Built, Destroyed, and Built Again: Temple and History in Genesis Rabbah in Light of Christian Sources

Abstract

T H E J E W I S H Q U A R T E R LY R E V I E W, Vol. 110, No. 4 (Fall 2020) 652–678 Built, Destroyed, and Built Again:­ Temple and History in Genesis Rabbah in Light of Christian Sources HANAN MAZEH IN ANCIENT JE WIS H S OU RC E S, the Jewish ­ Temple looms large in shaping perceptions of time and history. In Scripture, the ­ Temple commonly appears in both catastrophic and peaceful prophecies concerning the ­ future of the Jewish ­ people, with the destruction of the ­ Temple symbolizing divine punishment and its rebuilding a sign of the nation’s repentance and forgiveness by God. In Second ­ Temple lit­ er­ a­ ture, Jewish sects used the concept of a ­ future divine ­ Temple to criticize the standing ­ Temple and its institutions, which they considered an imperfect substitute for the First ­ Temple, thus reflecting their distinct communal identities.1 The ­ Temple also features in pre­ sen­ ta­ tions of early Israelite history. Several Second ­ Temple sources suggest that an abstract concept of the ­ Temple existed long before it actually was built. The ­ Temple is said to be located, for instance, where Adam was buried, where the sons of Enoch brought sacrifices,2 and, most notably, where The research on which this essay is based was generously supported by several grants and projects headed by Professor Maren Niehoff, including a fellowship at the Einstein-Chronoi Center of the Berliner Antike-Kolleg, the Franz Thyssen Stiftung and the Niedersachsen Ministry of Culture and Science. I wish to thank Hanan Birenzweig, Yair Furstenberg, Sarit Kattan-Gribetz, Omer Michaelis, Maren Niehoff, Yakir Paz, and Oded Steinberg for their helpful comments on previous drafts. 1. See Menahem Kister, “Jerusalem and the Temple in the Writings from Qumran” (Hebrew), in The Qumran Scrolls and Their World (Jerusalem, 2009), 477–96; Daniel R. Schwartz, “The Three Temples of 4QFlorilegium,” Revue de Qumran 10 (1979): 83–91. 2. See Isaiah Gafni, “‘Pre-histories’ of Jerusalem in Hellenistic, Jewish and Christian Literature,” Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 1 (1987): 2; Eyal Ben-Eliyahu, Between Borders: The Boundaries of Eretz-Israel in the Consciousness of the Jewish People in the Time of the Second Temple and in the Mishnah and Talmud Period (Hebrew; Jerusalem, 2013), 71–72. The Jewish Quarterly Review (Fall 2020) Copyright © 2020 Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. All rights reserved. Genesis Rabbah and the Temple—Mazeh 653 Abraham bound Isaac.3 Similarly, some sources link ele­ ments of the­ Temple’s cult to certain ancient figures, some of whom, such as Levi in the Aramaic Levi Document, are given explicit anticipatory ­ orders regarding it.4 The combined literary effect resulting from the retrojection of the­ Temple and its cult to much ­ earlier time periods, as discussed by scholars regarding other ­ legal ele­ ments, is the transformation of the ­ Temple and all its pertinent detail into timeless concepts, suiting the ­ Temple’s central role in Jewish life.5 Some scholars have shown that during the Second ­ Temple period this imagery may also have served as a tool to criticize the existing­Temple.6 A drastic shift in mindset concerning the ­ Temple takes place ­ after 70 C.E., following the destruction of the Second ­ Temple by the Romans. Scholars have shown how the early postdestruction texts 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, and the Testament of Abraham all include the Second ­ Temple’s destruction in some form in their apocalyptic accounts. ­ These texts respond to the recent historical trauma by depicting the destruction as part of a divine plan, thereby softening, to some extent, the perception of the destruction as divine punishment.7 In rabbinic lit­ er­ a­ ture and the writings of the Church 3. An identification which goes as far back as 2 Chr 3.1. See Isaac Kalimi, “The Land of Moriah, Mount Moriah, and the Site of Solomon’s ­ Temple in Biblical Historiography,” Harvard Theological Review 83 (1990): 345–62. 4. See Jacques van-­ Ruiten, “Visions of the ­ Temple in the Book of Jubilees,” in Gemeinde ohne Tempel, ed. B. Ego et al. (Tübingen, 1999), 215–27; Martha Himmelfarb , “Earthly Sacrifice and Heavenly Incense: The...