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of the verb ekklesiazo, "to gather", or "assemble". The first occurrence of ekklesia is in
Deut. 4: 10, where the verb ekklesiazo is also found. The word is usually translated in
the English version of the LXX either "assembly" or "congregation". In addition to the
Book of Deuteronomy, the word is also found in Joshua, Judges, I Samuel, I Kings,
I and II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Lamentations, Ezekiel,
Joel and Micah. It will be seen, therefore, that the word was in common use from the
days when Israel were assembled before Moses, up to the time of Ezra, Nehemiah, and
the prophets.
The word that the Greek translators had before them was the Hebrew kahal, "to call,
to gather, to assemble". It is not necessary to enumerate all the many occurrences, but we
give a few that are outstanding.
"The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening" (Ex. 12: 6).
The exclusive nature of an ekklesia is illustrated in Neh. 13: 1:
"On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and
therein was found written that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the
congregation of God for ever."
The Book of Genesis uses the word kahal in the following passage in chapter 28::
"And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou
mayest be a multitude of people" (Gen. 28: 3).
The translation of kahal by "multitude" here is unwarranted. The A.V. itself bears this
out, for, apart from the parallel passage in Gen. 48: 4, the word "multitude" is never
again used as a rendering of kahal. The A.V. translators themselves were evidently not
quite satisfied, for in the margin they give as an alternative, the word "assembly". The
second and third occurrences of kahal in Genesis are in Chapters 35: and 48::
"A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee" (Gen. 35: 11).
"I will make of thee a multitude of people" (Gen. 48: 4).
These three passages in Genesis are three prophetic statements in connection with the
blessing given to Jacob, who was also named Israel. However strange or improbable it
may appear at first sight, these three passages constitute the foundation of every reference
to the ekklesia, the "church", in the Old or New Testaments. When, therefore, we read in
Matt. 15: 24 that the Lord said: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel", and in 16: 18: "Upon this rock I will build My church", we do not feel under
any necessity to modify the limitation of chapter 15: or to expand the exclusive
company of chapter 16: The "church" to which the Lord added daily, on and after the
day of Pentecost, was an Israelitish assembly, as a reading of Acts 2: will show, and
subsequent statements in the Acts will confirm (e.g., 10: 28 and 11: 19). The inclusion
of the saved Gentiles into the ekklesia was explained by James as being quite consistent
with the testimony of the prophets (Acts 15: 14-18).