(Photo from BiblePlaces.com)

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