers. Even then, they are to go at the end of the day, after the agora has closed. Note that this last implies that synagogues were commonly located near agoras, perhaps those especially catering to Jewish dietary laws.

To Cite this page:

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

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