Qahal and Edah: Ekklesia and Synagoge: Church and Synagogue

This is a continuation of an earlier study,  The "Church" of the Old Testament.  This study looks at a pair of words used in the Hebrew Bible and also at how these words were translated into Greek in the Septuagint. 

The two Hebrew words are qahal and edah.  In the KJV qahal is often translated assembly and edah as congregation.  In several recent Bible translations, edah is translated as community.  I tend to prefer community as the translation because it seems to fit how the word is used in several of the texts; the qahal seems to be the gathering together in a meeting or assembly of people from the community.

The topic becomes more interesting when we look at how these words were translated into Greek in the Septuagint.  Qahal is sometimes translated from Hebrew into Greek as synagoge, but other times it is translated as ekklesia.  These words, when later used in the New Testament, have been translated into English as synagogue and church.

In later usage, synagogue and church came to mean distinct, separate groups of people— Jews and Christians.  Very clearly, there is no sense of separateness in how these words are used in the Old Testament.  The words are frequently used together to talk about the same people; in some places they seem to be used synonymously.

The question that naturally arises is, when were the current meanings added to these words?  When did they come to mean something different—synagogue as a gathering of Jews and church as a gathering of Christians?  Which meanings did the writers of the New Testament have in mind when they used these words?  This study is only a beginning on this topic.

Below are some Old Testament texts that use these words.  In each text there is one or more words that are in bold type.  Following each of those words, in parenthesis, is the Hebrew word that is in the original text, and followingi the slash (/) is the Greek word used in the Septuagint to translate it.  The highlighting in the texts corresponds to the words listed immediatly below.  In some cases, the word in the text is a related verb form; in those cases the word is listed in the text along with its Strong's number.  In a few cases, the number is in a dotted form— G1577.1— which is an extended Strong's number as used in the Apostolic Bible for Greek words that do not occur in the New Testament.  The value of looking at both the Hebrew original and the Greek in the Septuagint translation is that it gives us insight into the meaning of the Greek word as it probably was understood by the New Testament writers.  How do you understand these words after seeing them used in these texts?  Looking at the language, do we have any basis for interpreting synagoge (Synagogue) as an exclusively Jewish (i.e. non-believers in Jesus) institution, or for interpreting ekklesia (Church) as an exclusively Christian (i.e. separate and distinct from the Jewish community) institution?

Qahal: ‏קהל – Strong's Number H6951 (yellow highlight)
Edah: ‏עדה – Strong's Number H5712 (green highlight)
Ekklesia: εκκλησια – Strong's Number G1577 (orange highlight)
Synagoge: συναγωγη – Strong's Number G4864 (blue highlight)

Exod KJV 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly (קהל - q'hal / πληθος - plethos - G4128) of the congregation (‏עדת‏ - adat / συναγωγης - sunagoges) of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

Exod 35:1 KJV And Moses gathered (‏ויּקהל - va-yaqhel - H6950 / συνηθροισεν - sunethroisen - G4867) all the congregation (‏- עדת adat / συναγωγην - sunagogen) of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These are the words which the LORD hath commanded, that ye should do them.

Lev 4:13 KJV And if the whole congregation (‏עדת - adat / συναγωγη - sunagoge) of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly (‏קהל - qahal / συναγωγης - sunagoges), and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;  14 When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation (‏קהל‏ - qahal / συναγωγη - sunagoge) shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation.

Lev 8:3 KJV And gather (‏הקהל - haqhel - H6950 / εκκλησιασον - ekklesiason - G1577.1) thou all the congregation (עדה - edah / συναγωγην - sunagogen) together (see previous gather) unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 4 And Moses did as the LORD commanded him; and the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Num 1:18 KJV And they assembled (‏הקהילו - hiqhilu - H6950 / συνηγαγον - sunegagon - G4863) all the congregation (‏עדה - edah / συναγωγην - sunagogen) together (see previous assembled) on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls.

Num 8:9 KJV And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather (‏והקהלת - v'hiqhalta - G6950 / συναξεις - sunakseis - G4863) the whole assembly (‏עדת - adat / συναγωγην - sunagogen) of the children of Israel together (see previous gather):

Num 14:5 KJV Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly (קהל - q'hal / - ) of the congregation (‏עדת - adat / συναγωγης - sunagoges) of the children of Israel.

Num 16:3 KJV And they gathered (‏ויקהלוּ - va-yiqahalu / συνεστησαν - sunestesan) themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation (‏עדה - edah / συναγωγη - sunagoge) are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation (‏קהל - q'hal / συναγωγην - sunagogen) of the LORD?

Num 20:8 KJV Take the rod, and gather (‏וְהַקְהֵל - v'haqhel - H6950 / εκκλησιασον - ekklesiason - G1577.1) thou the assembly (‏עדה - edah / συναγωγην - sunagogen) together (see previous gather), thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation (‏עדה - edah / συναγωγην - sunagogen) and their beasts drink.

Deut 4:10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, [Septuagint adds: in the day of the assembly (εκκλησιας - ekklesias),] when the LORD said unto me, Gather (‏הַקְהֶל - haqhel - H6950 / εκκλησιασον - ekklesiason) me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. 

Deut 9:10 And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly (‏ - קהלqahal / εκκλησιας - ekklesias).

Deut 18:16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly (‏קהל - qahal / εκκλησιας - ekklesias), saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

Deut 23:1 He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation (‏קהל - q'hal / εκκλησιαν - ekklesian) of the LORD. 2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation (‏קהל - q'hal / εκκλησιαν - ekklesian) of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation (קהל - q'hal) of the LORD. 3 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation (‏קהל - q'hal / εκκλησιαν - ekklesian) of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation (‏קהל - q'hal / εκκλησιαν - ekklesian) of the LORD for ever:... 8 The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation (‏קהל - q'hal / εκκλησιαν - ekklesian) of the LORD in their third generation.

Josh 18:1 KJV And the whole congregation (‏עדת - adat / συναγωγη - sunagoge) of the children of Israel assembled together (‏ויקהלו - va-yiqahalu - H6950 / εξεκκλησιασθη - eksekklesiasthe - G1826.1) at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.

Judg 20:1 KJV Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation (‏עדה - edah / συναγωγη - sunagoge) was gathered together (‏ותקהל - va-tiqahel - H6950 / εξεκκλησιασθη - eksekklesiasthe - G1826.1) as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh.

2 Chr 1:3 KJV So Solomon, and all the congregation (‏קהל - qahal / εκκλησια - ekklesia) with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.

Prov 5:14 KJV I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation (‏קהל - qahal / εκκλησιας - ekklesias) and assembly (‏עדה - edah / συναγωγης - sunagoges).