Symbol – Syrtis

Symbol

The prevalence of figurative language in the Bible is due partly to the antiquity and Oriental origin of the book and to the fact that its subject, religion, deals with the most difficult problems of life and the deepest emotions of the soul. The English word ‘type,’ as the equivalent of ‘symbol* or’ emblem,’ is sometimes confusing, as it has been used both for the fulfilment of the prototype and as that which points forward to the antitype. Like the proverb and parable, the symbol implies a connexion between two things of which one is concrete and physical, the other abstract and referring to intellectual, moral, and spiritual matters. The former, of course, is the symbol.

1 . Symbols of similarity. — Here the connecting principle is one of recognized likeness between the material object and its counterpart. Thus ‘a watered garden’ is made the emblem of a satisfied soul (Jeremiah 31:12). The similarity is that of supplied wants. In the same way the white garments of the priests and of the redeemed were emblematic of holiness (Exodus 39:27–29, Revelation 19:8). Marriage, as an Oriental relationship of purchased possession, was an emblem of Palestine in covenant with God, and of the Church as the bride of Christ. Thus also the Christian life

3 K was a race (Hebrews 12:1) and a warfare (Ephesians 6:11–17). An element of similarity entered into the dream- visions recorded in the Bible and into the symbolism of prophetic warnings (Isaiah 5:1–7, Jeremiah 13:1–12. Ezekiel 37:1–11). In the Epistles we meet with a rich variety of emblems created by the desire to interpret the Person and mission of Christ, and the relationship of the Christian believer to Him. The writers, being of Jewish origin and addressing communities which usually contained a number of Jewish Christians, naturally turned to the biographies, national history, and sacred institutions of the OT. Whatever was drawn from such a source would not only be familiar, but would seem to be part of an organic whole, and to possess a value of Divine preparation. Examples of these are the Second Adam, the Firstborn, the Chief Shepherd, the Chief Corner-stone. The journey to Canaan supplied Passover, manna, rock, redemption, better country, rest. From the Tabernacle and Temple were taken high priest, altar, sacrifice, veil, peace-offering, lamb, atonement.

2. Symbols of repressDtative selection orSynecdoctae.— The symbol is in this case the agent or implement, or some conspicuous accompaniment selected from a group of concrete particulars, so that the part represents the whole. Thus the insignia of office and authority are crown, sword, sceptre, seal, coin, robe, rod, staff. Various actions and relationships are symbolically indicated, such as the giving of the hand (compact), foot on the neck (conquest), bored ear (perpetual servitude), washing of the hands (innocence), bared or outstretched arm (energy) , gnashing of teeth (disappointment and remorse), shaking the head (contempt and disapproval), averted face(angTy repudiation), bread (hospitality), cross (suffering of Christ, and suffering for Him).

3. Memorial and mystical symbols. — These might belong to either of the above forms or be artificially selected, but the purpose was not so much to instruct and emphasize as to recall and perpetuate circumstances and feelings, or to suggest a meaning that must remain concealed. Such were the rainbow at the Flood, the stone Ebenezer, the symbolical names often given to children, as Moses, Ichabod, and the names in Jacob’s family, the Urim and Thummim, the white ston^, and the number of the beast, etc. Of this class were the sculptured emblems of the early Christians in the catacombs of Rome, such as the palm, dove, anchor, ship, fish. Alpha and Omega. Water, bread anS wine, as the material elements in Baptism and the iLord’s Supper, are the symbols of those Sacraments. Thp name ‘symbol’ is applied to the selection of generally aC(fepted truths forming the Christian creed, or canon of belief. Certain characters in the Bible, such as Jonah, Mary Magdalene, Herod, Judas, have come to be identified with special types of character and conduct, and are said to be symbolical of those classes.

4. Dangersof symbolism.— (1) The act of transmitting spiritual and eternal truth through material And perishable media always involves limitation and loss. (2) The injudicious carrying out of symbolism into inferences not originally intended, leads into the opposite error of irrelevant addition. (3) The scrupulous avoidance of symbolism may itself become a symbol. (4) The external form which illuminates, emphasizes, and recalls is no guarantee of inward reality. The ceremony of purification is not purity. Sheep’s clothing may not be a robe of innocence, or rent garments indicate distress of soul. The cry ‘Lord, Lordl’ is not always raised by true discipleship. Hence Christ’s message to the Samaritan woman concerning true worship, and His frequent protests against the ceremonial insincerities of the Pharisees. The condemnation of image-worship turned upon the total inadequacy of symbol to represent God. It might indicate man’s thought of God, but it left untouched the constituent element of true religion, God’s thought of man. ‘Eyes have they, but they see not.’ G. M. Mackie.

Symeon

(ct. Simeon, ad init.). 1. An ancestor of Jesus (Luke 3:30). 2. A prophet and teacher at Antioch (Acts 13:1). 3. Acts 15:14 Peter (see Peter).

Symmachtjs' Version

See Gr. Versions of OT, 18.

Synagogue

1. Meaning and history. — Like its original synagogd (lit. a gathering, assembly — for its use in LXX see Congregation), ‘synagogue’ is used in NT in a double signification: (1) in the sense of a community organized for religious purposes, as Ac 6’ 9= (cf. Revelation 2:9 3:9 ‘the synagogue of Satan’); and (2) to denote the building in which the community met for worship — so some SO times in the Gospels and Acts from Matthew 4:23 onwards. The strict Heb. equivalent in the latter sense is ‘the house of assembly.’ Of other names for the synagogue as a place of worship may be mentioned the older term proseuchi (Acts 16:13 RV ‘place of worship ‘; Jos. Life, § 54, of the synagogue of Tiberias)

The origin of the synagogue as a characteristic institution of Judaism is hidden in obscurity. Most probably it took its rise in the circumstances of the Hebrew exiles in Babylonia. Hitherto worship had practically meant sacrifice, but sacrifice was now impossible in a land unclean (cf. Hosea 3:4 9:3 f.). There was still left to the exiles, however, the living word of the prophet, and the writings of God’s interpreters from a former age. In those gatherings in the house of Ezekiel of which we read (Ezekiel 8:1 20:1–3) we may perhaps detect the germs of the future synagogue. We are on more solid ground when we reach the religious reform of Ezra and Nehemiah (b.c. 444-443). With the introduction of the ‘Law of Moses’ as the norm of faith and life, the need for systematic instruction in its complex requirements was evident to the leaders of the reform, as is clear from Nehemiah 8:7 f.: The closing century of the Persian rule, b.c. 430-330, may therefore be regarded as the period of the rise and development of the synagogue. From this period, more precisely from the reign of Artaxerxes in. Ochus (358-337), may be dated the only mention of the synagogue in OT, viz. Psalms 74:8 ‘they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.’ The papyrus finds of recent years have contained not a few references to the synagogues of the Jewish communities in Egypt, from the time of the third Ptolemy, Euergetes, b.c. 247-221, onwards (details in Schttrer, GJ V* ii. 499 f.).

By the first century of our era the synagogue was regarded as an institution of almost immemorial antiquity. In referring it back to Moses himself, Josephus (2. ii. 17) is only echoing the contemporary belief, which is also reflected in the words of the Apostle James, ‘for Moses from generations of old hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath’ (Acts 15:21 RV). For the wide extent and historical importance of the synagogues of ‘the Dispersion,’ see below, § 6. 2 . The synagogue building and its furniture .-Remains, more or less extensive, of Jewish synagogues still survive from the second and third, more doubtfully from the first, centuries of our era, chiefly in Galilee. The examination of these remains, first undertaken by the Palestine Exploration Fund (see Survey of West Pal. i. 224 fl. with plans), has recently been carried out more fully by the German Orient Society, and the results published in the Society’s Mitthellungen (Nos. 23, 27, 29 [1904, 1905]). In plan and details of ornamentation these GalUaean synagogues display a general similarity. ■The buildings are rectangular in shape, and divided into three or five aisles by two or three rows of pillars. The entrance is almost always in the south ffont, and often consists of a large main, and two smaller side, entrances. The most elaborate was the synagogue of Capernaum, where, as elsewhere, traces were found of galleries running round three sides of the central aisled These were probably assigned to the women (for a similar arrangement in Herod’s Temple, Bee Temple § 11 (6)), although the question of the separation of the sexes in NT times is one on which the best authorities disagree.

As regards the furniture of the synagogue, the most important item was the chest or cupboard ((56a, the ‘ark’), in which the sacred rolls of the Law and the Proptiets were kept. The synagogues of NT times were also doubtless provided with a raised platform (65ma) , on which stood the reading-desk from which the Scriptures were read. The larger portion of the area was occupied by benches for the congregation, the worshippers facing southwards, in Galilee at least, towards the holy city. A few special seats in front of the bBmS, and facing the congregation, were occupied by the heads of the community. These are the ‘chief seats in the synagogues’ coveted by the Pharisees (Matthew 23:6 and In front of the ‘ark’ a lamp burned day and night.

3. The officials of the Synagogue. — The general management of the synagogue of a Jewish town, where it served also as a court of justice and — in the smaller towns and villages at least — as a school, was in the hands of the elders of the community. It had no special priest or ‘minister,’ as will appear presently. It was usual however, to appoint an official called ‘the ruler o£ the synagogue’ (Mark 5:22. Luke 8:41. and oft.), to whom the authorities of the community committed the care of the building as well as the more important duty of seeing that everything connected with the public services was done ‘decently and in order.’ Hence the indignation of the ruler of Luke 13:14 at the supposed breach of the decorum of worship related in the preceding verses (vv. m-is). it lay with the ruler also to select the readers for the day, and to determine the order in which they were to be called up to the reading-desk. Occasionally, it would seem, a synagogue might have two or more rulers, as at Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:15).

The only other permanent ofBcial was the chazzSn, ‘the’ attendant ‘of Luke 4:20, (AV’ minister ‘in the same, but now obsolete, sense; cf. Acts 13:5). The duties of the synagogue’ officer’ (as we say in Scotland) were somewhat varied. He was responsible for the cleaning and lighting of the building; and dm:ing service it was his special duty to convey the sacred rolls from the ark to the readers at the desk, and to restore them when the reading was over, as recorded in Luke 4:17, 20. To him fell also the duty of scourging criminals condemned by the court (Matthew 10:17 23:34 etc.), but not, as is usually represented, the teaching of the school children (art.’ Education’ in DS i. 650«).

4. The synagogue service in NT times. — For this part of our subject we are dependent mainly on the fuller information preserved in the Mishna, which reflects the later usage of the 2nd century. According to Megillah, iv. 3, the service consisted of four parts, and with this the scattered hints in the Gospels and Acts agree. These parts are: (a) the recitation of the Shema’, (6) the lifting up of hands, i.e. the prayers, (c) the lessons from the Law and the Prophets, and (d) the priestly benediction. Two elements of the full service, however, are here omitted as not strictly belonging to the essentials of worship, viz. the translation of the lessons into the vernacular, and the sermon.

(a) The redtaiipn of the Shema’ . — The shema’ is the standing designation of three short sections of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (which opens with the word Shema’-= ‘Hear,’ whence the name) 11:13–21, Numbers 15:37–41. Their recitation by the congregation was preceded and followed by one or two short benedictions, such as that beginning, ‘Blessed be thou, Adonai, our God, King of the universe, who didst form the light and create darkness.’

(6) The lifting up of hands. — In contrast to the first item of the service. In which all took part, the prayers were said by a single individual chosen for the purpose, named ‘the deputy of the congregation,’ the worshippershowever, repeating the Amen at the close of each collect. This. mode of prayer in the public services was taken over by the early Church, as is attested by 1 Corinthians 14:16 (where the word rendered ‘the giving of thanks’ is the Gr. equivalent of that rendered ‘benediction’ below). By the middle of the 2nd cent. a.d. a formal liturgy had been developed — the famous ‘eighteen benedictions,’ which may be read in any Jewish prayer-book. It is impossible, however, to say with certainty how many of these were in use in our Lord’s day. Dalman is of opinion that at least twelve of the eighteen collects are older than a.d. 70. These he arranges in three groups, consisting of three opening benedictions, six petitions, and three closing benedictions (see his art. ‘Gottesdienst [synagogaler]‘in Hauck’s PBE’ vii.).

(c) The OT lessons. — The liturgy was followed by a lesson from the Law. The five books were divided into 154 (or more) Sabbath pericopes or sections, so that the whole Pentateuch was read through in three years (or 3i years, half of a Sabbatic period). The custom of calling up seven readers in succession — a priest, a Levite, and five others — may be as old as the 1st century. After the Law came, at the Sabbath morning service only, a lesson from the Prophets, read by one person and left to his choice. It was the haphtarU, as the prophetic lesson was termed, that our Lord read in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4:16 ff.). ‘The Hagiographa. except Esther, were not at this period read at Divine service. Even the Psalms had no place in the usual service’ (Dalman).

In order that the common people might follow the lessons with intelligence, these were translated into Aramaic, the vernacular of Palestine, by an interpreter (methurgeman — our ‘dragoman’ is from the same root). ■The unique position of the Law in the estimation of the time is shown by the fact that the Pentateuch lessons had to be translated a verse at a time, while the Prophets might be rendered three verses at a time. Reader and interpreter stood while at the reading-desk.

At this point in the service at the principal diets of worship, the sermon was introduced. The preacher sat while giving his exposition, which is so often described in NT as ‘teaching’ (Matthew 4:23. Mark 1:21 6:2 etc). In the synagogue there was full liberty of prophesying.’ Any member of the community was free to exercise his gift. When a likely stranger was present, he was invited by the ruler of the synagogue to address the congregation (Acts 13:15). (d) The service was closed by a priest pronouncing the priestly benediction, Nu 6) if no priest was present, it is said that a layman gave the blessing in the form of a prayer.

On some occasions, at least, it was usual to ask the alms of the congregation (Matthew 6:2) on behalf of the poor. The full service, as sketched above, was confined to the principal service of the week, which was held on the forenoon of the Sabbath. At the other services, such as those held daily in the larger towns, where ten ‘meri of leisure’ were available to form the minimum legal congregation, and the Monday and Thursday services, some of the items were omitted.

5. The influence o£ the Synagogue. — This article would be incomplete without a reference, however brief, to the influence of the synagogue and its worship not only upon the Jews themselves, but upon the world of heathenism. As to the latter, the synagogue played a conspicuous part in the preparalio evangelica. From the outworn creeds of paganism many earnest souls turned to the synagogue and its teaching for the satisfaction of their highest needs. The synagogues of ‘the Dispersion" (John 7:35, James 1:1, 1 Peter 1:1, all RV) became in consequence the seed-plots of Christianity, as every student of the Book of Acts is aware.

The work which the synagogue did for Judaism itself is best seen in the ease with which the breach with the past involved in the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, and the cessation of sacrificial worship, was healed. The highest religious life of Judaism had already transferred its channels from the grosser and more material forms of the Temple to the spiritual worship of the synagogue.

Nor must a reference be wanting to the fact that the synagogue, and not the Temple, supplied the mould and model for the worship of the Christian Church.

6. The Great Synagogue.— In late Jewish tradition Ezra is alleged to have been the founder and first president of a college of learned scribes, which is supposed to have existed in Jerusalem until the early part of the Gr. period (c. B.C. 300). To ‘the men of the Great Synagogue,’ or rather " of the Great Assembly,’ were ascribed the composition of some of the later OT books, the close of the Canon, and a general care for the development of religion under the Law. Recent writers, however, have in the main accepted the results of Kuenen’s careful investigation in his Gesamm. Abhandlungen (Germ. tr. 125-160), and now regard the Great Synagogue as unhistorical, the tradition of its existence having arisen from a distorted view of the nature and purpose of the great popular assembly, of which we read in Neh 8-10. A. R. S. Kennedy.

Synoptics, Synoptists

See Gospels, 2.

Syntyche

A Christian, perhaps a deaconess, at Philippi (Philippians 4:2) ; see art. Euodia. A. J. Maclean.

Synzygus

(lit. ‘yoke-fellow’). This is taken by some as a proper name in’ Philippians 4:3 (‘Synzygus truly so called ‘) , but it is nowhere else found as such. It is more probably a way of describing the chief minister of the church at Philippi. Lightfoot (.Com., in loc.) suggests Epaphroditus; Ramsay (St. Paul, p. 358), Luke; others, Barnabas or Silas or Timothy. An old tradition of the 2nd cent. (Lightfoot, i6.) makes the • yoke-fellow’ to be the Apostle’s wife; Renan supposes that Lydia is meant, and that she had become his wife; but see 1 Corinthians 7:8.

A. J. Maclean. SYRACITSG, ontheeast coast of Sicily.was the principal city in the Island. It was originally a Greek colony of ancient date, which was powerful enough to defeat the famous Athenian Sicilian expedition (b.c. 415-412). Its kings were often men of distinction, even in literature, of which they were noted patrons. The city had a varied career, being sometimes a kingdom, sometimes a democracy. In B.C. 241 the Romans took the western half of Sicily from the Carthaginians, but remained in alliance with the kings of Syracuse. The last king of Syracuse coquetted with the Carthaginians; the city was besieged and captured by Marcellus in 212, and the whole island was henceforth under a praetor, who had two quaestors, one situated at Lilybseum in the W., the other at Syracuse. The city continued prosperous down till about the end of the 2nd cent. b.c. After that date it declined in importance, though it remained the capital of the eastern half of the island. In NT times a large number of the inhabitants were Roman citizens.

St. Paul’s ship lay at anchor in the harbour for three days, when he was on his way from Malta to Rome (Ac28’2). He did not preach there. Christian memorials at Syracuse are not specially early. A. Soctek.

Syria, Syrians

See Aram, Aram^eans.

Syriac Versions

See Text (OT, 15 (6), and NT, 11 £E.).

Syrophcenician

This is the designation of a ‘Greek’ (or Gentile) woman whose demoniac daughter Jesus healed when near Tyre (Mark 7:26). She was perhaps Greek-speaking (Swete), but was descended from the old Phoenicians of Syria Matthew 15:22 has ‘Canaanitish’).

A. J. Maclean.

Syrtis

See Quicksands.

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