vii. 3, 5 ; viii. 19). Religions meetings were also held on Sabbaths, and fasts to instruct the exiles in the divine law, and to admonish them to obey the divine preccpts (Ezra x. 1-9 ; Neh.
viii. t, 3 ; ix. 1-3 ; xiii. 1-3). These meetings, held near the temple and in other localities, were the origin of the synagogue, and the place in which the people assembled was denominated n4o man, the house of assembly. Hence also the synagogue in the temple itself. The elders of this synagogue handed the law to the high-priest Wisbna yonza, vii. ; Sota, vii. 7, 8) ; aided in the sacrifices (Taamid, v. 5); took charge of the palms used at the feast of Tabernacles (Succa, iv. 4 [TABERNACLES, FEAST OF]) ; accompanied the pilgrims who brought their first-fruits ( Tosiphla Bikkurim, ii.) ; officiated as judges (Maccoth, 12), and superintended the infant schools (Sab bath, i. 3). These synagogues soon became very popular, so that the Psahnist in depicting wor ship in the time of the Maccabees declares that the many meeting-places of God—or the syna gogues of God' as the A. V. rightly renders it— have been laid waste (Ps. lxxiv. 8). Later on we. find tbe Jews possessing synagogues in the different cities of Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt, and wherever they resided. We hear of the apostles frequenting the synagogues in Damascus, Antioch, Iconium, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, etc. etc. (Acts ix. 2, 20 ; Xiii. 14 ; XiV.
I ; XVii. I, 10, 17 ; XViii. 4, 19 ; xix. 8). There were numerous synagogues in Palestine, in Na zareth (Matt. xiii. 54 ; Mark Vi. 2 ; Luke iv. 16), Capernaum (Matt. xii. 9 ; Mark i. 21 ; Luke vii. 5 ; John vi. 59), etc. etc. ; and in Jerusalem alone
there were 4.8o gerusalem ; "'ern salon Kethuboth, xiii.) to accommodate the Jews from foreign lands who visited the temple. There were synagogues of the Libertines, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, Cilicians, and of the Asiatics (Acts vi. 9 ; Tosiphla Megilla, cap. ii. ; Babylon Megilla, 26 a). When it is remembered that more than 2,5oo,oco of Jews came together to the metropolis from all countries to celebrate the Passover (Jo seph. Antiq. vi. 9. 3 ; Pesachim, 64 a), this num ber of synagogues in Jerusalem will not appear at all exaggerated. An idea may be formed of the large number of Jews at the time of Christ, when it is borne in mind that in Egypt alone, from the Mediterranean to the border of Ethiopia, there resided nearly a million of Jews (Philo, Against Flaccus,ii. 523); and that in Syria, especi ally in the metropolis Antiocha, the Jews consti tuted a large portion of the population (Graetz, iii. 282, 2d ed.) 7. Literature.-2erusalem Megilla, cap. iii. ; Maimonides, Tad Ifa-Chezaka Hilchoth Tephila ; Vitringa, De .Synagoga vetere, Weissenfels 1726 ; Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vortrlige tier yuden, p. 366 ff., I3erlin 1832 ; by the same author, Die Ritus des synagogalen Goilesdienstes, Berlin 1859 ; Edelmann, Iligajon Leb, Konigsberg 1845 ; Herz feld, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, vol.i. pp. 24-3o ; 127, 391-394 ; 129-134 ; 83-223 ; IN-ordhausen, 1855, 1857 ; Jost, Geschichte des yudenthums, vol. i. pp. 38 ff. ; 168 ff. ; 262 ff., Leipzig 1857-8 ; Duschak, Illustrirte Monatschrift fiir die gesamm ten IntereJsen des "mlenthums, vol. i. pp. S3 ff., 174 ff., 4o9 ff., London I865.—C. D. G.