It has taken a few days to complete this study. I wrestled with some of the ideas in it and refined my thoughts more than usual. What is a Rabbi? What did the New Testament Synagogue look like. How does this influence our understanding of the Gospels? These were questions I was wrestling with. I hope you enjoy the study!

Mark 1:16-20  Calling of the Apostles.  Simon was the first apostle to be called. It is interesting that in this Gospel Peter refers back to his given name as Simon. John tells us that as soon as Simon was called, he was renamed as Peter by Yeshua (John 1:42).   We discussed earlier that Peter was the one who dictated this Gospel to Mark. Calling himself by his given name demonstrates the humility that he learned at the cowing of the rooster and events that took place at the crucifixion.

Notice also the urgency of the calling. These men who were called did not hesitate. They left everything immediately to follow Yeshua. He promised to make them fishers of men. You would think that when someone hears the message of the good news they would be ready and willing to listen. Often, evangelizing is just like fishing. Bait is cast and a constant vigil must be made to attempt to interest the listener in the Messiah. It is very frustrating at times. The scriptures note that Zebedee was not left without workers since hired men were already in place.

Four disciples are called at this point. Simon Peter, Andrew, James (Jacob) and John. These are the most visible of the disciples. James is a mistranslation that has been in place since King James had the Bible translated. He wanted his name in the Bible and had the translators exchange James for Jacob. This takes place everywhere in the New Testament except where Jacob refers to the patriarch.

Mark 1:21-28  Yeshua is verified as the “holy one of God” by the demon. This is the cap of several verifications. First, we had John the Baptist verify Yeshua. Second, The Father verified Yeshua. Third, the four disciples verified Yeshua. Fourth, His teaching verified Him. Fifth, the demons verified Him. His command to the demons was simple. “Be quiet”. In the following verses we will see the crowds as the sixth verification. Lastly, the lepers are the seventh verification. This is significant because it is the sign of the Messiah. Seven verifications take place outside of the healings in this chapter. The lepers are the key to the message. The Messiah was often referred to as the “Leper Messiah” since many scriptures point to a Messiah who would cure the Lepers. We will get to that later.

A Rabbit Trail: We could learn something from the synagogue structure. Yeshua came into the synagogue and began to teach. How is this possible? Let’s consider the way that the synagogue was set up. A ruler of the synagogue was selected from the elders in the congregation. Note on this, elders were not elected, they were the oldest men in the congregation. This ruler oversaw the activities of the synagogue. He was not a preacher. He may have selected ones to teach/preach. There was a marked effort not to have a designated preacher in the synagogue:

“RULER OF THE SYNAGOGUE — the leader or president of a Synagogue. As an administrator, he was charged with supervision of all matters pertaining to the synagogue. He was not a dictator over the congregation. He was elected by the board of elders to oversee the worship services and the upkeep of the building. He chose the men to read the Scriptures, to offer prayer, and to preach or explain the Scripture for each meeting.

“If discipline was called for, the ruler of the synagogue could reprimand or excommunicate a member (John 9:22; 16:2), or even order that a scourging or a whipping be carried out (Matt. 10:17; Mark 13:9). Rulers of the synagogue mentioned by name in the New Testament are Jairus (Mark 5:22; Luke 8:41), Crispus (Acts 18:8), and Sosthenes (Acts 18:17).”^[1]

Why is this important? There was a Jewish tradition that many of us are not aware of. When we think of Rabbi’s, we put our ideas of “preachers” on them. The preacher has a church where he preaches. More often than not, he is the sole preacher in the church. Rabbi’s in the New Testament era did not have “synagogues” that belonged to them. These men often had their own house of teaching where students came to them for learning or discipleship. We are familiar with two “rabbi’s” intimately. John the Baptist was a Rabbi of sorts since he had a following and taught his followers in the form of discipleship. Jesus also was a Rabbi of sorts since He had the twelve apostles and a large following. These men were rabbi’s by honor.

In the New Testament era, the term “rabbi” was relatively new. The word “rabbi” is not even used in the Old Testament. There are allusions to teachers and “great ones” that give the idea of rabbi though (2 Kings 18:17; 25:8; Jer 39:3, 13; Dan 1:3). The term seems to have originated just a few hundred years prior to the birth of Jesus. The Rabbi was considered a teacher who had students. These students entered his school and were trained under him. His title was “my master” or “my teacher”. Then the student was bound to the teacher for the rest of his life and would become a “rabbi” later. It spoke of an intimate discipleship of the student by the teacher. I boiled down a very detailed explanation found in The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.[2]

The term was born after the Babylonian captivity and after the writing of the Septuagint. This set up a situation where Yeshua could disciple his followers in order to train them in Torah. Yeshua warned the disciples not to seek or take on the title of “rabbi” since they were brothers and servants (Matt 23:6-12). The idea was not born from Torah, it may have mirrored the Greek sages who taught their students in similar manners. There were two sides to the term. One side referred to a layman who was studied in Torah and considered to be an authority. The other side was more of a mentor who trained others.

Here is another quote from The Complete Word Study Dictionary:

4461. ῥαββί rhabbí; indeclinable masc. noun transliterated from the Hebr. rabbī (not found in the OT), my master. A doctor, teacher, master; a title of honor in the Jewish schools which continues until modern times (Matt. 23:7, 8; 26:25, 49; Mark 9:5; 11:21; 14:45; John 1:38, 49; 3:2, 26; 4:31; 6:25; 9:2; 11:8). In Matt. 23:8 it is explained by kathēgētḗs (2519), a teacher, master; in John 1:39 by didáskalos (1320), an instructor in reference to usage rather than to meaning.

In Hebr. rhabbí means a great one, chief, master. This was introduced as a title into the Jewish schools under a three–fold form, Rab, as the lowest degree of honor; Rab with the first person suffix i, Rabbi, my master, with higher dignity; and Rabboni, meaning my great master, the most honorable of all. This was publicly given to only seven persons, all of the school of Hillel and of great eminence.

In the days of Christ the title was misused by Jewish teachers in that they used it to require implicit obedience to their decisions and traditions and words rather than to those of the law and the prophets. Our Lord charged the Jewish scribes and Pharisees with being very fond of this presumptuous title, but commands His disciples not to be called Rabbi in the Jewish acceptance of the word (Matt. 23:7, 8). Although the title Rabbi was often given to the Lord Jesus, we do not find that He ever rebuked those who gave it to Him because He was in truth the Teacher sent from God, even that great Prophet who should come into the world, and of whom the Lord had said by Moses in Deut. 18:18, 19: “It shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”

Deriv.: rhabboní (4462), my great master.

Syn.: didáskolos (1320), teacher, instructor.

Ant.: mathētḗs (3101), a discipl^[3]

In a similar manner, the Synagogue was also developed during or after the Babylonian captivity. It is possible that it was developed as an effort by the people to preserve Torah and the original language. It acted as a community center of sorts that served as a school, house of worship, place for prayer, hostel, and other assorted needs. The development of the Synagogue was a strategic move on God’s part. General feasts and festivals were observed, and people joined together to celebrate the various feast days, new moon festivals, and such. No sacrifices took place in the synagogue, these were only to be done in the temple. The synagogue was put in place strategically and became a vital part of Hebrew society just prior to the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D..

 “A. Secular Greek. 1. The General Meaning. The basic sense of synagōgḗ is that of bringing together or assembling (cf. a gathering of people, a collection of books or letters, the ingathering of harvest, the mustering of troops, the knitting of brows, the drawing in of a sail, and in logic the deduction or demonstration).

“2. Societies. Relative to societies, the term usually denotes the periodic meeting. Only rarely is synagōgḗ the place of meeting. Often a festal assembly (cultic or otherwise) is denoted, e.g., a feast or even a picnic.”^[4]

The Greek word Synagogue simply means “assembly” or “gathering place”. The word synagogue is a Greek word, the word is not found in Hebrew. The Septuagint translates the Hebrew words “eda and Qahal” as synagogue. But in all the 200 translations, it is never used for a meeting place or building.[5] The Greek name for the synagogue stuck from whatever origin that the word came from. Those who claim that anything Greek is profane to the Jews should take note here.

Perhaps by this time you are being confused by the details. What does this have to do with Yeshua teaching in the Synagogue? Synagogue structure did not have a designated teacher or preacher that preached on the Sabbath! Synagogues were houses of worship where prayers were held. It included reading from the Torah scrolls and discussion or comments from the readers.

When Torah was read, it was common for the one reading Torah to comment on it. Synagogues did not have “teachers” or “rabbi’s” assigned to them. Teaching of Torah was a function of the older men. This was augmented by rabbi’s such as the appearance of Yeshua at the synagogue.

During the New Testament times, pulpits in the synagogues were open to teachers that varied between the thoughtful student of Torah to Rabbi’s. Synagogues were a place where deep discussion took place. Yeshua used the synagogue to teach on a regular basis. Paul also reasoned with the Jews every Sabbath in the synagogues (Acts 13:15ff; 17:17; 18:4, 19; 19:8). The synagogue offered a new platform where teaching took place. The men of the synagogue were not sheep who blindly followed the leaders. They argued, reasoned and were quickly militant against teachings that were contrary to their understanding of Torah.

From what I can gather, the topic for discussion was announced on Saturday evening. During the following week, people would read, discuss and argue over the passage. On the Sabbath, the scripture would be read. An interpreter was present who was designated to translate the scripture from Hebrew into common language. Then discussion would begin. This would be in the form of a respected teacher or a combination of the members of the synagogue. By the way, this is the idea behind an interpreter being present for those who speak in tongues:

1 Corinthians 14:26–28 (NET)

²⁶ What should you do then, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each one has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all these things be done for the strengthening of the church. ²⁷ If someone speaks in a tongue, it should be two, or at the most three, one after the other, and someone must interpret. ²⁸ But if there is no interpreter, he should be silent in the church. Let him speak to himself and to God.

Today, Synagogues have developed to the point where a Rabbi is in place in each synagogue. His role is much like the preacher in a Christian church. He officiates the service and gives a teaching based on Torah. It is almost like the chicken and the egg argument. Did Rabbi’s begin to occupy each synagogue to compete with Christians? Did the Rabbi morph into a preacher because of Christian influence? Or, was the development of local Rabbi’s a natural development of time? We simply do not know.

Thinking further: Christians took the idea of the synagogue and developed churches from it. We changed it from focusing upon Torah to focusing upon the teaching of the preacher. This quickly moved from being a community discussion to becoming a lecture from the preacher.

The early Catholic church had a lot to do with this. They standardized the message and had each church preach the same message. The Catholic church ruled the people with an iron fist. Masses were given in Latin, priests were dictated sermons, and doctrine was taught to the people. They were not allowed to think or reason for themselves. The church held the final word on any interpretation. People were taught that they simply did not have the wisdom to interpret spiritual matters. This attitude carries on today.

When the Protestant Revolution took place, the ties of the Roman Catholic Church were severed. In its place, the new churches kept the order of worship. They kept the preacher in the pulpit indoctrinating the people. They also kept the pagan festivals that the Roman Catholic Church blended with Christianity. The major change was to remove the Catholic rule only to replace it with different rule.

In my opinion, reform took place, but not enough reform. If we as Christians had returned to the original design of the Synagogue, we would have been better off. This would have opened the doors to critical Bible study and soon removed the error of our Catholic brothers. I believe that Bible study in context will remove error. This should not just be the function of the preacher. It should be the heart throb of every single Christian. If we as Christians return to Torah, and design our worship after the synagogue, we will see power that is similar to the power displayed in Acts and the Epistles. I emphasize, this is simply my opinion. Only time will tell when we change our worship to a different pattern.

This means that we as Christians remove the Pastor from being the only preacher. He becomes a caretaker of the church, one who oversees the congregation. Worship services become a community effort. Teaching is done by the older men of the church preparing through the week by studying the passage individually. Then on the day of worship, each shares a nugget from his finding. When visiting teachers are present, they are allowed to teach. Then following the teaching, they must defend their claims with a community open forum where a question and answer session takes place. In this method we will move from a style of lecture to the pattern that embraces discipleship.

This pattern has one drawback, it must be done on much smaller scale than our churches today are built upon. This will never work in the mega church where thousands are in attendance. It must be done on a small scale. The synagogue was built when ten men in a community joined together. This setting will work from ten to fifteen men (families).

I believe that as we approach the end times we will soon be driven to underground churches in private homes. Persecution will close the majority of churches and leave only state-run churches functioning. True believers will have to go into hiding in order to continue to worship, study and grow spiritually. At that time, the original idea of the synagogue will come full circle. The relatively few pastors that are in place today will not be able to travel from home to home on the day of worship. Therefore, it will be up to the leader of the home church to officiate the service. On that same token, preachers will soon return to the function of the early Rabbi’s. They will primarily mentor other men who will become traveling teachers.

Let’s return to the study: When we as Christians read about Yeshua teaching in a synagogue, we often have the picture of Him preaching from a pulpit to a group of listeners. Try to picture the structure I spoke of above. Jesus was in a community setting where argument and discussion took place. He was allowed to speak because He had a reputation as a man with deep insight into Torah. In the small community, you can also be sure that they knew of the baptism of John the Baptist and the voice from heaven. This was followed by Yeshua disappearing from view for forty days as He wandered in the wilderness. Remember, it was a small community. People knew and spoke of what was happening.

Mark 1:22-28 The people were amazed at the teaching that Yeshua gave. He spoke from the position of authority. He did not speak as the scribes who they were used to hearing. The authority was challenged by the demon.

The demon demanded to know if Yeshua was going to destroy them. The demon’s question can be taken two ways. First it can be taken as the demon asking if God was going to destroy the demons. The second way it could be taken is a demon possessed member of the congregation could have been asking if God was going to destroy the congregation. The implication in this way was to cast doubt upon Yeshua and on His intentions. This may be a better way to view the question.

Yeshua is identified as the Messiah by the demon. Yeshua did an unexpected thing. He commanded the demon to come out of the man. It did, the man was thrown into convulsions as the demon exited his body.

The effect on the people was tremendous. They recognized that a new authority was displayed in Yeshua. They spread the word to everyone in the surrounding community of Galilee.

^[1] Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison, Thomas Nelson Publishers, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995).

[2] Eduard Lohse, “Ῥαββί, Ῥαββουνί,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 962–963.

masc (masculine)

Hebr (Hebrew)

Hebr (Hebrew)

^[3] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).

^[4] Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985), 1108.

[5] Ibid.