And gather you all the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
Read Chapter 8
Cyril of Jerusalem
AD 386
Well is the church named ecclesia [“assembly”], because it calls forth and assembles all men, as the Lord says in Leviticus: “Then assemble the whole community at the entrance of the meeting tent.” It is worthy of note that this word assemble is used in the Scriptures for the first time in the passage when the Lord established Aaron in the high priesthood. In Deuteronomy God says to Moses, “Assemble the people for me; I will have them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me.” He mentions the name of the church again when he says of the tablets: “And on them were inscribed all the words that the Lord spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly”; as if he would say more plainly, “on the day on which you were called and gathered together.” And the psalmist says, “I will give you thanks in a great church [ecclesia], in the mighty throng I will praise you.”
