`What is a great city? That in which were ten men of leisure. If there be less than this number, behold, it is a

These men of leisure, Batlanin, were so described from their being unencumbered with worldly things. They

`were at leisure only to take care of the affairs of the synagogue'. Of these ten men, three bore the magistracy and

were called `The Bench of Three'. These were called `Rulers of the Synagogue'. Then there was the Chazan, or

Bishop, of the congregation: `He oversees how the reader reads (cf. Paul's concern "give attention to the reading")

and whom he may call out to read the law'. This office is the origin of the `Overseer' Episkopos, or Bishop, of the

early church. There were also three Deacons, or Almoners, on whom rested the care of the poor, and who were

called Parrasin, or Pastors. The reader will see how natural it was for the apostles to appoint the seven deacons in

Acts 6.

Another officer was the `Interpreter' for the law was still read in the Hebrew even though none of the

congregation understood it. Beside the Sabbath meetings, meetings were held on the second and fifth days of the

week. To this the words of Acts 13:42 may refer, for `the next sabbath' is to metaxu sabbaton, and metaxu means

`between' and so might refer to these weekly meetings that came between the sabbath days. It is however only just

to say that Josephus uses the word in the sense of `after' (Bel. v. 42). The Companion Bible reads `one of the

weekly gatherings'.

Entering the synagogue we should find ourselves in a building unadorned, and differing from the heathen

temples around them by the complete absence of any sculptured figure. On one side, behind a lattice window, sit the

women. In the centre is the reader's desk, and toward the side facing Jerusalem, is the Ark which contained the

sacred scrolls. All round the building are seats so that `the eyes of all that are in the synagogue' can be `fastened' on

the speaker. The chief seats are reserved for the rulers of the syn agogue.

The service being begun, the minister calls out seven to read the law. First a priest, then a Levite, if present, then

five Israelites. Thus in some editions of the Hebrew Bible one can still see, marked in the margin of the Law, 1st

Priest, 2nd Levite, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th. The first lesson is then read. This is called the Parashah. Read in

Hebrew, it is translated verse by verse by the Interpreter. After the Parashah, a short portion from the Haphtorah,

which is a selection from the prophets, is read, the translation this time being at the end of every three verses. Then

comes the Midrash, or sermon. This is not delivered by one set minister, but any qualified stranger or visitor could

be invited by the ruler of the synagogue to give a word of exhortation.

This is just what happened at Antioch, where Paul readily and eagerly responded to the invitation of the rulers of

the synagogue. The modern conception of a sermon, where a text is made the basis of an address more or less

remotely connected with it, is not the Midrash of the synagogue. The Midrash arose naturally out of the reading of

the law and the prophets.

In the present list of Jewish lessons, Deuteronomy 1 to 3:22 and Isaiah 1:1-22 form the forty-fourth in order, and

Bengel makes the happy suggestion that this was the lesson on the day of Paul's visit to the synagogue at Antioch.

Farrar draws attention to the occurrences of two words used in Paul's address, one of unusual form, etropophoresen

(Acts 13:18), `carried them as a man carries his little son' (LXX. Deut. 1:31), and the other, hupsosen, employed,

most unusually, to convey the sense of `He brought them out' (Acts 13:17; Isa. 1:2). The fact that these two words

are found, respectively, in the first of Deuteronomy and the first of Isaiah, combined with the circumstance that the

historical part of Paul's exhortation turns on the subject alluded to in the first of these two chapters, and that the

promise of free remission is directly suggested by the other, makes Bengel's suggestion extremely probable, i.e. that

these were the two chapters which had just been read.

In some respects Paul's address differs from that of Peter recorded in Acts 2, while in others it is similar to it.

Where Peter limits his remarks to the people of Israel and Jewish proselytes, Paul addresses his audience as `men of

Israel', `ye that fear God', `children of the stock of Abraham' and `whosoever among you feareth God'. Whereas

Peter when preaching to Cornelius said `the word which God sent unto the children of Israel' (Acts 10:36), Paul said

to the whole congregation, `To you is the word of this salvation sent' (Acts 13:26).