Abstract
Was the Yahweh temple on Mount Gerizim modelled after the temple in Jerusalem? This question is important for our understanding of the sanctuary on Mount Gerizim and the people who worshipped there in the Persian and Hellenistic period; if the Gerizim temple was modelled after the Jerusalem temple, the argument in favour of the Gerizim cult as derived from the cult in Jerusalem is strengthened. On the other hand, if no such connection can be demonstrated convincingly, one must look elsewhere for the answer to the question of Samaritan origins. The present study gives a brief introduction to the relationship between early Judaism and early Samaritanism, or rather Southern and Northern Yahwism, followed by a presentation of Mount Gerizim and the excavations that were carried out there between 1982 and 2006. Finally, I shall turn to the theory that the temple on Mount Gerizim was modelled after the Jerusalem temple, which has been recast by Dr Yitzhak Magen (2008). I conclude that the archaeological remains from the Persian-period sanctuary on Mount Gerizim offer no evidence that this temple was modelled on the temple in Jerusalem.
Highlights
Was the Yahweh temple on Mount Gerizim modelled after the temple in Jerusalem?1 This question is important for our understanding of the sanctuary on Mount Gerizim and the people who worshipped there; if the Gerizim temple was formed after the pattern of the Jerusalem temple, the argument in favour of the Gerizim cult as derived from the cult in Jerusalem is strengthened
I shall turn to the theory that the temple on Mount Gerizim was modelled after the Jerusalem temple, which has recently been recast by the director of the Mount Gerizim Excavations, Dr Yitzhak Magen
One could go as far as to say that if one had not read the description of the Jerusalem temple in Ezekiel 40-48, a reconstruction such as Magen’s reconstruction of the Persian-period sanctuary on Mount Gerizim would not have come to mind on the basis of the available Persian-period remains
Summary
Was the Yahweh temple on Mount Gerizim modelled after the temple in Jerusalem?1 This question is important for our understanding of the sanctuary on Mount Gerizim and the people who worshipped there; if the Gerizim temple was formed after the pattern of the Jerusalem temple, the argument in favour of the Gerizim cult as derived from the cult in Jerusalem is strengthened. If no such connection can be demonstrated convincingly, one must look elsewhere for the answer to the question of Samaritan origins. I shall first briefly introduce the issue at hand, the relationship between early. I shall turn to the theory that the temple on Mount Gerizim was modelled after the Jerusalem temple, which has recently been recast by the director of the Mount Gerizim Excavations, Dr Yitzhak Magen. The present study is a slightly revised and updated version of a paper that I presented at the conference The Other Temples in Dublin in May 2012. The conference was organized by Dr Lidia Matassa on behalf of the Hekhal Society. An earlier version of this study appeared in Danish as (Gudme 2015)
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