A TABLE OF THE HAPHTOROTH, OR SECTIONS OF THE PROPHETS, AS READ IN THE DIFFERENT JEWISH SYNAGOGUES FOR EVERY SABBATH OF THE YEAR. German and Dutch Jews. 2 Kings iv. 1-87. Ditto. 1 Kings iii. 15–28. iv. 1. xi. Ezek. xxxvii. 15-28. xii. 1 Kings ii. 1-12. xxxi. Ezek. xliv. 15-31. xxxii. Jer. xxxii. 6-27. xxxiii. Jer. xvi. 19-21. xvii. 1-14. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. liv. Josh. i. 1-18. Eccles. i.-xii. inclusive. Some say Ezek. xvii. 22-24. Jer. ii. 4-28. iii. 4. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Isa. lv. 6-13. Ivi. 1-8. Hos. xiv. 1-9. Joel ii. 1-27.1 cases from the Italian and Portuguese; and there are some slighter variations besides those above, which he has not noticed. A similar discrepancy existed in the practice of Itinerary of Benjamin the Babylonian and Syrian Jews in Egypt, in the twelfth century. of Judæa, translated with valuable notes by Mr. A. Asher, vol. i. pp. 147, 148. London, 1840. 8vo. It is a circumstance highly deserving of notice, that the celebrated prophecy quoted by the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost from the prophet Joel (ii. 28-32.) forms a In the synagogues of the Hellenists or Greek Jews, the law was always read in the Alexandrian or Greek version': but in those of the native Jews, the law was always read in Hebrew; whence it became necessary, as soon as that language ceased to be vernacular among the Jews, to establish an interpreter, by whom the Jewish Scriptures were expounded in the Syro-Chaldaic dialect, which was spoken by them after the return from the Babylonian captivity. An example of this practice occurs in Neh. viii. 2-8. The doctor or reader, therefore, having the interpreter always by him, softly whispered in his ears what he said, and this interpreter repeated aloud to the people what had thus been communicated to him. To this custom our Saviour is supposed to have alluded when he said to his disciples, What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. (Matt. x. 27.) 2 4. The last part of the synagogue service was the Exposition of the Scriptures, and Preaching to the people from them. The first was performed at the time of reading them, and the other after the reading of the law and the prophets. In Luke iv. 15-22. we have an account of the service of the synagogue in the time of Christ; from which it appears that he taught the Jews in both these ways: And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias: and when he had unrolled the volume3 he found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord!” And he folded the volume and he gave it again to the minister and sat down: and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them: This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. From this passage we learn, that when Jesus Christ came to Naza part of the Pentecostal service of the Karaite Jews in the Crimea. "Such, however, is the fact; and may we not conclude, from the pertinacity with which this ancient sect have adhered to their primitive institutions, that the same coincidence took place in the apostolic age?" Dr. Henderson's Biblical Researches, &c. p. 326. Tertulliani Apologia, c. 18. 2 Dr. Lightfoot's Horæ Hebraicæ, on Matt. x. 27. 3 “'AvaπTúžas Tò Bisλíov. This word signifies to unfold, unroll. The books of the ancients were written on parchment and rolled up. Hence the word volume. 'AXX' QÙI ἀναπτύξαντες αὐτοὺς καὶ τὰ χεῖρε περιβαλόντες ἀλλήλοις ; Why do we not unfold our arms, and clasp each other in them? Dion. Halicarn. lib. vi. p. 392. Hudson. Τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ANAITTEAZ, unfolding the letter. Josephus de vitâ sua, p. 21. Havercamp. гpavas ἐς βιβλίον τὰ ἐβούλετο, ἁλίην τῶν Περσων ἐποιήσατο, μετὰ δὲ, ΑΝΑΠΤΥΞΑΣ ΤΟ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΝ.” [the very expression of the evangelist.] Herodotus, lib. i. c. 125. tom. i. p. 158. edit. Oxon. 1809. Dr. Harwood's Introduction, vol. ii. p. 181. 4 Πτύξας τὸ βιβλίον. Fur reth, his own city, he was called out, as a member of that synagogue, to read the haphtorah, that is, the section or lesson out of the prophets for that day; which appears to have been the fifty-first haphtorah, and to have commenced with the first verse of Isa. lxi. and not with the tenth, as in the table above given. "Have the Jews," asks an eminent commentator, "altered this haphtorah, knowing the use which our blessed Lord made of it among their ancestors?" ther he stood up (as it was customary, at least for the officiating minister to do out of reverence for the word of God) to read the Scriptures; and unrolled the manuscript until he came to the lesson appointed for that day; which having read he rolled it up again, and gave it to the proper officer; and then he sat down and expounded it, agreeably to the usage of the Jews." But when Christ entered any synagogue of which he was not a member, (as it appears from Luke iv. 16. he always did on every sabbath-day, wherever he was,) he taught the people in sermons after the law and the prophets had been read. The Sacred Writings, used to this day in all the Jewish synagogues, are written on skins of parchment or vellum, and (like the ancient copies) rolled on two rollers, beginning at each end: so that, in reading from right to left, they roll off with the left, while they roll on with the right hand.3 The vignette, at the head of this section, will convey some idea of the manner in which the Synagogue Rolls are unrolled. It is taken from the original and very valuable manuscript in the British Museum. "It should seem also, at least in foreign countries where places of worship were established, that when strangers, who were Jews, arrived at such towns, and went to offer their devotions, it was usual for the presidents of the synagogue, after the appointed portion out of the law and the prophets was read, to send a servant to them, and in a very respectful manner to request that if they could impart any thing that might contribute to the religious instruction and edification of the audience, they would deliver it. This token of respect and politeness shown to strangers, appears from the following passage in the Acts of the Apostles. (Acts xiii. 14, 15.) When Paul and his companions, on their arrival at Antioch in Pisidia, went into the Jewish synagogue on the sabbath-day, and sat down after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, Men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Upon which Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience." 4 'Dr. A. Clarke, on Deut. xxxiv. 2 In like manner, according to the custom of their public instructors, we find our Saviour sitting down (Matt. v. 1.) before he began to deliver his sermon on the mount to the assembled multitudes; and upon another occasion sitting down, and out of the ship teaching the people who were collected on the shore. (Matt. xiii. 1.) So also it is said of the scribes, who were the Jewish clergy, that they sat (Matt. xxiii. 2.) in Moses' chair: whatever therefore they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not after their works, for they say and do not. 3 Dr. A. Clarke, on Luke vi. 17. Dr. Harwood's Introd. vol. ii. p. 182. The synagogues, however, were not only places set apart for prayer; they were also schools where youth were instructed. The sages (for so were the teachers called) sat upon elevated benches, while the pupils stood at their feet or before them'; which circumstance explains St. Paul's meaning (Acts xxii. 3.) when he says that he was brought up AT THE FEET of Gamaliel. V. Those who had been guilty of any notorious crime, or were otherwise thought unworthy, were cast out of these synagogues, that is, excommunicated, and excluded from partaking with the rest in the public prayers and religious offices there performed; so that they were looked upon as mere Heathens, and shut out from all benefit of the Jewish religion, which exclusion was esteemed scandalous. We are told that the Jews came to a resolution, that whoever confessed that Jesus was the Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. (John ix. 22.) And, therefore, when the blind man, who had been restored to sight, persisted in confessing that he believed the person who had been able to work such a miracle could not have done it, if he were not of God, they cast him out. (ver. 33, 34.)2 VI. The following are the Shemoneh Esreh or nineteen prayers of the Jews, referred to in page 279. as translated by Dr. Prideaux. That which was formerly the nineteenth is now the twelfth in the order in which they stand in the Jewish liturgies. The first or precatory part of each article was pronounced by the priest, and the last or eucharistical part was the response of the people. "1. Blessed be thou, O LORD our GOD, the GOD of our fathers, the GOD of Abraham, the GOD of Isaac, the GOD of Jacob, the great GOD, powerful and tremendous, the high God, bountifully dispensing benefits, the creator and possessor of the universe, who rememberest the good deeds of our fathers, and in thy love sendest a Redeemer to those who are descended from them, for thy name's sake, O King our LORD and helper, our Saviour and our shield.—Blessed art thou, O LORD, who art the shield of Abraham! "2. Thou O, LORD, art powerful for ever; thou raisest the dead to life, and art mighty to save; thou sendest down the dew, stillest 1 Fleury, Lamy, and other eminent critics, have supposed that the Jewish youth sat on low seats on the ground, at the feet of their preceptors, who occupied a lofty chair; but Vitringa has shown, from Jewish authority, that the disciples of the rabbins stood before them in the manner above represented. See his treatise de Synag. Vet. lib. i. p. 1. c. 7. Kypke (Observ. Sacræ, in Nov. Fœd. Libros, vol. ii. p. 114, 115.) has collected a variety of passages from Greek writers, to show that the expression Tapà Toùs módas, at the feet, is equivalent to λnolov, near or before. 2 The preceding account of the Jewish Synagogues has been compiled from Lamy's Apparatus Biblicus, vol. ii. pp. 219-221. Prideaux's Connections (book vi. sub anno 444.) vol. i. pp. 374-391. Fleury's Manners of the Israelites by Dr. Clarke, pp. 336— 338. Pictet, Antiq. Judaïques, pp. 12-14. (Theol. Chret. tom. iii.) Schulzii Archæol. Hebr. pp. 225, 226. Reland's Antiq. Hebr. part i. c. 10. pp. 126--140. Ikenii Antiq Hebr. part i. c. 9. pp. 100-105. Schachtii Animadversiones ad Ikenii Antiq. Hebr pp. 452-470. Lardner's Credibility, book i. c. 9. § 6. Pritii Introd. ad Nov. Test, pp. 447. 595-608. ; and Dr. Jennings's Jewish Antiquities, book ii. c. 2. Parcau, Antiq Hebr. pp. 204-208. Beausobre's and L'Enfant's Introd. Bp. Watson's Theol. Tracts, pp. 158-169. On the synagogue-worship of the modern Jews, see Mr. Allen's Modern Judaism, pp. 319–354. the winds, and makest the rain to come down upon the earth, and sustainest with thy beneficence all that are therein; and of thy abundant mercy makest the dead again to live. Thou raisest up those who fall; thou healest the sick, thou loosest them who are bound, and makest good thy word of truth to those who sleep in the dust. Who is to be compared to thee, O thou LORD of might! and who is like unto thee, O our King, who killest and makest alive, and makest salvation to spring as the grass in the field! Thou art faithful to make the dead to rise again to life.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who raisest the dead again to life! "3. Thou art holy, and thy name is holy, and thy saints do praise thee every day. Selah. For a great king and a holy art thou, O GOD.-Blessed art thou, O LORD GOD, most holy! "4. Thou of thy mercy givest knowledge unto men, and teachest them understanding: give graciously unto us knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who graciouly givest knowledge unto men! "5. Bring us back, O our Father, to the observance of thy law, and make us to adhere to thy precepts, and do thou, O our King, draw us near to thy worship, and convert us to thee by perfect repentance in thy presence.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who vouchsafest to receive us by repentance! "6. Be thou merciful unto us, O our Father; for we have sinned: pardon us, O our King, for we have transgressed against thee. For thou art a God, good and ready to pardon. - Blessed art thou, O LORD most gracious, who multipliest thy mercies in the forgiveness of sins! "7. Look, we beseech thee, upon our afflictions. Be thou on our side in all our contentions, and plead thou our cause in all our litigations; and make haste to redeem us with a perfect redemption for thy name's sake. For thou art our GOD, our King, and a strong Redeemer.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, the Redeemer of Israel! "8. Heal us, O LORD our GOD, and we shall be healed; save us, and we shall be saved. For thou art our praise. Bring unto us sound health, and a perfect remedy for all our infirmities, and for all our griefs, and for all our wounds. For thou art a GOD who healest and art merciful. Blessed art thou, O LORD our GOD, who curest the diseases of thy people Israel! "9. Bless us, O LORD our GOD, in every work of our hands, and bless unto us the seasons of the year, and give us the dew and the rain to be a blessing unto us, upon the face of all our land, and satiate the world with thy blessings, and send down moisture upon every part of the earth that is habitable.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who givest thy blessing to the years! 10. Gather us together by the sound of the great trumpet, to the enjoyment of our liberty; and lift up thy ensign to call together all the captivity, from the four quarters of the earth into our own land. Blessed art thou, O LORD, who gatherest together the exiles of the people of Israel! |