Synagogue

Music in the Worship of the Old Testament

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Music was an important element of both temple and synagogue worship. Undoubtedly this music and its forms influenced the form and use of music in the early Christian church. Both Jews and Christians revere a transcendent God and both give honor to Scripture. For these reasons and others, Jewish synagogue worship and modern Christian services are similar in content and spirit.

Through almost three thousand years of Hebrew/Christian history, music has been inseparable from worship, and the Bible contains much of our early heritage of worship song. The Psalms come from many periods of the ancient Jewish culture, and they were augmented by canticles that date back to Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.

Synagogue worship probably developed among the Jews as a result of their dispersion in the fifth century before Christ. With its emphasis on the reading and explanation of Scripture, prayers, and the singing of psalms and canticles, it was very significant in the framing of early Christian worship. Music in the synagogue was led by cantors—soloists who may have been trained in the temple Levitical ministry—and included some congregational participation.

The New Testament era began with the canticles surrounding Christ’s birth, recorded in the Gospel of St. Luke. The new faith and its expression were supported with several types of music—“psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” according to the apostle Paul. The epistles do contain some general principles: the Scriptures were to be read and the gospel was to be preached, certain types of prayer were encouraged, and believers were expected to celebrate the Eucharist or Communion.

The Early Traditions

The first biblical reference to musical experience is a narrative of musical thanksgiving, led by Moses and his sister Miriam after the Israelites had been delivered from the Egyptians: Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.… ” Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea” (Exod. 15:1, 20–21).

This performance was both instrumental and vocal, involved both men and women, and was accompanied by expressive movement. The song was a prototype of the expressions of praise to God that are found throughout the Old Testament, particularly in the Psalms.

Erik Routley has reminded us that there are two musical worship traditions in the Old Testament: one was spontaneous and ecstatic, the other formal and professional (Church Music and the Christian Faith, p. 6). The first of these is mentioned as part of Saul’s preparation to become king of Israel; the prophet Samuel was giving the instructions:

After that you will go to Gibeah of God … as you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes, and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into a different person. (1 Sam. 10:5–6)

In this early period, music was apparently expected to assist the worshiper’s experience of God. The same idea is expressed in connection with an occasion when the Prophet Elisha foretold God’s judgment: “But now bring me a harpist.” While the harpist was playing the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah and said, “This is what the Lord says” (2 Kings 3:15–16). The expectation that music can affect human behavior (ethos) was common in Scripture times and has persisted through history. The Bible also records an early use of music in therapy: whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him (see 1 Samuel 16:23).

Music in the Temple

The second Old Testament musical tradition—the music for the temple—was formal and professional, and was initiated by Israel’s shepherd-king who was himself a musician and hymn composer: David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps, and cymbals (1 Chron. 15:16).

As priest-musicians, these performers gave full time to their musical service. They were chosen on the basis of their talent (1 Chron. 15:22) and were thoroughly trained, serving five years of apprenticeship before being admitted to the regular chorus. The Jewish choir was organized under at least three composer-conductors—Asaph, Herman, and Jeduthun (2 Chron. 5:12). The singing was accompanied by many kinds of instruments—lyres, pipes, harps, trumpets, and cymbals—and was also associated with dance (Ps. 150:4).

The Musical Sound

In ancient Hebrew worship, the words of Scripture were never spoken without melody; to do so was considered to be inappropriate. They were always sung in a fervent cantillation. (“Shout to God with loud songs of joy!” Ps. 47:1). They were accompanied by instruments in what is believed to have been a sort of heterophony, in which the instruments provided embellishments of the vocal melody. As in most early cultures, Hebrew instruments were of three basic types:

  • String—kinnor (“lyre,” related to the Greeks’ kithara) and nebhel (“harp” with up to ten strings, sometimes called “psaltery” in kjv).
  • Wind—shophar (a ram’s horn), halil (a double-reed, like the oboe), hazozerah (a metal trumpet), and ugabh (a vertical flute, used mainly in secular music).
  • Percussion—toph (tambourine, or hand drum), zelzelim (cymbals), and mena an im (a sistrum). (See The New Oxford History of Music, vol. 1, 295–296, and footnoted references.)

In Old Testament worship antiphonal singing was probably the norm, as evidenced by the fact that many of the Psalms are couched in a responsorial pattern. In modern liturgical church practice, each verse is divided into a versicle and response.

V: God be merciful unto us, and bless us;
R: And cause his face to shine upon us. (Psalm 67:1, KJV)
V: O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good:
R: For his mercy endureth for ever. (Psalms 136:1, KJV)

It is natural for us to try to guess what this ancient music sounded like. Some Jewish worship musicians insist that they still retain much of the original character of their chants, even though they may have been originally preserved only by oral tradition. Recent musicologists have reasoned that the early Christian chant styles were patterned after Jewish antecedents. It is probable that certain traditions in the Byzantine chant of the Greek, Antiochian, and Palestinian churches carry some remnants of the original sounds. Eric Werner says that all the foremost authorities (Curt Sachs, A. Z. Idelsohn, and R. Lachman) agree that the chants were based on four-note (tetra-chordal) melodic motives, and that “the archetype of chant was similar to ancient Gregorian tunes, which means that they were based upon small melodic patterns of a rather narrow range, usually not exceeding a fourth or a fifth” (Eric Werner, Jewish Music, 623).

Within the last few years, French musician and scholar Suzanne Haik Vantoura released the results of her four years of research in the book La Musique de la Bible Revelee (The Music of the Bible Revealed). She is convinced that mysterious signs scattered throughout the Hebrew scriptures, both above and below the letters, are actually a system of musical notation, and not punctuation or accent marks as has been traditionally believed. Furthermore, she has reduced these signs to a system of notation, and has transcribed and recorded the melodies for approximately three hours of Bible music.

Werner also describes the musical performance in the Jews’ Second Temple: The morning sacrifice was accompanied by three trumpet blasts; the cymbals clashed, signaling the beginning of the Levitical chant. At the end of each portion the trumpets joined the singing to indicate to the congregation the moment when they were to prostrate themselves. Every song was probably divided into three portions. (Werner, 623)

Most scholars agree that music in the temple was almost completely professional and sacerdotal (performed by priests). The Jewish people participated principally as listeners. It is reasoned that they may have frequently joined in the traditional responses “amen” and “alleluia,” and possibly in an antiphonal refrain like “for his steadfast loves endures for ever” (Ps. 136).

The book of Psalms has been called the “hymnal of Israel.” The Psalms were sung in regular sequences following the morning and evening sacrifice on specified days of the week and were accompanied by instruments that occasionally indulged in an interlude indicated by the word Selah.

Psalms offered specific types of worship expression:

  • Praise: For it is good to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is seemly (Ps. 147:1).
  • Petition: Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou who leadest Joseph like a flock! Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh! Stir up thy might, and come to save us! (Ps. 80:1–2).
  • Thanksgiving: I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications (Ps. 116:1).

There were special psalms associated with festival occasions—royal psalms to honor the kings (e.g., 21, 45, 101), processional psalms (e.g., 24, 95, 100), and penitential psalms for periods of national repentance (e.g., 130). The “Egyptian Kings” Psalms (113–118) were very significant in the observance of the Passover and other times of national penitence.

There were at least four different modes of presentation:

1. A simple psalm (e.g., 46:1), sung by one person alone.
2. A responsive psalm (e.g., 67:1, 2), in which a choir answers the solo chant.
3. An antiphonal psalm, with several lines beginning or ending with the same phrase (e.g., 103:1, 2, 20–22), sung by two choirs in alternation.
4. A litany (e.g., 80:2, 3, 6, 7, 18, 19), which included a repeated refrain (Werner, 621–623).

Eric Werner also gives four design types: (Eric Werner, The Sacred Bridge, p. 133.)

1. The plain, direct psalm—no strophic arrangement.
2. The acrostic psalm—phrases in alphabetical sequence (e.g., 119).
3. The refrain psalm—each verse ending with the same refrain (e.g., 136).
4. The Hallelujah psalm—begins or closes with the ecstatic exclamation (e.g., 145–150).

In addition to the Psalms, a number of important biblical canticles were used regularly by the Hebrews in worship, and have been carried over into many Christian traditions as well. These are the best known:

1. Moses’ (and Miriam’s) song of victory over Pharaoh (Exod. 15).
2. Moses’ prayer before his death (Deut. 32).
3. The song of Hannah (1 Sam. 2), a prototype of Mary’s song in Luke 1:46–55.
4. The song of Habakkuk (Hab. 2).
5. Isaiah’s song (Isa. 26).
6. The prayer of Jonah in the fish’s belly (Jonah 2).
7. The prayer of Azariah—Benedictus es, Domine (Daniel 3, Douay version; Vulg., 3:26–49, Apocrypha).
8. The song of the three Hebrew children in the furnace—Benedicite omnia opera Domini (Dan. 3, Douay version; Vulg. 3:52–90, Apocrypha).

Worship and the Calendar

Historic Jewish worship acknowledged that God is the Lord of times and seasons in the ebb and flow of life. The sacrifices were observed in both the morning and evening every day in the tabernacle and later, in the temple. In addition, the Jewish family regularly offered prayers at home at stated hours and at mealtime. The Sabbath was a time for more exacting expressions of worship; it commemorated God’s rest from the acts of creation and was observed in obedience to his command. Finally, there were times of intensely celebrative or penitential worship: Passover, to commemorate their deliverance from Egypt; the Day of Atonement, at the beginning of the New Year; Pentecost, associated with the giving of the Law, at the corn harvest; and the Feast of Booths (tabernacles) as “harvest home.” As we will see later, most of these practices based on the calendar have been fulfilled in Christ and transformed into Christian worship.

Worship Music and the Experience of God

The Hebrews shared richly symbolic worship that appealed strongly to the senses. The music which accompanied the sacrifices was a conspicuous part of the sensory experience. Musical sound revealed the presence of God, as evidenced in the accounts of the ecstatic moments of Saul and Elisha, and also in the requirement that song-chant would always be the vehicle of the holy scriptures.

One occasion when God was pleased to reveal his presence through musical performance was the dedication of Solomon’s temple: Now when the priests came out of the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sacrificed themselves, without regard to their divisions; and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with a hundred and twenty priests who were trumpeters; and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God (2 Chron. 5:11–14).

Worship in the Synagogue and the Jewish Home

The tradition of synagogue worship is of uncertain origin. Some scholars surmise that Jewish laypersons gathered in remote parts of Palestine at the time of the regular sacrifices in the temple at Jerusalem; others guess that the practice may have begun among Jews who were captives in other lands. Because the traditional sacrifices could only be offered in the temple, “sacrifices of praise and prayer” were substituted for offerings of animals and grain. Synagogue worship was in full flower during the lifetime of Jesus and the early days of the Christian church. It is not surprising then that early Jewish Christians modeled their worship partly on what they had experienced in the synagogue.

Synagogue worship was essentially a Service of the Word; it centered on the ceremonial reading of the Scripture, especially the Torah and the prophets, followed by an explanation of their meaning in a homily. It should be understood that the synagogue service was essentially congregational; though the position of the rabbi (teacher) developed in its context, it was essentially a meeting of laypersons, who probably participated in the prayers, and also in the free discussion which might follow the Scripture lection (see Acts 17:17).

These then are the component parts of synagogue worship, most of which have come down to us from the earliest traditions.

  • Scripture Readings (Torah; the Prophets)
  • Homily, followed by discussion
  • Psalmody
  • The Kedusha, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” (Isa. 6:3)
  • Prayers (The Yotzer and the Ahabah, emphasizing the creative acts of God and his love for his people, ending with the Shema—“Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord,” etc., a declaration of faith and a glad benediction, from Deut. 6:4–9, 11:13–21; Numbers 15:37–41)
  • The Eighteen Benedictions (expressions of praise, petitions for material and spiritual blessings, and intercessions for many people, concluded with a united “amen”)

It is not known when music entered synagogue worship, but it is surmised that certain Levitical singers may have continued to practice their art in the lay-oriented gathering. We do know that only one or two solo singers (cantors) were involved in a service. They chanted the Scripture readings, the Psalms, the post-biblical prayers (Benedictions), and, according to some scholars, certain “melismatic” songs which may have been similar both to the ecstatic music of earlier days and to the “spiritual songs” mentioned in Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:19. The musical style must have been related to that of temple worship, though presumably no instruments were involved since they were associated only with animal sacrifices. It is also surmised that, in the congregational character of this gathering, all the worshipers joined in the psalms which they knew, and very frequently in a repeated refrain, a “Hallelujah” and an “amen.”

We make this latter assumption partly on the witness of Mark (14:26): “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” On the occasion of the last supper of our Lord with his disciples, the hymn sung was possibly one of the “Egyptian Kings” Psalms (113–118), traditionally used in the observance of Passover. In the custom of a typical Jewish home, Jesus pronounced a blessing over a loaf of bread, broke it, and gave portions to all those around the table. Similarly, at the end of the meal, a Jewish host would take a cup of wine mixed with water, give thanks, and then pass it around for all to drink. So it was that at the Upper Room supper, Jesus transformed this traditional act of thanksgiving and made it new, instituting the Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist, which many Christians believe to be the most significant single act of worship. The full order of historic Christian liturgy was developed by uniting the pattern of Jewish synagogue worship with the Eucharist.

Modern Jewish services continue in synagogues, without significant change in the basic elements. (In the orthodox Jewish tradition, the singing is still largely cantoral and unaccompanied.) The feasts are still observed as in ancient times, with one significant addition: Hanukkah, “the festival of lights,” is celebrated in December to commemorate the rededication of the temple in the second-century b.c., following the victory over the Syrians under Antiochus IV. In connection with the cycle of annual worship centering in the festivals, a regular schedule of Scripture readings (the lectionary), psalms, and prayers was developed to support the emphasis of each season. (The close relationship between Jewish and early Christian activity in the developing of “propers” for daily worship is related in Werner, 50–101.)

Teaching and Preaching in the Synagogue and Early Church

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Preaching in the Jewish synagogue instructed members in faith and practice but also could be intended for indoctrination and proselytizing. Christianity first spread through the preaching of Paul and others who traveled from city to city, preaching Jesus and the Resurrection and calling Jews to conversion in Christ.

Preaching in the Synagogue

The most significant institution in Jewish life was the synagogue. Prior to and during the apostolic period, the synagogue was a developing institution. Synagogues were established in every town or village in Palestine and the Diaspora wherever Jews lived in sizable numbers. There was no central authority to maintain particular patterns of practice or belief. Jerusalem, Rome, and the other large cities had several synagogues. Acts 15:21 confirms the existence of such synagogues: “For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

Preaching occurred in the synagogues on a regular basis in relation to the reading of Scripture. Peter and Paul are recorded as preaching and teaching in the synagogues of the dispersed Jews. Preaching was not primarily a missionary activity in Judaism but was the activity of instructing the people. The preaching in the synagogue was done by both priests and lay teachers. F. C. Grant (Ancient Judaism and the New Testament [New York: Macmillan, 1959], 45) described the practice of teaching as follows: “The preacher—who was really a teacher—sat (Matt. 5:1; Luke 4:20), and any likely visitor might be asked to give the sermon, homily, or exhortation (Luke 4:17; Acts 13:15).”

In addition to providing instruction in faith and life for members of the synagogue, the homily was also used for indoctrination and proselytizing purposes. Preaching was a practice of missionary enterprise of Judaism prior to the destruction of the temple in a.d. 70. It needs to be emphasized that this teaching practice of delivering a homily was for both believers and unbelievers. The synagogue service was one place for the unbeliever to learn of the Jewish religion, and it was used for this purpose. The service in the synagogue could and did serve multiple functions, including the spreading of different schools of thought within Judaism by way of traveling teachers who were propagandists, preachers, and lecturers.

It is important to recognize in the background of Christianity a number of synagogues that served as foci of different modes of thought. Missionary homilies, propaganda addresses, legal halakic discourses, and extremely loose, narrative, haggadic, instructive sermons were all characteristic of the synagogue at the time of Christian beginnings. Distinctions between preaching and teaching were not made.

This instructive activity was not confined to the synagogue. Both preaching and teaching occurred in the open air, a common practice in both Palestine and Babylonia. Courtyards, vineyards, the shade of buildings and walls, marketplaces, open fields, and banks of rivers were used as sites of teaching-preaching.

Teaching and Preaching

No rigid distinction can be made between preaching and teaching in Judaism of the first century. This period of Judaism provided the immediate context and certainly the background of practices for the earliest church. There was a great difference within Judaism between the more popular haggadic, narrative style of homily or address and the strict halakic discourse. The popular address was given much more frequently in the synagogue service. This popular address or homily was considered a teaching practice whether it was oriented toward making proselytes, converts, or the edification of the congregation.

Neither preaching nor teaching as used in Judaism of the first century denote a distinct style or kind of activity with a distinct content. Both words refer to a variety of activities that took place as the Jewish congregation was exhorted, instructed, and edified. It cannot be claimed on the basis of existing evidence that preaching was a more spiritual, emotional, or vigorous activity than teaching, or that preaching was a missionary activity while teaching was for a local congregation. There is an interchangeability in the use of these words that corresponds remarkably to the interchangeability that is found in the New Testament.

The Preacher/Darshan

The most common word in Judaism for preacher was darshan. This person engaged in the activity darash, which meant “to inquire,” “to seek after,” and “to interpret.” It also applied to the method of exegesis of the Pentateuch, which led to the interpretation of the Pentateuch. The darshan was an interpreter. The many uses of darash and its derivatives support the idea that the preacher was one who examined, questioned, taught, lectured, argued, and interpreted the law.

Daube has pointed out that the term darshan originally was used to describe that person who expounded the law, the teacher of the halakah; but this use lost its significance. It eventually came to refer to the teacher “who addressed the people in general, taught them the doctrines of religion and morality, confronted them in the grievous days that followed the destruction of the temple, and expounded texts of Scripture not with a view of their halakic or legal interpretation but to their haggadic or edifying possibilities” (“Rabbinic Methods of Interpretation and Hellenistic Rhetoric,” Hebrew Union College Annual, 22:240).

The possible differences between the preaching activity in the early church and that conducted by the darshan needs to be noted. The possibility of new and distinctive patterns of activity and content in the early church exists. The Jewish darshan, for example, was not a post-Resurrection figure in that we do not find evidence of a direct continuity of his office in the early church. It is certain that he as a Jewish preacher did not have a kerygma in the sense of a particular body of content or tradition. He was primarily an interpreter and expositor of Scripture.

The activity of Jesus corresponds closely in many ways to that of the darshan. The similarity between the darshan and the post-Resurrection apostles is not as apparent. The style of teaching-preaching of the apostles is primarily that of delivering a narrative, haggadic midrash. The darshan also taught and preached in this style, but is not noted for this in the same way he is noted for halachic discourse. The historical link between Jesus and the darshan is clear because the styles of teaching-preaching have a great similarity.

It can also be argued that the darshan has a close similarity to apostolic teaching-preaching in that both used the loose, narrative, haggadic style of communication. The distinctions are not as clear and rigid as C. H. Dodd and others have made them. There is a real possibility that early Christians used the modes of interpretation and retained many of the practices from Judaism to communicate their own post-Resurrection faith. The darshan was a teacher in early Judaism, and the early church was probably influenced to a considerable degree by his practices.

Teaching-Preaching in the Early Church

This aspect remains a central feature of teaching-preaching in the earliest church. The multiple theological-Christological interests and commitments form the basis of teaching-preaching. Also in contrast to Dodd’s theory is a view of the diversity, pluralism, and complexity of Jewish interpretative practices that form the background of the multiple contents of teaching-preaching.

From a theological-Christological basis, early teacher-preachers were free to use a variety of interpretive practices, modes of reasoning, and cultural-linguistic carriers of meaning. Teacher-preachers apparently used the thought forms and modes of reasoning from a pluralistic Palestinian milieu to interpret the Christian faith. Tradition, the Bible (Old Testament), and contemporary events were interpreted through a theological-Christological interest and commitment using the linguistic instruments surrounding the early church. It is obvious that early teacher-preachers made both past and present serve their theological commitments.

The style of teaching-preaching that the early church had was that of combining theological concerns, Scripture and tradition, and cultural carriers of meaning to interpret Christian faith to believers and unbelievers in a variety of locations. Teaching-preaching was more than a transmission of tradition. There was struggle and dynamism in the process of interpretation as those early Christians brought their intellect, their knowledge of Scripture and tradition, a variety of modes of reasoning, and cultural carriers of meaning to serve faith and the Lord of that faith in the communication of the good news of God’s work in Jesus of Nazareth.

Teaching-preaching was the way of communicating Christian faith to believers and unbelievers in different contexts through the interpretation of tradition, and through the interpretation of the work, person, and sayings of Jesus. Teaching-preaching used a variety of methods, ideas, and practices from different sources to the end that those who heard would receive life in the kingdom, in Christ, in the post-Resurrection Christian community.

The Influence of the Synagogue on Early Christian Worship

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The New Testament records that Jesus and his disciples, as well as early Christian preachers such as Paul and Barnabas, attended the synagogue assemblies. The true influence of the synagogue on early Christian worship, however, is difficult to assess. Contacts between Christians and Jews continued up to the fourth century; thus, in the post–New Testament period Jewish influence can be seen in the development of Christian prayer and the Christian calendar.

That Jewish worship influenced ancient Christian liturgy is widely assumed in contemporary liturgical studies. However, the scholarly landscape has shifted enormously in the years since the publication of W. O. E. Oesterley’s The Jewish Background of the Christian Liturgy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925) and C. W. Dugmore’s The Influence of the Synagogue Upon the Divine Office (London: Humphrey Milford, 1944). Biblical and historical studies since the Second World War have demonstrated the diversity and complexity of first-century Judaism. Therefore, contemporary scholars are hesitant to speak with Dugmore and Oesterley’s certainty about the structure and content of Jewish worship in the first century, when the Jewish influence upon the liturgical life of the nascent Christian movement would have been most direct. We can no longer say that there was in first-century Judaism a standard synagogue that influenced Christian worship; rather, Christian worship emerged within the context of a variety of Judaisms, each with its own developing liturgical traditions.

Even after the separation of the Christian movement from Judaism, the relationship between Christian communities and their Jewish neighbors was complex and varied greatly according to geographical locale. Some fourth-century Christians borrowed prayers that appear to be Jewish in origin, perhaps as a result of the ongoing contact between Christians and Jews in some areas.

First Century Synagogue Influence

The New Testament Period. The New Testament records the traditions of Jesus’ attendance at synagogue services, and the disciples’ frequenting the temple after the Resurrection (cf. Mark 1:21, 6:2, and parallels; Matt. 4:23 and parallels; Matt. 9:35; Luke 4:15–16; 6:6, and parallels; Luke 13:10–27; John 6:59; 18:20; Acts 2:42, 46–47). We know little, however, about the content of these liturgical services in which Jesus and his disciples participated, because the evidence for the content of Jewish worship before 70 c.e. is scant. The most that we can say is that synagogue worship in the first century contained readings from the Torah and prophets, the Shēma‘; and a form (varying from synagogue to synagogue) of the Tƒfillah, or “prayer,” containing a variable number of sections. It is difficult, therefore, to determine the extent to which Jewish liturgical traditions influenced the development of Christian worship. How the liturgical practices of the earliest Jewish disciples carried over into the liturgical life of the earliest Christian communities is largely unknown.

The Eucharist and Its Roots in Jewish Prayer. The primitive Christian Eucharist provides a good example of the ambiguity involved in determining the Jewish roots of Christian worship. While the Gospels and Paul clearly place the Last Supper in the context of the Passover (whether or not the Last Supper actually was the Passover meal), it is impossible to know the extent to which first-century Jewish Passover rituals contributed to the structure of the first-century Eucharist. The prayers of Didachē 9 and 10 (see below) resemble most closely Jewish table prayers (which were also used at the Passover meal). In the next glimpse we get of Christian weekly worship (in the First Apology of Justin Martyr, mid-second century), the Eucharist had acquired a “shape” that was to become standard: a service of readings, preaching, and prayer followed by a ritual meal (Justin, Apology I 67). While most scholars today recognize the Jewish roots of these two parts of the Sunday service, no evidence exists that links the readings and meal of the Eucharist to specific Jewish liturgical texts. The most that we can say is that both Jews and Christians read Scripture at their services and that both Jews and Christians had traditions of prayer at their sacred meals.

The Didachē. The Didachē, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, reached its final form by the end of the first century, although portions of this church order may be as old as the 50s or 60s of the first-century c.e. Of all first-century sources, the Didachē contains the clearest example of some early Christian liturgical practice related to Jewish worship. Chapters 9 and 10 describe a ritual meal that consists of (a) a prayer over the cup and bread (chapter 9); (b) a meal; and (c) a thanksgiving after the meal (chapter 10). The thanksgiving after the meal of Didachē 10 is very similar in content and structure to the Jewish blessing after the meal, or Birkat hammazon, and appears to be a Christian version of that prayer, a form of which appears as early as Jubilees 22 (second century b.c.e.).

Thanksgiving or Blessing? Didachē 10 points to the predilection of Christian prayer for thanksgiving (todah) rather than blessing (bērakah), which by the second century became the usual form of Jewish prayer. The extent to which the Christian thanksgiving form of prayer is rooted in other first-century Jewish forms of prayer (such as those attested at Qumran) continues to be debated. However, it would be wrong to press too far this distinction between the Christian “thanksgiving” and the Jewish “blessing”: prayers found in the second and third century apocryphal “acts” (i.e., the Acts of John, Acts of Paul, Acts of Peter, and Acts of Thomas) are often couched in both terms.

Reproduced below are two “trajectories” of the Jewish blessing after meals: a Christian text (Didachē 10) dating anywhere from 50 to 100 c.e.; and a version of the prayer from a very early Jewish prayer book, the tenth-century Siddur Rav Saadya. Although these two texts are separated by nine centuries, they show a striking similarity in themes. Note that the prayer for Jerusalem in Rav Saadya dates from after 70 c.e.

The New Testament records that Jesus said a blessing before he miraculously fed multitudes of people (Mark 6:41; Matt. 14:18; Luke 9:16; Mark 8:6–7; Matt. 15:36; John 6:11). The narratives of the Last Supper (Mark 14:22–25; Matt. 26:26–29; Luke 22:15–20; 1 Cor. 11:23–26) also record that Jesus said a blessing at the breaking of bread, and the story of the post-resurrection appearance to the disciples at Emmaus mentions Jesus’ saying the blessing at the beginning of the meal (Luke 24:30, 35). Given this wide attestation in the tradition to Jesus’ use of the Jewish liturgical practice of blessing God at meals, it is not unlikely that the great prayer of thanksgiving at the Eucharist derives to some extent from forms of the Jewish blessing before and after meals familiar to Jesus and his disciples.

Didachē 10. And after you have had your fill, give thanks thus:
We give thanks to you, holy Father, for your holy name which you have enshrined in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality which you made known to us through your child Jesus; glory to you forevermore.

You, Lord Almighty, created all things for the sake of your name and gave food and drink to men for their enjoyment, that they might give you thanks; but to us, you have granted spiritual food and drink for eternal life through your child Jesus.

Above all we give you thanks because you are mighty; glory to you for evermore. Amen.

Remember, Lord, your church, to deliver it from all evil and to perfect it in your love, and bring it together from the four winds, now sanctified, into your kingdom which you have prepared for it; for yours are the power and the glory forevermore. Amen.

Rav Saadya. Blessing of him who nourishes
Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, for you nourish us and the whole world with goodness, grace, kindness, and mercy. Blessed are you, Lord, for you nourish the universe.

Blessing for the earth
Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, for you nourish us and the whole world with goodness, grace, kindness and mercy. Blessed are you, Lord, for you nourish the universe.

Blessing for the earth
We will give thanks to you, Lord our God, because you have given us for your inheritance a desirable land, good and wide, the covenant and law, life and food. And for all these things we give you thanks and bless your name forever and beyond. Blessed are you, Lord our God, for the earth and for food.

Blessing for Jerusalem
Have mercy, Lord our God, on us your people Israel, and your city Jerusalem, on your sanctuary and your dwelling-place, on Zion, the habitation of your glory, and the great and holy house over which your name is invoked. Restore the kingdom of the house of David to its place in our days, and speedily build Jerusalem.

On the feast of Passover, this embolism follows in the Jewish prayers:

Our God and God of our fathers, may three arise in your sight, and come, and be present, and be regarded, and be pleasing, and be heard, and be visited, and be remembered our remembrance and our visitation, and the remembrance of our fathers, and the remembrance of the Messiah, the son of your servant David, and the remembrance of Jerusalem, the city of your holiness, and the remembrance of all your people, the house of Israel; for escape, for prosperity, for grace, and for loving-kindness and mercy, for life and for peace, on this day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Remember us on this day, Lord our God, for prosperity, and visit us on it for blessing, and save us on it for life. And by the word of salvation and mercy spare us, and grant us grace, and have mercy on us, and save us: for our eyes look to you, for you, O God, are a gracious and merciful king.

Blessed are you, Lord, for you build Jerusalem. Amen.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, God, our father, our king, our creator, our redeemer, good and beneficent king, who day by day is concerned to benefit us in many ways, and himself will increase for us for ever in grace and kindness and spirit and mercy and every good thing.

Continuing Influence of the Synagogue on Christian Worship

After the first century, Christian liturgy continued to develop in a variety of trajectories largely independent of those followed by post–first-century Jewish worship. With the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 c.e. and the formal separation, toward the end of the first century, of the Christian movement from Judaism, the links between the two were never again as close as they were formerly. Yet contact between Christians and Jews continued, as evidenced by the fourth-century church councils that legislated against Christian attendance at Jewish worship (cf. Council of Laodicea, canons 29, 37, 38; Apostolic Canons 70–71: see Apostolic Constitutions VIII.47.7–71). In addition, the eight homilies against the Jews preached by John Chrysostom in Antioch in 386 and 387 also suggest that Christians and Jews were worshiping together in that city.

The Christian Calendar. The Quartodeciman controversy of the second century, so-called for the observance of Passover on the Jewish date 14 Nisan (described by Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History V. 23–24), indirectly attests to the Jewish influence upon the Christian calendar. The issue at stake in Quartodeciman practice (reflected, for example, in the second-century Epistula Apostolorum) was whether or not Easter should be celebrated at the same time as the Jewish Passover (which may very well have been the more ancient practice). Some have also suggested that the Christian appropriation of Wednesday and Friday as special liturgical days (cf. Didachē 8) may be related to an Essene solar calendar that highlighted those particular days of the week.

Christian Borrowing of Jewish Prayers. The Apostolic Constitutions, a church order compiled in the environs of Antioch around the year 380, contains a collection of prayers of Hellenistic Jewish origin on a variety of topics (VII, 33–38). The existence of these prayers in the Apostolic Constitutions points to the ongoing appropriation of Jewish liturgical forms by at least one Christian community after the first century.

Conclusions

The decades before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 c.e. saw the greatest influence of Jewish worship upon Christian liturgy. After the destruction of the temple and the emergence of rabbinic Judaism at the end of the first century, Christian and Jewish worship continued to develop independently. Contact between Christians and Jews continued in subsequent centuries, but there is little evidence for any ongoing Jewish influences upon Christian worship after the formative period of the first century.

We should not expect direct verbal or structural parallels between first-century Jewish and Christian worship. In the first century, both liturgical traditions were diverse, not yet committed to writing, and in flux. To be sure, first-century Christians and Jews drew from a fund of liturgical structures, terminology, and imagery that each group used in increasingly divergent ways in subsequent centuries. Therefore, the Christian and Jewish liturgical traditions that emerged after the first century were more nearly cousins than siblings, descendants of liturgical ancestors that in the first century may have been closer relatives.

Scripture Reading in the Old and New Testaments and the Early Church

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In the assemblies of the early church, the Scriptures were read to the congregation by a lector, or reader. This practice was modeled on that of the synagogue, wherein the Old Testament Scriptures were read aloud every Sabbath by a reader appointed from the congregation. The practice of the synagogue, in turn, had developed from the ancient concept of a literary document as something recited, rather than something read silently from a manuscript.

Reading of the Law in the Old Testament

Ancient literature in general was intended to be read aloud or recited and not to be read silently, even if written copies existed as a control. The form of ancient manuscripts suggests they were intended as guides for public reading; the very structuring of the words on written documents (all capital letters run together with no space between words) defied silent reading and required special skills of interpretation.

The poetry of the Israelite prophets was composed orally and handed down by disciples who memorized it (Isa. 8:16). Jeremiah’s prophecy was read in the house of the Lord and then to the Judean royal officials, and when the king destroyed the manuscript the prophet was able to dictate it again, with additions (Jer. 36). Messages or letters, even when written down, were not properly “delivered” until the messenger had read them to the recipient (Ezra 4:18, 23). Paul asked that his letters be shared among the local churches by being read to the congregations (Col. 4:16). Even archival material was sometimes read aloud; in the narrative of Esther, the Persian monarch, unable to sleep, had the royal chronicles read to him and thus discovered that Mordecai had never been rewarded for supplying information about a plot to assassinate the king (Est. 6:1–3).

Ancient treaties often contained a provision that the “words” or stipulations of the agreement be read periodically to those to whom the treaty had been granted. This requirement is the background for Moses’ instruction that the people assemble every seven years for the reading of the Law at the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut. 31:10–11). Moses himself had read the Book of the Covenant to the Israelites at Mount Sinai (Exod. 24:7). Joshua read the Book of the Law in a ceremony at Mount Ebal (Josh. 8:34–35); in the renewal of the covenant at Shechem, Joshua’s action in establishing “a statute and an ordinance,” which were written “in the Book of the Law of God,” suggests a public reading of the covenant stipulations (Josh. 24:25–26). Subsequent leaders, however, failed to obey the Mosaic directive; in fact, by the time of Josiah, the Law had been lost and was recovered from the temple by Hilkiah the high priest. It was then read aloud by Shaphan the scribe to King Josiah (2 Kings 22:8–10), who in turn read “all the words of the Book of the Covenant” to an assembly of the people of Jerusalem in a ceremony of renewal (2 Kings 23:1–3).

Following the reestablishment of worship in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity, Ezra took it upon himself to read the Law to the captives returned from Babylon. Ezra was a “scribe trained in the Law,” who “had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:6, 10 NRSV). After the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, Ezra gathered together all the Jews to hear a reading of the Scriptures. Ezra and some trained companions “read from the book, from the Law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense so that the people understood the reading” (Neh. 8:8 NRSV). This indicates that the people, having been in Babylon for over 70 years, needed help in comprehending the Hebrew, as well as in understanding the meaning of the text. Thus, the reader functioned as both translator (into Aramaic) and interpreter. This event marked the beginning of a practice that took place in the temple and in synagogues.

Scripture Reading in the Synagogue

Even though there is no Old Testament record of the Scriptures being read in the synagogues, we know this must have become a practice from intertestamental times until the time of Jesus. The Jewish philosopher Philo, who lived at the time of Christ, described a meeting in an Essene synagogue where “one takes the books and reads them aloud, another more learned comes forward and instructs them in what they do not know” (Quod omnis probus, liber sit, 81–82).

The Gospel of Luke also tells about the reading of Scriptures in the synagogue. Luke 4:16–21 says that it was Jesus’ custom to read the Scriptures on the Sabbath in his hometown synagogue at Nazareth. The event is described as follows:

And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:16–21 nasb)

The Greek expression kata to eiōthos autō (“according to his custom”) grammatically governs the whole expression in Luke 4:16—“as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read” (nasb). Jesus was handed the scroll of Isaiah, from which he read Isaiah 61:1–2 and then proclaimed its fulfillment. Jesus selected this text because he had just been anointed with the Holy Spirit and thereby empowered for his ministry. He read the passage, then provided an explanation by way of self-fulfillment.

History tells us that the Jews first read the Law (Torah) and then the Prophets every Sabbath day in the synagogue. For example, when the apostle Paul entered the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, it is said that Paul was given a chance to speak after “the reading from the Law and the Prophets” (Acts 13:15). Very likely, the reader of the Law would be the main teacher in the synagogue—a man trained in biblical studies. The reader of the Prophets would also have to be trained in Hebrew and in biblical interpretation. Thus, Jesus must have had this training if it was his custom to read the Prophets in his synagogue.

The important point of this brief history is that the majority of Jews never read by sight the written Hebrew Scriptures but rather received them through oral transmission by trained lectors. The lectors were those who understood the Scriptures in the original language (or in a translation such as the Septuagint); they could read the text to the congregation and could perhaps offer an interpretation. H. Lietzmann said that these readers “understood the difficult art of reading aloud at public worship with melodic and rhythmic correctness the prescribed biblical lessons out of codices written without word-division or punctuation” (Geschichte des alten Kirche [1911; 1961], 256; translated by E. G. Turner in The Typology of the Early Codex, [1977] 84–85).

Christian Reading of the Scriptures

With respect to the oral reading of Scriptures, early Christian meetings greatly resembled the Jewish synagogue. “Public recitation of scripture which was part of Temple worship became the essential feature of synagogal worship in pre-Christian times and appears in the New Testament as a well-established custom” (P. R. Ackroyd and C. F. Evans, eds., The Cambridge History of the Bible [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970], vol. 1, 201). In church meetings, Christians were encouraged to recite the Scriptures to one another and sing the Psalms (1 Cor. 14:26; Eph. 5:18–19; Col. 3:16). Church leaders were exhorted to read the Scriptures to their congregation (1 Tim. 4:13). Whereas the Jews would read the Law and then the Prophets, the Christians would read the Prophets (with special emphasis on messianic fulfillment) and the Gospels. Writing around a.d. 175, Justin Martyr indicated that when all the believers would assemble on the Lord’s Day for worship and Communion, “the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time permits” (Apology I, 67). Melito of Sardis, speaking of a Christian meeting, said that the Scripture of the Hebrew Exodus was first read, then explained (Cambridge History of the Bible [1970], vol. 1, 574).

As in the synagogue, so in the early church: one person was given the task to be the reader. There are allusions and clear references to this “reader” in the New Testament. This “reader” is probably referred to in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 by way of a parenthetical expression: “let the reader understand.” (The use of the singular in Greek [ho anaginōskōn] points to one reader—the one who read the Gospel to the congregation.) Other passages clearly point to the one who read the Scriptures aloud to an assembly of believers. In 1 Timothy 4:13, Paul urged Timothy to “devote [him]self to the public reading of Scripture.” Revelation 1:3 promises a blessing to “the one who reads the words of this prophecy”—speaking specifically of each of the readers who would read the book of Revelation to each of the seven churches addressed in the book.

Some Christians who were educated and who could afford copies of the Scriptures read them in their homes. Some of the wealthier Christians had Bibles copied at their own expense and given to poorer brothers and sisters. For example, Pamphilus had Bibles copied to keep in stock for distribution to those in need (Jerome, Against Rufinus 1.9). And some of the writings of several early church fathers indicate that Christians were encouraged to read the Scriptures in private. Irenaeus, for one, encouraged the unrestricted use of Scripture (Against Heresies 5.20.2). Clement of Alexandria exhorted married couples to read the Scriptures together (Paedagogus 2.10.96), promoted the personal study of Scripture (Paedagogus 3.12.87), and said that such reading should be done before the chief meal of the day (Stromata 7.7.49). Origen, who believed the Scriptures were accessible to all, spoke frequently of individuals reading the Scriptures at home, as well as at church (Homily on Genesis 2.8) and recommended that Christians read the Old Testament, Apocrypha, Psalms, Gospels, and Epistles (Homily on Numbers 27.10).

Although some read the Scriptures privately, the majority of early Christians never read by sight the written Scriptures but heard them read by a lector. These lectors were trained to read the texts in Greek and perhaps to provide interpretations. In the early days of the church, the reader was simply a member of the church who knew Greek well enough to read and write it. In the third century, lectors were appointed to this function but were not ordained. Hippolytus says, “The reader is appointed by the bishop’s handing to him the book, for he does not have hands laid upon him” (The Apostolic Tradition 1.12). One such reader was Procopius (martyred in a.d. 303). Eusebius said he had rendered a great service to the church both as a reader and as a translator from Greek into Aramaic (Martyrs of Palestine 1.1). Other lectors were Pachomius and his companion Theodore, both of whom read the Scriptures to their fellow monks. After the fourth century, the lector was generally a minor church officer. According to the part of the Apostolic Constitutions, the reader must also be able to instruct and explain the text. And according to Basil, in the fourth-century lectors read from the Law, the Prophets, the Epistles, Acts, and the Gospels (Apostolic Constitutions 8.5.5).

Music in the Israelite Synagogue

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Synagogue worship expanded and developed the use of the voice. No musical instruments were used in synagogue worship.

Not long after the destruction of the temple, instrumental music fell into disuse and for some reason was never revived. Vocal tradition and practice, however, continued and became the central musical feature of synagogue worship.

In contrast to the temple with its system of sacrifice, the synagogue was primarily for public worship and instruction as well as for secular assemblage. It was and is, in Werner’s terms, a “layman’s institution,” in which the Torah, its study and interpretation, readings from the Scriptures, and devotional prayers took the place of the sacrificial ceremonies of the temple. There was only one temple but numerous synagogues. The Talmud states that there were 394 synagogues in Jerusalem alone at the time of the destruction of the temple. The number of synagogues, contrasted to the unique singularity of the temple, is explained not only “theologically,” in that there was but one place for sacrifice and there were many places for instruction, but it was also logistical. The Dispersion, over a vast geographical spread, deprived the Jew of temple worship.

The synagogue helped fill this need for corporate solidarity and for communion with God. It is within the framework of synagogue worship, however, that the vocal elements of temple worship were most likely perpetuated. The intonations of the Psalms and the Pentateuch and perhaps the recitation of prayers were all a part of this perpetuity.

Furthermore, these intonations or cantillations, mentioned as far back as the first century, were cast into a system of modes or formulae, one for each of the books of the Bible intended to be publicly read. These are the Pentateuch, the Prophets, Esther, Lamentations, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Psalms, and in some communities, Job. Little is known about when the transition from declamatory to musical reading was first evidenced except that the Psalms were sung in temple worship. Idelsohn and Werner both believe that the chanting of Scripture, in one form or another, went back perhaps as far as Ezra (fifth-century b.c.), and that its eventual complexity and organization was the result of hundreds of years of crystallization.