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The new ESV Study Bible Blog has a helpful article on the Gamla Synagogue which was built during the first century B.C and destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 67. The synagogue was never rebuilt which gives us a glimpse of what the synagogue would have looked like in the first century A.D. The structure measures 84 x 56 feet (26 x 17 m) and could have held a few hundred people sitting on rows of stone benches which lined the walls.
Here is a typical order of service for synagogue worship during the first century A.D. (from Luke, New American Commentary, by Robert H. Stein):
- Singing of a psalm
- Reading of the Shema (Deut. 6:4-9; 11:13-21)
- Prayers (including set prayers, like the Eighteen Blessings [the Shemoneh Esreh)
- Reading of the Law in Hebrew (then translated into Aramaic for those who didn’t know Hebrew)
- Reading of the Prophets in Hebrew (and in Aramaic)
- Sermon/teaching on the Scripture passages
- Concluding blessing/benediction by the ruler of the synagogue
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