Isaiah lxv, 4; lxvi, 3, 17; χοῖρος, Matt. vii, 6; viii, 30; Mark v, 14;
Luke viii, 33; xv, 15; the plural of hog, an animal well known. In
impurity and grossness of manners, this creature stands almost
unrivalled among the order of quadrupeds; and the meanness of his
appearance corresponds to the grossness of his manners. He has a most
indiscriminate, voracious, and insatiable appetite. The Prophet Isaiah,
lxv, 4, charges his degenerate people with eating swine’s flesh, and
having broth of abominable things in their vessels, Isaiah lxvi, 3.
Conduct so contrary to their solemn engagements, so hateful in the sight
of the Holy One, though long endured, was not always to pass with
impunity. “They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the
gardens, behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the
abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord,”
Isaiah lxvi, 17. Such a sacrifice was an abomination to the Lord,
because the eating of the blood was prohibited, and because the
sacrifice consisted of swine’s flesh. To these precepts and
threatenings, which were often enforced by severe judgments may be
traced the habitual and unconquerable aversion of the latter Jews to the
use of swine’s flesh; an aversion which the most alluring promises and
the most cruel sufferings have been found alike insufficient to subdue.
In such detestation was the hog held by the Jews that they would not so
much as pronounce its name, but called it “the strange thing;” and we
read in the history of the Maccabees, that Eleazer, a principal scribe,
being compelled by Antiochus Epiphanes to open his mouth and receive
swine’s flesh, spit it forth, and went of his own accord to the torment,
choosing rather to suffer death than to break the law of God, and give
offence to his nation, 2 Mac. vi, 18; vii, 1. It is observed that when
Adrian rebuilt Jerusalem, he set up the image of a hog, in bas-relief,
upon the gates of the city, to drive the Jews away from it, and to
express the greater contempt for that miserable people. It was avarice,
a contempt of the law of Moses, and a design to supply the neighbouring
idolaters with victims, that caused whole herds of swine to be fed on
the borders of Galilee. Whence the reason is plain of Christ’s
permitting the devils to throw the swine headlong into the lake of
Genesareth, Matthew viii, 32. We read, in Matthew vii, 6, “Give not that
which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”
There is a similar maxim in the Talmudical writings: “Do not cast pearls
before swine;” to which is added, by way of explanation, “Do not offer
wisdom to one who knows not the value of it, but profanes its glory.”
SYCAMINE, συκάμινος, in Arabic _sokam_, Luke xvii, 6. This is a
different tree from the sycamore, mentioned Luke xix, 4. Dioscorides
says that this tree is the mulberry, though he allows that some
apprehend that it is the same with the sycamore. Galen has a separate
article on the _sycamorus_, which he speaks of as rare, and mentions as
having seen it at Alexandria in Egypt. The Greeks name the _morus_ the
sycamine. Grotius says the word συκάμινος has no connection with συκέη,
_the fig-tree_, but is entirely Syrian, שקמין, in Hebrew, שקמים. It
should seem, indeed, to be very similar to the mulberry, as not only the
Latin, but the Syriac and the Arabic, render it by _morus_; and thus
Coverdale’s, the Rheim’s, and Purver’s English translations render it by
the mulberry; and so it is in Bishop Wilson’s Bible.
SYCAMORE, שקמות, שקמים, 1 Kings x, 27; 1 Chron. xxvii, 28; 2 Chron. i,
15; Psalm lxxviii, 47; Isa. ix, 9; Amos viii, 14; συκομορέα, Luke xix,
4; a large tree, according to the description of Theophrastus,
Dioscorides, and Galen, resembling the mulberry-tree in the leaf, and
the fig in its fruit; hence its name, compounded of συκέη _fig_, and
μόρος, _mulberry_; and some have fancied that it was originally produced
by ingrafting the one tree upon the other. Its fruit is palatable. When
ripe it is soft, watery, somewhat sweet, with a little of an aromatic
taste. The trees are very common in Palestine, Arabia, and Egypt; grow
large, and to a great height; and though their grain is coarse are much
used in building. To change sycamores into cedars, Isa. ix, 10, means,
to render the buildings of cities, and the state of the nation, much
more magnificent than before. Dr. Shaw remarks, that as the grain and
texture of the sycamore is remarkably coarse and spongy, it could
therefore stand in no competition at all with the cedar for beauty and
ornament. We meet with the same opposition of cedars to sycamores in 1
Kings x, 27, where Solomon is said to have made silver as the stones,
and cedars as the sycamores of the vale for abundance. “By this
_mashal_, or figurative and sententious speech,” says Bishop Lowth,
“they boast, in this place of Isaiah, that they shall be easily able to
repair their present losses, suffered, perhaps, by the first Assyrian
invasion under Tiglath-Pileser, and to bring their affairs to a more
flourishing condition than ever.” The wood of this tree is very durable.
“The mummy chests,” says Dr. Shaw, “and whatever figures and instruments
of wood are found in the catacombs, are all of them of sycamore, which,
though spongy and porous to appearance, has, notwithstanding, continued
entire and uncorrupted for at least three thousand years. From its value
in furnishing wood for various uses, from the grateful shade which its
wide-spreading branches afforded, and on account of the fruit which
Mallet says the Egyptians hold in the highest estimation, we perceive
the loss which the ancient inhabitants of Egypt must have felt when
their vines were destroyed with hail, and their sycamore trees with
frost,” Psalm lxxviii, 47. “The sycamore,” says Mr. Norden, “is of the
height of a beech, and bears its fruit in a manner quite different from
other trees; it has them on the trunk itself, which shoots out little
sprigs, in form of grape stalks, at the end of which grow the fruit
close to one another, almost like clusters of grapes. The tree is always
green, and bears fruit several times in the year, without observing any
certain seasons; for I have seen some sycamores that have given fruit
two months after others. The fruit has the figure and smell of real
figs, but is inferior to them in the taste, having a disgustful
sweetness. Its colour is a yellow, inclining to an ochre, shadowed by a
flesh colour. In the inside it resembles the common figs, excepting that
it has a blackish colouring with yellow spots. This sort of tree is
pretty common in Egypt; the people, for the greater part, live upon its
fruit, and think themselves well regaled when they have a piece of
bread, a couple of sycamore figs, and a pitcher of water.” There might
be many of these trees in Judea. David appointed a particular officer,
whose sole duty it was to watch over the plantations of sycamore and
olive-trees, 1 Chron. xxviii, 28; and being joined with the olive, the
high estimation in which it was held is intimated; for the olive is
considered as one of the most precious gifts which the God of nature has
bestowed on the oriental nations. There seem to have been great numbers
of them in Solomon’s time, 1 Kings x, 27; and in the Talmud they are
mentioned as growing in the plains of Jericho.
One curious particular in the cultivation of the fruit must not be
passed over. Pliny, Dioscorides, and Theophrastus observe that the fruit
must be cut or scratched, either with the nail or with iron, or it will
not ripen; but four days after this process it will become ripe. To this
same purpose Jerom, on Amos vii, 14, says, that without this management
the figs are excessively bitter. These testimonies, together with the
Septuagint and Vulgate version, are adduced to settle the meaning of the
word בולס, in Amos vii, 14, which must signify scraping, or making
incisions in the sycamore fruit; an employment of Amos before he was
called to the prophetic office: “I was no prophet, neither was I a
prophet’s son; but I was a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.”
Hasselquist, describing the _ficus sycamorus_, or Scripture sycamore,
says, “It buds the latter end of March, and the fruit ripens in the
beginning of June. At the time when the fruit has arrived to the size of
an inch diameter, the inhabitants pare off a part at the centre point.
They say that without this paring it would not come to maturity.” The
figs thus prematurely ripened are called _djumeis_ _bædri_, that is,
“precocious sycamore figs.” As the sycamore is a large spreading tree,
sometimes shooting up to a considerable height, we see the reason why
Zaccheus climbed up into a sycamore tree to get a sight of our Saviour.
This incident also furnishes a proof that the sycamore was still common
in Palestine; for this tree stood to protect the traveller by the side
of the highway.
SYENE, a city of Egypt, now called Assouan, situated at its southern
extremity. Ezekiel, xxix, 10, describing the desolation to be brought
upon Egypt says, “Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make the
land of Egypt utterly desolate, from the tower of Syene even to the
border of Cush,” or Arabia, or, as some read it, “from Migdol to Syene,”
implying, according to either version of the passage, the whole length
of the country from north to south. The latitude of Syene, according to
Bruce, is 24° 0´ 45´´; that of Alexandria, 31° 11´ 33´´; difference 7°
10´ 48´´, equal to four hundred and thirty geographical miles on the
meridian, or about five hundred British miles; but the real length of
the valley of Egypt, as it follows the windings of the Nile, is full six
hundred miles.
SYNAGOGUE, συναγωγὴ, “an assembly,” Rev. ii, 9; iii, 9. The word often
occurs in the Gospels and in the Acts, because Jesus Christ and his
Apostles generally went to preach in those places. Although the
sacrifices could not be offered, except in the tabernacle or the temple,
the other exercises of religion were restricted to no particular place.
Accordingly we find that the praises of God were sung, at a very ancient
period, in the schools of the prophets; and those who felt any
particular interest in religion, were assembled by the seers on the
Sabbath, and the new moons, for prayers and religious instruction, 1
Sam. x, 5–11; xix, 18–24; 2 Kings iv, 23. During the Babylonish
captivity, the Jews, who were then deprived of their customary religious
privileges, were wont to collect around some prophet or other pious man,
who taught them and their children in religion, exhorted to good
conduct, and read out of the sacred books, Ezek. xiv, 1; xx, 1; Dan. vi,
11; Neh. viii, 18. These assemblies, or meetings, became, in progress of
time, fixed to certain places, and a regular order was observed in them.
Such appears to have been the origin of synagogues.
In speaking of synagogues, it is worthy to be noticed, that there is
nothing said in respect to the existence of such buildings in Palestine,
during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. They are, therefore, by some
supposed to have been first erected under the Maccabean princes, but
that, in foreign countries, they were much more ancient. Whether this
statement be correct or not, it is nevertheless certain, that in the
time of the Apostles, there were synagogues wherever there were Jews.
They were built, in imitation of the temple of Jerusalem, with a court
and porches, as is the case with the synagogues in the east at the
present day. In the centre of the court is a chapel, supported by four
columns, in which, on an elevation prepared for it, is placed the book
of the law, rolled up. This, on the appointed days, is publicly read. In
addition to the chapel, there is erected within the court a large
covered hall or vestry, into which the people retire, when the weather
happens to be cold and stormy, and each family has its particular seat.
The uppermost seats in the synagogue, that is, those which were nearest
the chapel where the sacred books were kept, were esteemed peculiarly
honourable, Matt. xxiii, 6; James ii, 3. The “proseuchæ,” ϖροσευχαὶ, are
understood by some to be smaller synagogues, but by others are supposed
to be particular places under the open sky, where the Jews assembled for
religious exercise. But Josephus calls the proseucha of Tiberias a large
house, which held very many persons. See _Proseuchæ_. The Apostles
preached the Gospel in synagogues and proseuchæ, and with their
adherents performed in them all the religious services. When excluded,
they imitated the Jews in those places, where they were too poor to
erect these buildings, and held their religious meetings in the houses
of individuals. Hence we not only hear of synagogues in houses in the
Talmud, but of churches in houses in the New Testament, Rom. xvi, 5; 1
Cor. xvi, 19; Col. iv, 15; Phil. ii; Acts iii, 46; v, 42. The Apostles
sometimes hired a house, in which they performed religious services, and
taught daily, Acts xix, 9; xx, 8. Συναγωγὴ means literally a convention
or assembly, but by metonymy, was eventually used for the place of
assembling; in the same way, that ἐκκλησία, which means literally a
calling together, or convocation, signifies also at the present time the
place of convocation. Synagogues were sometimes called by the Jews
schools; but they were careful to make an accurate distinction between
such, and the schools, properly so called, the מדרשים, or “sublimer
schools,” in which the Talmud was read, while the law merely was read in
the synagogues, which they placed far behind the Talmud.
The mode of conducting religious instruction and worship in the
primitive Christian churches was derived for the most part from the
practice which anciently prevailed in synagogues. But there were no
regular teachers in the synagogues who were officially qualified to
pronounce discourses before the people; although there were interpreters
who rendered into the vernacular tongue, namely, the _Hebræo-aramean_,
the sections, which had been publicly read in the Hebrew.
The “synagogue preacher,” דרשן, whose business it is, in consequence of
his office, to address the people, is an official personage that has
been introduced in later times; at least we find no mention of such a
one in the New Testament. On the contrary, in the time of Christ, the
person who read the section for the Sabbath, or any other person who was
respectable for learning and had a readiness of speech, addressed the
people, Luke iv, 16–21; Acts xiii, 5, 15; xv, 21; Matt. iv, 23.
The other persons who were employed in the services and government of
the synagogue, in addition to the one who read the Scriptures, and the
person who rendered them into the vernacular tongue, were as follows: 1.
“The ruler of the synagogue,” ἀρχισυνάγωγος, ראש הכנסת, who presided
over the assembly, and invited readers and speakers, unless some persons
who were acceptable voluntarily offered themselves, Mark v, 22, 35–38;
Luke viii, 41; xiii, 14, 15; Acts xiii, 15. 2. “The elders of the
synagogue,” וקנים, ϖρεσβύτεροι. They appear to have been the counsellors
of the head or ruler of the synagogue, and were chosen from among the
most powerful and learned of the people, and are hence called
ἀρχισυνάγωγοι, Acts xiii, 15. The council of elders not only took a part
in the management of the internal concerns of the synagogue, but also
punished transgressors of the public laws, either by turning them out of
the synagogue, or decreeing the punishment of thirty-nine stripes, John
xii, 42; xvi, 2; 2 Cor. xi, 24. 3. “The collectors of alms,” גבאי צדקה,
διάκονοι, “deacons.” Although every thing which is said of them by the
Jews was not true concerning them in the time of the Apostles, there can
be no doubt that there were such officers in the synagogues at that
time, Acts vi. 4. “The servants of the synagogue,” חזן, ὑπηρέτης, Luke
iv, 20; whose business it was to reach the book of the law to the person
who was to read it, and to receive it back again, and to perform other
services. The ceremonies which prevail in the synagogues at the present
day in presenting the law were not observed in the time of our Saviour.
5. “The messenger or legate of the synagogue,” שליה צבור. This was a
person who was sent from synagogues abroad, to carry alms to Jerusalem.
The name, messenger of the synagogue, was applied likewise to any
person, who was commissioned by a synagogue, and sent forth to propagate
religious knowledge. A person likewise was denominated the messenger, or
angel, ἄγγελλος, τῆς ἄγγελλος ἐκκλησίας, &c, who was selected by the
assembly to recite for them the prayers; the same that is called by the
Jews of modern times the synagogue singer, or cantilator, Rev. ii, 1, 8,
12, 18; iii, 1, 7, 14.
The Jews anciently called those persons who, from their superior
erudition, were capable of teaching in the synagogue, פרנסים,
“shepherds,” or “pastors.” They applied the same term, at least in more
recent times, to the elders of the synagogue, and also to the collectors
of alms, or deacons. The ground of the application of this term in such
a way, is as follows: the word פרנם is, without doubt, derived from the
Greek word ϖύρνος, “bread,” or “a fragment of bread;” and, as it is used
in the Targums, it corresponds to the Hebrew verb רעה, “to feed.” It is
easy to see, therefore, how the word פרנס might be applied to persons
who sustained offices in the synagogue, in the same way as רעה is
applied to kings, &c.
We do not find mention made of public worship in the synagogues, except
on the Sabbath, Matthew xii, 9; Mark i, 21; iii, 1; vi, 2; Luke iv, 16,
32, 33; vi, 6; xiii, 10; Acts xiii, 14; xv, 21; xvi, 13–25; xvii, 2;
xviii, 4. What is said of St. Paul’s hiring the school of one Tyrannus
at Ephesus, and teaching in it daily, is a peculiar instance, Acts xix,
9, 10. Yet there can be no doubt that those Jews who were unable to go
to Jerusalem attended worship on their festival days, as well as on the
Sabbath, in their own synagogues. Individuals sometimes offered their
private prayers in the synagogue. When an assembly was collected
together for worship, the services began, after the customary greeting,
with a doxology. A section was then read from the Mosaic law. Then
followed, after the singing of a second doxology, the reading of a
portion from the prophets, Acts xv, 31; Luke iv, 16. The person whose
duty it was to perform the reading, placed upon his head, as is done at
the present day, a covering called _tallith_, to which St. Paul alludes,
2 Cor. iii, 15. The sections which had been read in the Hebrew were
rendered by an interpreter into the vernacular tongue, and the reader or
some other man then addressed the people, Luke iv, 16; Acts xiii, 15. It
was on such occasions as these, that Jesus, and afterward the Apostles,
taught the Gospel. The meeting, as far as the religious exercises, were
concerned, was ended with a prayer, to which the people responded Amen,
when a collection was taken for the poor.
The customs which prevail at the present day, and which Vitringa has
treated of, were not all of them practised in ancient times. The
readers, for instance, were not then, as they are at the present day,
called upon to perform, but presented themselves voluntarily, Luke iv,
16; the persons also who addressed the people were not rabbins expressly
appointed for that purpose, but were either invited from those present,
or offered themselves, Acts xiii, 15; Luke iv, 17. The parts to be
publicly read, likewise, do not appear to have been previously pointed
out, although the book was selected by the ruler of the synagogue, Luke
iv, 16. Furthermore, the forms of prayer that are used by the Jews at
the present time do not appear to have been in existence in the time of
Christ; unless this may perhaps have been the case in respect to the
substance of some of them, especially the one called שמץ קרי, concerning
which the Talmudists, at a very early period, gave many precepts.
It was by ministering in synagogues that the Apostles gathered the
churches. They retained also essentially the same mode of worship with
that of the synagogues, excepting that the Lord’s Supper was made an
additional institution, agreeably to the example of Christ, Acts ii, 42;
xx, 7–11; 1 Cor. xi, 16–34. They were at length excluded from the
synagogue and assembled at evening in the house of some Christian, which
was lighted for the purpose with lamps, Acts xx, 7–11. The Apostle, with
the elders, when engaged in public worship, took a position where they
would be most likely to be heard by all. The first service was merely a
salutation or blessing, namely, “The Lord be with you,” or, “Peace be
with you.” Then followed the doxologies and prelexions, the same as in
the synagogues. The Apostle then addressed the people on the subject of
religion, and urged upon them that purity of life which it required.
Prayer succeeded, which was followed by the commemoration of the
Saviour’s death in the breaking and distribution of bread. The meeting
was ended by taking a collection for the poor, especially those at
Jerusalem, 2 Cor. ix, 1–15.
Those who held some office in the church were the regularly qualified
instructers in these religious meetings; and yet laymen had liberty to
address their brethren on these occasions the same as in the synagogues;
also to sing hymns, and to pray; which, in truth, many of them did,
especially those who were supernaturally gifted, not excepting the
women. Those females who were not under a supernatural influence were
forbidden by the Apostle Paul to make an address on such occasions, or
to propose questions; and it was enjoined on those who did speak, not to
lay aside their veils, 1 Cor. xi, 5; xiv, 34–40. The reader and the
speaker stood; the others sat; all arose in the time of prayer. Whatever
was stated in a foreign tongue was immediately rendered by an
interpreter into the speech in common use. This was so necessary, that
Paul enjoined silence on a person who was even endowed with supernatural
gifts, provided an interpreter was not at hand, 1 Cor. xiv, 1–33. It was
the practice among the Greek Christians to uncover their heads when
attending divine service, 1 Cor. xi, 11–16; but in the east, the ancient
custom of worshipping with the head covered was retained. Indeed, it is
the practice among the oriental Christians to the present day, not to
uncover their heads in their religious meetings, except when they
receive the eucharist.
It is affirmed that in the city of Jerusalem alone there were no less
than four hundred and sixty or four hundred and eighty synagogues. Every
trading company had one of its own, and even strangers built some for
those of their own nation. Hence we find synagogues of the Cyrenians,
Alexandrians, Cilicians, and Asiatics, appointed for such as came up to
Jerusalem from those countries, Acts vi, 9.
SYNODS, though actually synonymous with COUNCILS, are in common
historical parlance employed to designate minor ecclesiastical
conventions. In virtue of this distinction councils have usually claimed
for themselves the ample epithet of _œcumenical_ or _general_, while
synods have long been known only by the humbler term of _local_ or
_provincial_. In the apostolic age four local assemblies were held,
which some have called councils and others synods. The first was
convened for the election of a successor to Judas in the apostleship,
Acts i, 26. At the second, seven deacons were chosen, Acts vi, 5. The
third, like the two which preceded it, was held at Jerusalem, according
to some authors, A. D. 47, but, according to others, A. D. 51; that is,
at the latest, eighteen years after Christ’s ascension. It originated in
the attempt made to oblige the Gentile converts at Antioch to submit to
the rite of circumcision. St. Paul and Barnabas opposed this attempt;
and, after “no small dissension and disputation,” it was determined,
that the question should be referred to the judgment of the Apostles and
elders at Jerusalem. Accordingly, some of the Apostles and several of
the “elders came together” to deliberate on the propriety of dispensing
with the ceremonial law. The result of their deliberations was, that the
Mosaic ordinances, being too rigorous, should be abrogated; and that
their decision should be communicated to “the brethren which were of the
Gentiles,” Acts xv, 1–30. The fourth apostolic synod was convened in
reference to the toleration of legal rites, Acts xxi, 18. With respect
to all these, the fact is, that, instead of being councils or synods in
any proper sense, they were mere meetings of the church at Jerusalem,
and all of them ordinary meetings except the third, when they assembled
upon the request of the deputies from Antioch who came to ask advice.