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Simon Horn's avatar

So the very term has been used in the same way it decried those who did it originally. Those who falsely accuse the Jews are themselves... a synagogue of Satan!

Sergio DeSoto's avatar

Coupled with those who say they're Jews, and they're not. In other words, those who claim to be righteous and are pretending! Thank you, Simon!

Jamie Dale-Jensen's avatar

Sergio, this is absolutely fascinating. Once again it appears we hear the same message and approach it from different angles on the mountain…

https://open.substack.com/pub/remnantletters/p/unmasking-the-real-synagogue-of-satan?r=5u5zkl&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay

Susan pfeffer's avatar

Back when I was searching, the Christian group I was interacting with loaned me a book.,I am jewish. My mother glanced through the book and got very upset with me! I got to the section that bothered her. The book was comparing other religions to Christianity. What did it say about jews? " you are of your father the devil" applied to every jew on the planet! As something else I read stated, at that stage in history it was a family quarrel! Both sides were jewish!Jewish!! Thank you for the timely reminder. Please, my brothers and sisters who have been grafted in, be careful. Thanks for listening!

Sergio DeSoto's avatar

Susan, thank you for reading and for speaking up. What you described is wicked—taking the words of the Jewish Messiah in a first-century Jewish dispute and turning them into a blanket curse on Jews is not “truth,” it’s antisemitism wearing a Bible verse like a mask. I’m grateful you shared your story here, and I’m thankful you’re urging the grafted-in to handle the text with fear of God instead of arrogance.

And yes… reading this with the p’shat—the plain sense in its Jewish setting—changes everything. Shalom to you.

Susan pfeffer's avatar

And to you, my brother!

Simon Horn's avatar

Synagogue=gathering place

Satan= the accuser

So: A gathering place of those who make false accusations, slander, treat with contempt, roll their eyes, distain etc..(false accusers)

Hello...Political parties, partisan people, sometimes even congress.

Notice: Any gathering of, even, believers that engage is such behavior is a synagogue of Satan!

Do not mis-characterize those you disagree with!

Any gathering of believers that traffics in false accusation, slander, misrepresentation, or spiritual superiority is functioning in the same spirit — regardless of its doctrine, tradition, or name.

Doris Snyder's avatar

I believe it means exactly what it says synagogue of Satan we have many of them in our world today. Too many. The key to understanding is “synagogue”. Assembly, congregation, community, even church. G1537 Greek in the Strong concordance.

Sergio DeSoto's avatar

Amen Doris! and yes... even church!

Seeds Of Truth's avatar

great stuff as usual! 8-)

i wrote up a less detailed article about this issue shortly after the Oct 7 atrocity. mostly, it concludes this simple understanding...

today the same passage of Revelation could similarly & truly say, ““the blasphemy of those liars who say they are Christians and are not, are a church of satan”, referring to those who are in God’s new holy covenant through His Son Jesus Christ, Yahshua Messiah, but are actually willful sinners who care not to break holy covenant.

“Synagogue of satan — the Truth”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kXFK4WRr-5BSUI8Cc2yX5Kqm_LSzVnK-/view

Sergio DeSoto's avatar

Thank you for sharing that document. I am going to add it to my list of friends' stuff to read. I promise I will get to it, I just can't commit to when. But thank you very much for sharing!!

Seeds Of Truth's avatar

oh, don't even worry about getting to it. its far less detailed than your article, but it concludes likewise. 8-)

Sergio DeSoto's avatar

Hey, we're a community. I love reading that stuff.

JPoly's avatar

I always thought it referred to those who called themselves Jews but really weren’t.

Sergio DeSoto's avatar

In essence, yes. 😊

Debra Parker's avatar

If people understood that much of the ‘confrontations in the gospels between Jesus and the religious leaders were ‘in-house’ debates between the school of Shammai and the school of Hillel, a lot of what you describe could/would be avoided.

I study with a Jewish teacher, who said followers of Hillel’s teaching called followers of Shammai the ‘synagogue of satan’.

Shammai - very strict

Hillel - merciful (cheesed)

When I went to Israel, our tour guide said Jesus/Yeshua aligned most with Hillel’s teachings.

Please correct me if that’s not right. 🙂

Sergio DeSoto's avatar

Interesting — it sounds like the rabbi stitched together a few real pieces, but in a way that makes me pause.

Yes, a lot of the Gospel “confrontations” are in-house Jewish disputes about halakhah and authority, not Jesus trashing Judaism. That frame helps a ton.

But when someone jumps from Hillel vs. Shammai to “synagogue of Satan” as a label one side used for the other, I’d definitely go, “hmm… show me the sources.” That phrase lands in Revelation in a very specific setting, and it’s easy to overextend it into a general slogan.

And on “Jesus aligned most with Hillel” — I get why people say it, because Yeshua often leans merciful in application. But he’s not a mascot for either school. Sometimes he sounds closer to Hillel, sometimes he’s doing something that doesn’t fit either camp, because he’s speaking with his own authority.

So yeah… some affirmations I’d nod at. Others I’d politely ask for receipts. 😜

Debra Parker's avatar

I’m learning, myself, to go back and check some of these things out!

I’ll see if I can find the references. 🙂

I know that Jesus ‘explained the Father’ according to John 1:18.

He also addressed the doctrines of other groups (Essences—and many others not mentioned in the NT!) within 1st century, 2nd temple Judaism.

There’s so much history to know and understand. . .and even that can be biased, unfortunately.