target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_62819e34-86a4-5f63-ab13-3732495bd92e">298. 1 Macc 5:16. Doran, “First Book of Maccabees,” 77, notes how the Maccabees are constantly portrayed as consulting the people.
299. 1 Macc 14:19.
300. Sir 15:5.
301. Sir 31:11. For similar uses of the assembly in general, see Sir 21:17; 39:10; 44:15. A similar generalized reference can be found in Psalms of Solomon 10:6.
302. Sir 23:34.
303. Sir 38:33, and see the passage in general, Sir 38:24–34. See also Skehan and Di Lella, Wisdom of Ben Sira, 451, who underline this by noting that the craftsmen lack qualifications for the assembly.
304. Sir 33:19.
305. Sir 26:5.
306. Du Toit, “Paulus Oecumenicus,” 135–36
307. Du Toit, “Paulus Oecumenicus,” 136, does recognize this cultic occasion. Marcos, Septuagint in Context, 316, notes the Greek panegyric tradition here, but how this is still an assembly of all Israel. This underlines the mixed nature of Sirach, and the need to avoid sharp division between Septuagint and Greek literary usage.
308. The same assembly to which 1 Maccabees 2:56 referred, Numbers 13:26.
309. Philo, Abr. 20; Philo, Ios. 73; Philo, Decal. 39; Philo, Spec. 1.55; 2.44; Philo, Prob. 6, 138.
310. Philo, Deus 111; Somn. 2.187.
311. Philo, Aet. 13.
312. Deut 4:10; 9:10; 18:16. This assembly, of course, features in Exodus, although it is not translated with ἐκκλησία.
313. Knox, Selected Works, 24.
314. McConville, Deuteronomy, 105–6, notes that only Moses stood before the Lord at Horeb.
315. See McConville, Deuteronomy, 131–32, for the foundational nature of this assembly.
316. Deut 23:2–4, 9.
317. Du Toit, “Paulus Oecumenicus,” 135. See also McConville, Deuteronomy, 131.
318. Josh 9:2 (Eng: 8:35).
319. Judg 20:2; 21:5, 8.
320. Ezra 10:1, 8, 12, 14.
321. Neh 8:2, 17. Duggan, Covenant Renewal, 85, notes the emphasis on community here, emphasized seven times in these verses with five different expressions.
322. Duggan, Covenant Renewal, 104–5.
323. Ps 21:26 (Eng: 22:25); 39:10 (Eng: 40:10). In context, perhaps also Psalm 21:23 (Eng: 22:22) can be included here, as well as the assembly of the many of Psalm 34:18 (Eng: 35:18). A similar usage can be detected in some of the Sirach references noted earlier.
324. Ps 25:12 (Eng: 26:12); Ps 67:27 (Eng: 68:28). See also Psalm 149:1, the assembly of the saints. Hossfeld and Zenger, Psalms 3, 648, talk of a cultic community here.
325. Ps 106:32 (Eng: 107:32). Note the parallel here with the elders. Hossfeld and Zenger, Psalms 3, 108, argue that the elders here are not an official body.
326. The same can be said of Proverbs 5:14 and Job 30:28, which may have a more localized assembly in view.
327. Joel 2:16.
328. Whether or not all the men of Israel is to be taken as an expansion of v. 1, or whether those listed in v. 1 are counted as all the men of Israel is not essential here, as either way this is not an actual assembly of all Israel. O’Brien notes this representative use, of a “congregation of tribal leaders, or patriarchal chiefs” in 1 Kings 8 (“Church,” 90). See also Gray, I & II Kings, 207 who regards the presence of tribal representatives at the ceremony as possible.
329. See also 2 Chr 6:3, 12, 13; 7:8.
330. 1 Chr 28:2, 8; 29:1, 10, 20. This assembly is not comprehensive (28:1), yet functions in 20:8 as all Israel, the assembly of the Lord.
331. 2 Chr 1:3, 5.
332. This assembly is clearly not comprehensive, as it sends out for the “rest of our brothers.”
333. 2 Chr 10:3 may be an exception to the general pattern of representative assemblies, as there are no indications that the assembly is representative. However, the logistics of gathering all Israel, and the way in which they can be sent away and reconvened in three days (10:5), may indicate that it was functionally representative.
334. See also 2 Chr 20:14.
335. 2 Chr 20:4.
336. 2 Chr 23:2. A similar dynamic is at work in 2 Chr 29:23, 28, 31, 32; 30:2, 4, where a more limited assembly is in view.
337. 2 Chr 30:2, 4, 13, 17, 23–25.
338.
