HEBREW WORD STUDY – CHURCH – QAHAL  – קהל   Qop  Hei Lamed

Psalms 107:31-32: Oh that [men] would praise the LORD [for] his goodness, and [for] his wonderful works to the children of men! (32) “Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.”

The context is a reference to seafaring people who were rescued by God from being lost at sea. Actually, this is just used as an illustration to point to the main idea and that is to share your personal experiences with other believers in a congregation and before the assembly of elders. Actually, the assembly of elders is really in Hebrew the seat of the elders.  That is huge because when elders – pastors, church leaders – assemble together they usually don’t bother with personal testimonies for them their meetings are to take care of business, not listen to someone talks about their personal experience with God.

Yet, the point of this passage is that when God does do a mighty work we should praise Him before others. We should praise Him in the congregation and the elders.  But let’s look at this word for congregation which is biqehal from the root word qahal which means an assembly or gathering of people for a divine purpose. If you are looking for a Hebrew word for a church qahal would be a good candidate.  The word kenesiyah is often used for the English word church but that is identical to the modern Hebrew word knesset which is the name of the Hebrew parliament. I am one that believes in the separation of church and state so I think qahal, would be a more appropriate word as it is a word used most often for an assembly of people who gather together for a religious purpose. True, that may include those who gather for idolatrous purposes but then that still fits a lot of modern-day churches.  It is also a word that is sometimes rendered as preacher and church is a place for religious learning. 

Nonetheless, what is the purpose of the qahal?  It is to do religious things.  Psalms 107:32 tells us what these religious things are.  We are to exalt the Lord and thank Him for our salvation before the qahal, the church.  We are to give a testimony of deliverance to the congregation.  I don’t see it much anymore but when I was growing up we used to always have a testimony time in our Wednesday evening service before our prayer meeting.  Sometimes we would have it in our Sunday evening service, back in the day when we had Sunday evening services.  People were always being encouraged to speak out in praise of what God has done in their lives.  We don’t see it much anymore, at least in the churches I have been to.  I’ve asked pastors about it and their responses usually center around the idea that very few people attend their Wednesday evening service and when they had testimonies it was usually the same people giving the same testimonies.  There are, of course, few churches that have a Sunday evening service anymore and again the same problem of few people attending. Of course, Sunday morning is no place for a testimony time, that is when you have your biggest attendance and when the biggest offerings come in. You most certainly don’t want to have testimonies then, you would scare people off.  Best to leave Sunday mornings to the professional staff.   Then there is the fear.  Some people use testimonies to showboat, brag, show off and once they get the platform they will not get off and people get bored. 

But when I was growing up in our little Baptist church I recall the show boaters, I recall hearing the same testimonies over and over but our pastor would lovingly let them give the same testimony over and over.  He rarely had to shut people up and when he did he seemed to have a loving way of moving on to the next person and the person quickly got the message that he needed to give someone else a chance.  I also remember the “pop up” testimonies where you jumped up and said praise to God in one or two sentences.  I always felt good after that, I always felt God was very close and smiling. Today, it seems the only church or qahal we have is Sunday morning. Even Wednesday evenings prayer meetings are disappearing.  Fortunately, some have home gatherings on Wednesday evenings where testimonies are sometimes encouraged. 

I recall a newspaper reporter who visited many churches throughout the Chicago area and he said that the one thing he noticed about the churches that were really growing and had an enthusiastic congregation were those who allowed members to stand up and testify. 

I think that is a testimony to Psalms 107:32. There are not many guidelines as to what happens in a gahal except we are to praise God in more than just singing and we are to share of God’s goodness by more than just the preacher. In my Saturday Sabbath Bible Study online from our All Access I encourage testimonies that come naturally from our study and I will be doing that more on our Monday even translations.  We need to share with other believers what God is doing in our lives.  That is one key purpose of the church’s existence today.