A BLIND MAN - THE OUTCAST OF THE SYNAGOGUE

The healing of the man who was blind from birth, ivory from the Christian Museum of the Vatican Library.

This mere blind beggar, a natural ignorant heretic, altogether born in sins, to be teaching the Pharisees? Unable to control any longer their transport of indignation, the Pharisees flung him out of the hall, and out of the synagogue. But Jesus did not neglect His first confessor; He heard that they had thrown him out, and when He found the man He asked him:"Do you believe in the Son of Man?" (John 9.35)

 Professor Westcott points out the striking fact that Messiah  had a spontaneous revelation to the  man who was blind: "You  have now seen Him; in fact He is the one speaking with you" (John 9,37).  This revelation was to AN OUTCAST OF THE SYNAGOGUE. Jesus himself in all probability, had either at this or some previous time been placed under the ban of lesser excommunication, or exclusion from the Synagogue; for we scarcely ever again read of His re-entering any of those synagogues which, during the earlier years of His ministry, had been His favourite places of teaching and resort. The excommunication was: 

1.Neziphah, the mildest form, temporary, for 30 days and it applied to only one synagogue. But if it were pronounced, the time could easily be extended;

2. Niddoui, for 90 days, and the decree was adopted by other synagogues.  Exclusion from the synagogue did not, however, involve exclusion from the Temple, where a separate door was provided for the excomunicate.

3. The last stage of excommunication was the cherem or shammatta (excision), which was as bad as the Roman "interdictio ignis et aquae". The Jews declare that  Josua Ben Perachian had been the teacher of Jesus, and excommunicated him to the blast of 400 rams'-horns. But this Josua lived in the reign of Alexander Jannaeus, who died B.C. 79! (Dean Farrar, The Life of Christ, London,1896, p 399). 

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