Another form of group praise and
worship in the Old Testament was national and public worship. For example, the
Tabernacle (or the Tent of Meeting) became the place where God taught Israel
how too publicly sacrifice and praise and worship Him. There were the feasts
such as the weekly Sabbath, Passover, Pentecost, Trumpets the Day of Atonement,
Tabernacle or Booths, lights and Purim to name the main ones, which were times
of public celebration, mourning, praise and worship to their God.
After the Tabernacle the Temple
was built as the place to come and publicly and corporately worship God.
Although David was not allowed to build the temple, he still got things ready
for its building (2 Sam 6:5,12,16,17; 7:5,12,13; 1 Chron 16:4,6,7; 25). Then
his son Solomon went on to build the place of public worship (1 Kings 6:1, 38;
8:4; 2 Chron 5:13-14). Throughout the Psalms the theme of being called together
to worship rang out loud and clear (Ps 22:22,25; 106:48; 149:1; 150:1 to
mention some).
It is an interesting thing that
one of the by-products of Judah’s Babylonian captivity was the synagogue
(meaning, place of assembly). It became a place of public worship and is still
around to this day. As well as the temple in Jerusalem the synagogue also
became a part of the local community’s life, where teaching became one of the
main purposes, but worship was held there regularly (Acts 13:13-14; 15:21; 17:1;
26:11). Even Jesus went to the synagogues (Matt 12:9; Mark 1:21).
So, the concept of national or
public worship was not a strange thing to the people of the Old Testament. The
focus of the God of Israel was also a public and communal occasion. It was not
about the individual, but the community of believers worshipping God as one.
Pause in His
presence for a moment and think this over…
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