The Jewish Annotated New Testament (144 page)

Theodotos, the son of Vettenos, priest and
archisynagōgos
, grandson of an
archisynagogōgos
, built this synagogue for the reading of the Law (= Torah) and the study of the commandments, and a guesthouse and rooms and water installations for hosting those in need from abroad, it (= the synagogue) having been founded by his fathers, the presbyters, and Simonides.

Jewish society of the late Second Temple period, both in Judea and the Diaspora, witnessed two contrasting, yet complementary, developments. On the one hand, the Temple assumed an ever-more central role in Jewish religious life, both because of the growth of Jerusalem as an urban center and focus of pilgrimage, and because the Temple Mount was now providing a wide range of social, economic, religious, and political services for Judean society. On the other hand, the synagogue was concurrently evolving into a distinct and defined center of local communal activity. Although the Temple was universally recognized as the central institution in Jewish life prior to its destruction in 70 CE, the emerging synagogue had now become the pivotal institution within almost every individual Jewish community. This parallel development of centralization and decentralization in the first centuries BCE and CE was indeed fortuitous, and although no one could have foreseen the tragedy of 70, the fact remains that the seeds of Jewish communal and religious continuity had already been sown beforehand.

DIASPORA SYNAGOGUES IN THE PRE-70 ERA

First evidenced in third-century BCE Hellenistic Egypt, the Diaspora synagogue is known to us through varied sources. Within each of the three major types of sources available—literary, archaeological, and epigraphic—there are substantial differences in the nature of the evidence and its historical value with regard to this Diaspora institution. The literary material, for example, includes references in Philo’s commentaries and treatises (e.g.,
Life of Moses
3.27), edicts cited by Josephus (that of Augustus concerning a “sabbath house” [
Ant
. 16.6.2]), and Acts’ accounts of Paul’s visits to synagogues in Asia Minor and Greece (e.g., 14.1; 17.1–2; 18.4,7); all attest to the presence of synagogues throughout the Mediterranean world, from Italy eastward to Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria, as well as Egypt and North Africa.

This wide range of primary sources attests to a number of features shared by the pre-70 Diaspora
synagōgē
or
proseuchē
(“place of prayer”; e.g., Acts 16.13)—both widely used terms at this time. They subscribe to the centrality of this institution among farflung Jewish communities, and this is reinforced by the fact that no other Jewish communal institution or building by any other name is ever noted.

As a result, the synagogue was the setting for all facets of communal life. It was a sine qua non in Diaspora Jewry’s quest to preserve its Jewish identity. The synagogue distinguished Jews from the surrounding society by providing a place for fulfilling their communal religious, educational, social, political, and economic needs. In this respect, the Diaspora synagogue paralleled its Judean counterpart.

Although linked by a distinct (though not always easily defined) religious and ethnic heritage, Diaspora communities exhibited a striking degree of diversity stemming primarily from the fact that the Jews had no models of a communal facility from which to draw inspiration. In addition, Diaspora communities were exposed to patterns and models of neighboring cultures, adopting or adapting them to meet their needs. For instance, the names appearing in synagogue inscriptions often imitated those popular on the local scene. The donation of a synagogue building in Acmonia, a city in Phrygia, Asia Minor (modern Turkey) by Julia Severa, a prominent pagan aristocrat, reflects a type of patronage that was typical of this region; the organization and operation of the Jewish
politeuma
(“government”) in Berenice (Cyrenaica, modern Libya) seems to derive, in part at least, from local Cyrenian models; the type of building used by the Jews of Delos bore similarities to other buildings on that island; and the formulary components of synagogue manumission decrees from Bosporus are well known and unique to that particular region.

Pagan interest in the synagogue is indicative not only of the institution’s prominence but also of its importance and centrality to the Jewish community. Evidence of pagan sympathizers (God-fearers or
sebomenoi
) and converts throughout the Diaspora is ample (Mt 23.15; Acts 17.4), and in many instances these people were actively involved in the local Jewish community. Also noteworthy is the attraction of women to Judaism, a phenomenon attested throughout the Roman world (see esp. the book of Acts, e.g., 17.10–12).

The Diaspora synagogue was a creative synthesis of Jewish tradition, the specific requirements of each community, and the influence of the surrounding culture. Far from constituting an isolated and insulated minority— or the opposite, a people on the threshold of assimilation—the Jews succeeded in creating an institution that answered their needs, both as individuals and as a community, doing so within the confines of the cultural and social contexts in which they found themselves.

For all its borrowing and diversity, the Diaspora synagogue remained quintessentially Jewish, serving that community and housing its rites and observances, which were influenced first and foremost (though far from exclusively) by a common Jewish past and present. The Jews brought to the Diaspora their own
patria
, i.e., cultural and religious tradition, that pagans could either respect, resent, or ignore. These Jews were committed to honoring and perpetuating this heritage, and Roman society was, for the most part, supportive of safeguarding and transmitting an ethnic or religious group’s traditional customs. On the communal level, the synagogue was the main conduit for achieving these goals.

THE LITURGY OF THE EARLY SYNAGOGUE (FIRST AND SECOND CENTURIES)

The fundamental form of worship in synagogues at this time, the Torah-reading ceremony, is explicitly mentioned in almost every type of source from the first century CE in Judea and the Diaspora, in cities as well as villages. Josephus makes this point clearly:

He [Moses] appointed the Law to be the most excellent and necessary form of instruction, ordaining not that it should be heard once for all or twice or on several occasions, but that every week men should abandon their other occupations and assemble to listen to the Law and to obtain a thorough and accurate knowledge of it, a practice that all other legislators seem to have neglected. (
Ag. Ap
. 2.175)

The New Testament preserves several important accounts of first-century synagogue liturgy as well:

When he [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. (Lk 4.16–17)

But they [Paul and his companions] went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message. (Acts 13.14–15)

Thus, there can be little doubt that by the first century CE, Torah reading had become the core of Jewish synagogue worship. Several related liturgical features, although not as well attested, accompanied the Torah reading. For example, both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts refer to readings from the Prophets (
haftarot
) and sermons that followed the scriptural reading.

This liturgy was unique to the ancient world, as no such form of worship featuring the recitation and study of a sacred text by an entire community on a regular basis was in evidence at this time; we know only of certain mystery cults in the Hellenistic-Roman world that produced sacred texts, which were read on occasion to initiates. The self-laudatory tone of the Jewish sources may indeed reflect their authors’ desire to trumpet this unique form of worship that set the Jewish community apart from its neighbors.

THE SYNAGOGUE IN LATE ANTIQUITY (THIRD TO SEVENTH CENTURIES)

In the centuries leading up to the end of Late Antiquity, Jewish society underwent many transformations, and there is no more illustrative an example of these far-reaching changes than the ancient synagogue. While continuing to function as a communal center, the synagogue of Late Antiquity began to acquire a significantly enhanced measure of sanctity—through its orientation to Jerusalem, its religiously infused artistic representations, its expanded liturgy, and the permanent presence of a Torah shrine, although each community utilized these components differently. Two complementary factors were at work here: the religious dimension stimulated in part by the non-Jewish social and religious milieux (especially the rise of Christianity in the fourth century and thereafter); and the communal dimension, which remained the central factor in determining how the synagogue, as a local institution par excellence, looked and functioned. The tastes and proclivities of each and every community determined the physical, functional, cultural, and religious aspects of the local synagogue.

The synagogue of Late Antiquity’s primary historical significance was that it constituted the core institution for Jews everywhere. Despite its geographical, linguistic, cultural, and religious diversity, this communal institution and the ongoing expansion of its religious component provided a common framework for all Jewish communities. In a sense, the function fulfilled by the central and unique Jerusalem Temple in the pre-70 era was now carried out, mutatis mutandis, by the locally based, yet universally present, synagogue. It was indeed a “diminished sanctuary” (Ezek 11.16;
b. Meg
. 29a), one that served Jewish communal and religious needs throughout Late Antiquity and beyond.

FOOD AND TABLE FELLOWSHIP

David M. Freidenreich

Food and table fellowship figure prominently in the New Testament. Many of Jesus’ parables draw on food imagery, such as salt, yeast, mustard seeds, and banquets, and he speaks of bread and wine as his body and blood. Jesus miraculously feeds large crowds, and he draws criticism for dining with sinners as well as for the fact that his followers do not fast. Leaders within the Jesus movements use table fellowship to unite believers and promote a sense of collective distinctiveness. Familiarity with Jewish dining practices deepens our understanding of the New Testament and, by extension, the nascent Christian community.

FOOD RESTRICTIONS WITHIN THE JESUS MOVEMENTS

The Torah prohibits its followers from consuming various types of meat (Lev 11, Deut 14); the Jewish practice of abstaining from pork was well known, and often maligned, in the Second Temple period (e.g., Tacitus,
Hist
. 5.4.2). The
Letter of Aristeas
, a Jewish text probably written during the second century BCE, and the first-century Alexandrian Jewish philosopher Philo both explain that the Torah’s dietary norms offer lessons in moral virtue whose observance sets Jews apart from their immoral Gentile neighbors (
Ep. Arist
. 139–69; Philo,
Spec. Laws
4.101).

Jesus and his disciples adhered to these food restrictions. Although Mark reports that Jesus “declared all foods clean” (7.19), it is clear from the context of this passage and its parallels (Mt 15.1–20; Lk 11.37–44) that this phrase constitutes an historically inaccurate gloss. In these passages, Jesus does not reject the dietary laws of the Torah but rather the more stringent Pharisaic requirement that food be consumed in a ritually pure fashion. Jesus contests other food practices associated with Jewish sectarians as well, such as the refusal to eat with non-sectarians and the frequent observance of fasting (Mt 9.10–1; Mk 2.15–20; Lk 5.29–35); but these stances in no way indicate ambivalence toward dietary laws found in the Torah.

Unlike Jesus, Paul declares that “nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean” (Rom 14.14). In other words, believers in Christ need not adhere to Jewish dietary laws, but those who regard these laws as binding should continue to obey them. To promote “peace and … mutual upbuilding,” Paul encourages those who eat all foods to accommodate those who abstain (14.19). A later letter pseudonymously ascribed to Paul, in contrast, condemns abstinence from foods (1 Tim 4.3–4). Early Christian writers (e.g., the
Letter of Barnabas
[ca. 130], ch 10) polemicize against the Jews and those who would follow Jewish practice for their literal adherence to the Torah’s dietary laws, insisting that these statements are purely allegorical.

In a letter called the “Apostolic Decree” (Acts 15.23–29), James the brother of Jesus, who is the leader of the Jerusalem Church, enjoins Gentile members to “abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled.” The last of these terms refers to meat from animals slaughtered in a manner that does not allow their blood to drain out. James also forbids
porneia
, sexual impropriety. The Apostolic Decree exempts Gentile Christ-believers from most Jewish dietary laws but requires them to observe two fundamental Jewish food taboos. Jews of the Second Temple period regarded consumption of food offered to idols as tantamount to idolatrous worship itself, and some embraced martyrdom rather than engage in such behavior (2 Macc 6–7; 1 Macc 1.62–63; cf. 4 Macc). Various passages in the Torah and Prophets compare consumption of blood to murder and declare that all people, or all in the covenant community, must abstain from such activity (Gen 9.3–6; Lev 17.10–12; Ezek 33.25–26). Early Christian authorities uniformly interpret the decree literally.