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LOOKING FOR 10 GOOD MEN
Nine Won't Cut It
Did you know that you can't run an official synagogue service without a Minyan? really!

Now, you may wonder what a Minyan is. Is it a special Torah scroll? Perhaps a sacred candle? Or maybe a specific prayer that is chanted at the beginning of every service?

No, it's none of these. A Minyan in English is called a quorum. It is a core of at least ten Jewish men, each a bar mitzvah (son of the law) by ritual installment. If there are less than ten present than the synagogue service cannot go forward.

This might shed some light as to why Lydia and the other observant Jews were meeting by the river bank in Acts 16. It seems there was no active synagogue in Phillippi because they might not have had enough men to fulfill the requirement of the Minyan. Anything less than 10 bar mitzvah-ed men would render it impossible to have an acceptable synagogue.

You can get much more on issues like this in our series:

#925 Paul's Postmarks #980 New Testament Women #933 Chosen People

If this is your first glance at our website we welcome you warmly. We hope you find every facet of the ministry of Between the Lines to be enriching for you time and time again.

I'm Don Pate and I promise you we'll give it our best shot!

Deeper Look Study Guides:
925.pdf ,980.pdf ,933.pdf

Great Question!
We have a bit of a debate going in our Bible study group. Some of us think it would be helpful to get to know what other religions teach and others ... more ...
05/14/2012
You often seem to focus on the Old Testament. Don't you think that Christians should work much more in the New Testament than the Old?... more ...
05/14/2012
I have been following your teachings on tv recently and you said something that I'd never thought of before. You shared that the apostles were suppo... more ...
05/14/2012
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