the fact that nothing like this had happened since the days of Solomon,341 and what is being celebrated is the Passover.342 The assemblies in later Israelite history may have become representative, as the tribes no longer traveled together; however, the aspiration remained for a united people gathered together. This desire can perhaps also be seen in the use of ἐκκλησία to describe the traveling company of returning exiles—one of the things being celebrated here is the exiles returning together as a company.343
Philo quotes the exclusion from the assembly of Deuteronomy 23 regularly,344 underlining the foundational character of this assembly for Jewish self-identity, even after the return from exile.
I agree with O’Brien and others that the Sinai assembly is significant for understanding ἐκκλησία in the Septuagint. However, part of that significance lies in two features of the comprehensive assembly which need to be noted. First, the assembly has some form of existence, even when it is not assembled. Second, people can be considered part of the assembly, even when they are not there, whether that is because they should have been there, or because others are representing them.
Other Terminology for the Assembly
Turning now to examine the relationship between עֵדָה and קָהָל’ and ἐκκλησία and συναγωγή, two issues are relevant to this study.
The first is the relationship between ἐκκλησία and συναγωγή. ἐκκλησία is used to translate קָהָל, which is generally translated “convocation” or “assembly.”345 However, קָהָל is not only translated ἐκκλησία, but also συναγωγή.346 In particular in Genesis, Leviticus, and Numbers, קָהָל is translated by συναγωγή twenty-one times, and in Ezekiel and Jeremiah nineteen out of twenty times.347 This suggests a terminological overlap between ἐκκλησία and συναγωγή, and this has raised the question as to why Paul and other New Testament authors chose to use ἐκκλησία, when other terms, such as συναγωγή, were available. Schmidt348 argues that ἐκκλησία was a wider and more significant term than συναγωγή, while Giles349 argues that there is significant overlap between the two terms. It could also be argued that ἐκκλησία helps to draw a distinction between Jewish and Christian gatherings,350 or that the comparative neutrality of the term allowed the early Christians considerable scope to define what it meant for them. At this remove and without any explicit New Testament guidance, it is difficult if not impossible to answer this question with any certainty, and certainly any necessarily tentative conclusions regarding why ἐκκλησία was chosen should not direct how the term should be understood in its New Testament and, specifically here, Pauline context. It may well be as simple as the fact that συναγωγή was a word already in use by others.
Second, עֵדָה is also used to refer to the assembly or congregation, and is usually translated in the LXX συναγωγή, and never ἐκκλησία.351 A distinction in meaning is sometimes made between עֵדָה and קָהָל. So Ward argues that עֵדָה is used of the society itself, the people of God, whereas עֵדָה denotes the actual assembly,352 and Campbell argues that this can be seen in how five-sixths of the occurrences of עֵדָה are found in the books concerned with the journeying of Israel to the promised land: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Joshua.353 Coenen draws a distinction between עֵדָה as the summons to assembly, of the people or the עֵדָה,354 and עֵדָה as the community assembled, and the community as a people.355 He argues that עֵדָה is the word for “community,” and קָהָל the word for the ceremonial expression that results from the covenant.356 Giles argues for the assimilation of the עֵדָה idea of community to the קָהָל idea of assembly. Giles argues that there are places where קָהָל is used instead of עֵדָה such as in Deuteronomy,357 or where קָהָל replaces עֵדָה, such as in 2 Chronicles 23:1–3.358 Therefore, קָהָל can be used in much the same way as עֵדָה, for the community, whether gathered or not.359 Giles argues that the best translation for ἐκκλησία as it is used in the New Testament is “community,” noting the “pedigree” of this translation stretching back to Luther and Tyndale.360
However, I would argue that trying to find a clear distinction between the terms עֵדָה and קָהָל which can then inform the discussion of ἐκκλησία and συναγωγή, seeks to read too much into the evidence for two related reasons.
First, קָהָל can be translated by both ἐκκλησία and συναγωγή, and therefore there is an interchangeability of terms here, as the translation choice seems to depend on which biblical book is being considered.361 Similarly, עֵדָה and קָהָל’ overlap in meaning, for the assembly described as עֵדָה in Exodus is rendered by קָהָל in Deuteronomy. The interchangeability of terms is confirmed by the references to Numbers 13:26 in 1 Maccabees 2:56 and Sirach 46:7, which both use ἐκκλησία to describe an assembly originally rendered συναγωγή, as a translation of עֵדָה, and Philo refers to the Sinai gathering as ἐκκλησία, in passages where the Septuagint does not use ἐκκλησία.362
Second, the meaning of ἐκκλησία is not inherent to the word, but is determined by the context. My analysis of occurrences from both the Septuagint and Greek literature has shown that ἐκκλησία is an assembly, but what kind of assembly, or whether the assembly is representative, or whether it overlaps in meaning with other terms depends on the context of the usage. This is a similar observation to that made about the afore-mentioned ek-kaleo idea; the significance of being called out in the NT is determined contextually, not etymologically; the precise nuance of ἐκκλησία in any given author should also be determined from their contextual usage, where usage elsewhere is a guide but not determinative.
Conclusion
Three things should to be noted here from the use of ἐκκλησία in the Septuagint and Philo. First, I have argued above that there is considerable overlap between usage in the Septuagint and wider Greek literature, and that in both cases the meaning of the term is driven by the context. Therefore, the distinctions that are drawn between ‘Greek’ and ‘Jewish’ usage should not be drawn too sharply.363 The Septuagint
