Mark 1:21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. The synagogue carries us back for its origin to the land of the exile. Cut off from the sacrificial worship of the temple, devout Jews gathered together for prayer and hearing of the law, and little sanctuaries were built for their meetings; and after the return from captivity, though the statelier ritual of the temple was restored, synagogues in towns and villages became an integral part of the ecclesiastical system. They claim our interest, not only from their association with our Lord's preaching and miracles, but as well from the fact that it was from "the eighteen prayers" which were read therein daily except on the Sabbath, that Jesus drew the chief materials for that which the Christian Church has consecrated for daily use as "the Lord's Prayer." Now, of all the synagogues in Palestine, perhaps that at Capernaum is fullest of historic reference. Its erection at the sole expense of a large-hearted Roman soldier had earned for him the affection of the inhabitants, for when his servant was sick they pleaded with Jesus on the grounds that the petitioner was worthy of special consideration, because "he loved the people and built us the synagogue." The discovery and identification of its ruins in later years have awakened no little attention, and have set at rest a long-standing dispute as to the site of Capernaum. At Tell Hum, on the lake, remains of a synagogue of unusual size and beauty have been excavated, the style of which belongs to the Herodian period of architecture. It appears to have been a common custom to carve over the entrance of these buildings an emblem, which, as far as we know, with a single exception, was "the seven-branched candlestick," indicating that they were designed mainly for illumination or teaching. The exceptional instance is a Tell Hum. The lintel of the chief doorway has a carving in the centre, of "the pot of manna," which is encircled with the vine and clusters of grapes. And it is this which enables us to identify "His own city," as well as the building where He delivered one of His most important discourses...It was in this building that our Lord spent the morning of His first Sabbath day in Galilee, and He taught with such novel power that the people were filled with amazement. They had been used to the teaching of the scribes, with their interminable details and puerilities, and their slavery to traditional interpretation. There was no freedom of thought or speech, no departure even by a hair's-breadth from the decisions of the doctors, nothing but the dry bones of Rabbinical exposition, and we are not surprised that, when Christ came and spoke with "thoughts that breathed and words that burned," and drew His illustrations from the sights and sounds in which they lived and moved, the very freshness delighted them, and they exclaimed at the novelty and independence of His teaching. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. |
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