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CONGREGATION
Assembly of people, particularly for religious purposes. The Bible describes Israel as the congregation of the Lord because it was a covenant nation. The whole nation was considered to be the people of God (Ex 3:6-8, 15-16; 12:6; Is 1:2-4; 14:1).
As a chosen nation, Israel was to display God’s greatness in the midst of other nations (Dt 4:6-14; Is 42:1; 45:4; 65:9, 22). Because of this, the whole nation was called “the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel” (Nm 14:5, rsv; see also Lv 4:13; Nm 16:3).
The church of the NT owes much to the spiritual heritage transmitted by the OT congregation of God’s people. This relationship of the church to the OT people of God is highlighted in several places (Heb 2:10-13; 1 Pt 2:9-10; see also Rom 9:1-8; Gal 6:16).
See also Church.