Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadInternational Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Congregation
Subjects in this Topic:
koṇ-grē̇-gā´shun (קהל, ḳāhāl, עדה, ‛ēdhāh).
1. Terms Employed
These two words rendered by “congregation†or “assembly†are used apparently without any difference of sense. They appear to include an assembly of the whole people or any section that might be present on a given occasion. Indeed, sometimes the idea appears to correspond closely to that conveyed by “horde,†or even by “crowd.†‛EÌ„dhaÌ„h is once used of bees (). It has been sought to distinguish the two words by means of , “if the whole ‛eÌ„dhaÌ„h of Israel err, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the kÌ£aÌ„haÌ„l.†The kÌ£aÌ„haÌ„l would then be the smaller body representing the whole ‛eÌ„dhaÌ„h, but the general usage is not favorable to this view (compare e.g. , “cutting off from the ‛eÌ„dhaÌ„h of Israel,†with , “cutting off from the kÌ£aÌ„haÌ„lÌŒâ€). The idea denoted by these words is said by Wellhausen to be “foreign to Hebrew antiquity,†though it “runs through the Priestly Code from beginning to end†(Prolegomena 78). Yet it is Deuteronomy that presents us with laws excluding certain classes from the kÌ£aÌ„haÌ„l, and the word is also found in ; (the Revised Version (British and American) “multitudeâ€); ; ; ; ; ; ; , and other early passages, while ‛eÌ„dhaÌ„h occurs in (see further, Eerdmans, Das Buch Exodus, 80 f). On the other hand taste and euphony appear to be responsible for the choice of one or other of the words in many cases. Thus the Chronicler uses kÌ£aÌ„haÌ„l frequently, but ‛eÌ„dhaÌ„h only once ( = ).
2. Legal Provisions
Moses provided for the summoning of the congregation by trumpets (-8). For the sin offering to be brought if the whole congregation erred, see -21.
-8 (in Heb 2 through 9) excludes bastards, Ammonites and Moabites from the assembly, even to the tenth generation, while Edomites and Egyptians were admitted in the third. Those who suffer from certain physical defects are also excluded.
3. Other Terms
One other word must be noted, מועד, mō‛eÌ„dhÌŒ. It occurs often in the phrase 'oÌ„hel mō‛eÌ„dh (“tent of meetingâ€; see TABERNACLE). But in we find it used of certain princes who were “men of renown called to the assembly.â€
For עצרת, ‛acereth, rendered by the Revised Version (British and American) “solemn assemblyâ€, see FEASTS. On מקר×, mikÌ£raÌ„', see CONVOCATION.