Jerusalem Temple Research Articles

“And Judith Set Forth”

Abstract Judith is a wealthy, pious, celibate, domestic(ated) widow both at the beginning of the story and at its conclusion. Comprising the central section, her peregrinations to Holofernes’ tent (Jdt 10:1–13:20) and the Jerusalem temple (Jdt 15:8–16:21) serve as an “interlude.” Her story (chs. 8–16) is thus structured as a rite de passage, opening and ending in two stable states that enclose a liminal core. This article traces the role her two journeys play in the narrative, comparison of the topographical details, encounters with foreigners, and gender roles, suggesting that Judith’s first voyage marks her separation from her community and position within it, the second her reintegration and restoration to her original status.

Allegory and the Canonization of the Song of Songs

Abstract The canonical process that led to the inclusion of the Song of Songs in the lists of books of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament is investigated with focus on the saying attributed to Rabbi Aqiva in Mishnah Yadayim 3:5, and also investigated is whether he referred to the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple. It is demonstrated that he asserted that all the writings are holy and the Song of Songs is holiest. But the framing of the mishnah associates all scriptures, including the Song of Songs, with the Temple, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Holy of Holies. Allegorical interpretation of the Song likely preceded the book’s canonization.

Wer waren die Netinîm?

Abstract In view of the scarcity of sources on the class of the Temple servants (Netinîm), it is advisable to look at Mesopotamian and Greek sources, which offer analogies by much richer information. For the question of conceivable analogies to the scattered information in Ezr/Neh, it must also be considered whether the Jerusalem Temple owned land and who carried out the necessary work.

An Improvised Apocalypse

This paper examines Christian responses to Emperor Julian’s attempt to build a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem (ca. 363 CE) and compares these reactions to those elicited by early Islamic construction on the Temple Mount, especially ʿAbd al-Malik’s construction of the Dome of the Rock (ca. 692 CE). Both projects sparked Christian rhetoric that was often “apocalyptic,” combining a potent mix of biblical citations with a deep-seated fear of a Jewish alliance with a pagan tyrant. But how should we read this apocalyptic rhetoric? Was the late antique religious environment, as many have recently suggested, one of particular eschatological foment? This essay suggests otherwise. An analysis of contemporary responses to Julian and ʿAbd al-Malik reveals that Christian reactions to these highly charged architectural endeavors were often classical invective clothed in biblical garb. This scripturalized polemic was flexible and self-consciously contingent on the successes and failures of historical actors. Rather than arguing about the end of the age, Christians were arguing about how best to interpret contemporary history. They were arguing, moreover, how best to position religious competitors—Jewish or Muslim—within this shifting story.

Учительство Христа в классической западноевропейской иконографии

The article examines the visual embodiment of the theme of Christ's teaching in the European visual tradition. The author shows that the pedagogical metaphors of the Teacher and the Educator, vivid in the New Testament texts and the works of the first Christian writers, were reflected in the fine arts through certain iconographic formulas. An assumption is made about the possibility of a pedagogical interpretation of the symbolic image of the Good Shepherd (basing on Clement of Alexandria). Variations in the image of the Teacher in the works of the 4-5th centuries are also analyzed: these are compositions with Christ the Wonderworker and Christ the Philosopher, which had different iconographic prototypes. Regardless of the characteristics of the portrait interpretation of Christ, special attributes (rhetorical gesture, pallium, scroll or open codex) allow to identify Him as a Teacher. The view on Christ as the Teacher and righteousness and divine wisdom, incomparable with earthly knowledge, is a specific of the patristic tradition. The development of Christian art under the influence of liturgical theological the formation caused appearance of new subjects and interpretations in medieval art. Plots previously associated with the theme of Christ’s teaching receive a different view within the framework of typological exegesis. The author shows that the main “pedagogical” plot, which received consistent development in the art of the Middle Ages, is the image of the young Christ in the Jerusalem temple (Luke 2:41-51). The plot was popular due to the veneration of the image of the baby Jesus, general interest in His childhood, and also in connection with the cults of the Mother of God. In the iconography of the 15-17th centuries the polemical component of the plot is often emphasized, with the scene being interpreted as a variant of a dispute. In apocryphal texts dedicated to the childhood of Jesus, there are episodes of interaction between the Divine Youth and school teachers, who generally showed pedagogical carelessness towards the child and recognized His “disability to learn.” In illustrations of the plot children sympathize and support their “classmate” and even glorify Him as God. Finally, in the late Middle Ages, the story of the giving of the Lord's Prayer was spread, with the direct interaction of the Teacher and Preacher with their listeners articulated.

Enoch’s Vision of the Heavenly Temple (1 En. 14:8–25) Reconsidered

The paper focuses on a reexamination and reassessment of the textual evidence of Enoch’s Vision of the Heavenly Temple and of its classical interpretation as a heavenly temple complex. In line with the common scholarly opinion, 1 En. 14:8–25 has so far been interpreted in the sense of a bipartite or even tripartite temple which resembles the earthly temple in Jerusalem not only in structure but also in appearance. In contrast, this paper claims that this passage of the Book of the Watchers provides a twofold vision of two different temples, namely the inferior earthly temple and the ideal heavenly sanctuary. In this way, it articulates one of the most radical temple critiques of ancient Judaism. This interpretation is based on a careful textual analysis and a meticulous discussion of the individual elements of, in particular, the first house, taking into account other ancient Jewish sources such as Ezekiel, Haggai and the Animal Apocalypse which partially have been ignored so far but provide a helpful and illuminating background for the interpretation of Enoch’s Heavenly Vision.

Perpetual Fires in the Jerusalem Temple through a Mediterranean Perspective

Abstract The fires of the Jerusalem temple altar were said to be perpetual. Various writers from the fourth century BCE to the third century CE added explanations and perspectives to this practice: the argument that the fire came from heaven, that it continued even during the destruction of the temple, or that it remained lit only when the high priest was righteous. Though these texts are well known, they were never examined in a comparative context: how special were these practices and discourses in their Mediterranean and Persian contexts? Maintaining a perpetual fire on the altar or lamps was a known practice in Mediterranean sanctuaries. The discourses surrounding these fires, developed especially by Greek and Roman writers of the first century BCE and the first century CE, are in many ways similar to those in the Jewish texts. I will consider in detail the differences and similarities and their significance.

Образ Пятидесятницы в иконографической программе алтарного кивория Собора во имя первоверховных апостолов Петра и Павла в Санкт-Петербурге

The article is devoted to the unique monument of Peter the Great Baroque – the altar ciborium of the St. Petersburg Peter and Paul Cathedral. The study presents an analysis of the decoration of the ciborium (1722-1729, I.P. Zarudny). First of all, the connection of the iconographic and iconological program of the monument with the circumstances of the apostolic dedication of the cathedral of the new capital of the Russian Empire in the context of the church reform carried out by Peter I is traced. The synodal reform is proposed to be considered from the point of view of the principles of the structure of the ancient Church as a justification for the transition from patriarchal governance in favour of the conciliar Most Holy Governing Synod.In the article, the altar canopy of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is compared with the baldachin of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, with the imperial coronation baldachins of Catherine I and with the baldachin of D.L. Bernini from Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. The external imitation of the European fashion for baldachins was perceived as an embellishing decoration, which didn't prevent the continuation of the Moscow tradition of church decoration in the St. Petersburg monument, and the preservation of its archetypal relationship with the Jerusalem temple. Thus, the semantic connection of the royal and Divine thrones, laid down in the early Byzantine period, continues until the beginning of the XVIII century. It has found its artistic interpretation, including in the composite monogram crowning the Cathedral of Peter and Paul, the variant of interpretation of which is proposed by the author. The theme of the kingdom in the decoration of I.P. Zarudny's ciborium is intertwined with the theme of apostolic succession and the foundation of the church. The apostolic dedication of the Peter and Paul Cathedral was embodied in the artistic solution of the entire altar composition, for which the image of the "Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles" became central. The establishment of a new Church and a new Jerusalem, manifested in the image of "Pentecost", indicated a particularly important role for the new state symbolically denoting its continuity from both the artistic tradition of Byzantium and the tradition of the Western Christian world.

Purity, Cult, and Empire

Abstract This article analyzes the proclamation of Antiochus III concerning the temple and city of Jerusalem, quoted in Ant. 12.145–46, in light of three sets of evidence: Greek comparative materials from the broader Mediterranean world; biblical and Second Temple writings; and archaeological remains from Hellenistic Jerusalem, especially those that attest to the presence of non-sacrificial animals in the city. The evidence suggests that Ant. 12.145–46 preserves traces of an authentic proclamation, written in the style of a Greek ritual norm and probably with royal backing. We should not conclude from this, however, that the proclamation reflects the reality of how all Jews in Jerusalem conceptualized the purity of the temple and their obligations when butchering and tanning their animals within the city. I rather argue for a more complex interpretive approach that views royal edicts as fueling local debates surrounding temple purity, the sacred economy, and priestly prerogatives in Hellenistic Jerusalem.

Salomonische Architektur in den Niederlanden

Abstract The Old Church at Amsterdam showcases a wooden model for a huge domed church with a centralized ground-plan, constructed circa 1700 on behalf of local lawyer Nicolaas Listingh. The enormous further expansion of the town in the second half of the 17th century made such a venture logical. Listingh’s project could meet the need for several new churches of a normal size at once. The never executed model was characterized by one special main feature with an important iconographic significance: the large concave buttresses that connect the high-rising central drum with the lower ambulatory. They should be interpreted as a reference to King Salomo’s Temple of Jerusalem. In contemporary reconstructions its substructure was supported all around by a row of gigantic concave buttresses. As the Dutch Calvinists regarded their country as the new Israel, not only a few synagogues, but also some protestant churches were fitted out with them.

The Masoretic Text of Haggai 2.7b in light of verbal valency patterns

This article looks to verbal valency analysis to help clarify the meaning of the difficult clause ובאו חמדת כל הגוים‎ in Hag. 2.7b, and so the verse as a whole. Attention to the verb’s valency patterns (i.e., בוא‎ [ qal]) presents a fresh interpretive option that is both contextually fitting and (unlike previous proposals) linguistically robust. These patterns suggest that the cryptic phrase כל חמדת הגוים‎ is not the subject (so most) but a descriptor for the Jerusalem temple naming the locative goal of the clause’s motion verb. This analysis identifies כל הגוים‎ of the previous clause as the subject, yielding the following rendering of the verse: ‘And I (Yahweh) will shake all the nations so that they will come to “the desire of all the nations” (i.e., the temple), in order that I may fill this house with glory, declares the Lord of Hosts’.

Ἡ κοιλία of the temple? Jn 7:38 revisited in the light of 1Kgs

For many years biblical scholars have been trying to answer the question of what “Scripture” is fulfilled in the Jesus’ words in Jn 7:38. Two dominant interpretative trends – christological and anthropological – are often juxtaposed as complementary. The aim of this article, based on the intertextual approach, is to show another point of reference – the description of the first temple in Jerusalem in 1Kgs 6–7, which contains an unknown architectural element rendered by the Hebrew word בֶ טֶןּּ , simi-lar in meaning to κοιλία from Jn 7:38 – as well as to analyze both the christological and anthropological aspects of showing the temple as a human body and the human body as a temple, with the particular emphasis on the symbolism of flowing water in the context of the (new) birth.

Material Culture, Experimentation, and Household Lighting in Early Rabbinic Judaism

This paper examines how the materiality of lighting influenced the development of ancient rabbinic teachings that would later become the foundations of Jewish law. Drawing on ideas and frameworks from scholarship on material religion, I bring together archaeological finds, experimental archaeology, and references to objects in classical rabbinic literature to argue that the ways that lighting was used provided the earliest rabbis with tools and fodder for developing new expressions of piety that could be performed in one’s household. How lamps, oils, and wicks were used in Roman-era Palestine (second-third century CE) played an influential role in the development of rabbinic Judaism. I show this through rabbinic prescriptions on lighting lamps on Friday evening to mark the onset of the Sabbath, as the different wicks and oils created opportunities for one to choose to perform the custom in rabbinically-prescribed ways. I next demonstrate how the rabbis drew on common lighting practices to reinterpret biblical laws on the now-destroyed Jerusalem Temple cult into expressions of piety that can be performed in households throughout Roman Palestine. In this way, the materiality of light contributed towards the ancient rabbis’ role in transforming Judaism in the post-Temple age.

The Historical Reality of Jesus as Criterion for Present-Day Christian Discipleship

This paper outlines elements of a biblically informed theology for faith-based activists. First, it examines the historical reality of Jesus as the defining sign of the Word made flesh (Jn 1:14) and an important bridge to seventy years of biblical studies on the historical Jesus and his Palestinian context. Second, it argues that Jesus’s baptism “of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk 1:4b) functions as a highly symbolic public action defining his message, mission, and identity as God’s loving response to the sinful decimation of Israel’s institutions. Third, it asserts that Jesus’s choice to accept responsibility for the sins of his people is the first step of a new exodus leading to the confrontation at the Temple in Jerusalem and the question every disciple must face: How is God moving and acting in history now, and how am I called to collaborate with those movements in my historical context?

Paul, the prisoner (Acts 23:34-35): An insight into 2018-2022 political prisoner’s rights in Zimbabwe

Undisputed letters of Paul and Acts of the Apostles are replete with details of the Gentile Missionary’s multiple imprisonments, so much as to qualify him a ‘jailbird’ description. Paul’s incarceration in Herod’s palace for 2 years (Ac 23:34–35), his arraignment before Governor Felix and subsequent detention for 5 days before plea (Acts 24) on charges of inciting public violence, being a ringleader of a cultic faction and causing disturbances in the Jerusalem Temple, resonate with the contentious arrests and imprisonment without bail and trial of members of opposition political parties in Zimbabwe. Consistent with New Testament passages that exhort caring for prisoners and the need to grant justice to those facing trial, this study seeks to understand how inmates in Zimbabwean prisons have been on the receiving end of relics of the ancient Roman Legal system in the country’s Human Rights history between 2018 and 2022. The article demonstrates how the New Testament can be deployed to grapple with distress calls emerging from Zimbabwe’s prison walls as part of advocacy for judicial reforms in the country’s quest for rule of Law. At the end, the article recommends ways in which Churches in Zimbabwe can tap from New Testament passages how to operate an effective prison ministry in liaison with the Prisons and Correctional Services Department of the Government of Zimbabwe. The article employs qualitative methods of Socio-Historical and Ethnographic Analyses to discuss how human rights pitfalls in Paul’s imprisonments present remedial lessons in Zimbabwe’s quest for judicial reforms.Contribution: Deployment of the Bible to redress Human Rights issues in Zimbabwe. Demonstration of how Early Christian Literature can dialogue with contemporary African Sitz im Leben for social transformation.

The Hebrew Bible in Ancient Jewish Education

After the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the end of the sacrificial service in 70 CE rabbis made Torah study and observance the basis of Jewish identity. Since no organised Jewish school system existed in Roman Palestine, only a very small proportion of the mostly male Jewish population would have been able to read, and few people had access to Torah scrolls. Rabbinic Torah experts set themselves up as intermediaries and advisers who helped ordinary people solve their daily life problems. In late antiquity, when urban rabbis served as role models and synagogues required Torah readers, Torah-reading skills may have slightly increased. At that time, rabbis’ Scripture-based public sermons and the depiction of biblical scenes on synagogue mosaic floors familiarised ordinary Jews, including women, with biblical rules and narratives. Rabbinic study and discussion would have largely depended on memorization of the biblical text rather than access to written scrolls. This phenomenon led to a creative use of the Bible, which enabled innovation, change, and adaptation to new circumstances.

The Roman Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem: An Intercultural Conflict between Pietas and Politics

Intercultural encounters in modern and ancient times carry the potential for conflict and it can be assumed that the mechanisms that lead to hostilities between different ethnic or cultural groups follow similar patterns. In the long history of ancient Rome conflicts based on religious differences were, in contrast to current times, the exception. It seems that one of those cases was the Jewish rebellion in 66-73 CE which resulted among others in the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the diaspora of Jews across the Mediterranean. The available sources on the conflict are contradictory. On one side they suggest that the Romans respected the religious feelings and traditions of the Jews but on the other side, after the defeat of the rebels, the temple and the city walls were razed. In the triumphal procession to celebrate the successful campaign, sacred objects of the Jews were presented as spoils of war.
 The present article aims to explore which of both perspectives is more representative of the ancient reality and what constituted the underlying patterns of the conflict. In order to analyse the available information, insights from the psychology of cross-cultural encounters are applied. It is being argued that the combination of the interpretatio Romana, the translation of foreign deities to the pantheon of Roman gods and goddesses, with the concept of pietas, the dutiful devotion to those gods, was a foundation that prevented for the most part conflicts based on religious differences in the ethnically and culturally heterogeneous Roman Empire. However, Roman and Jewish society and culture can be understood as antithetical concepts with almost no cultural links. In this fundamental state of opposition small and rather irrelevant events can contribute to the occurrence of conflicts that may be, due to the lack of commonalities between both groups, difficult to solve.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone? The Fate of a Jewish “Culture of Flowers” in Two Early Medieval Diasporas

Abstract Flowers and traditions involving flowers tend to be conspicuously absent from early and late medieval Rabbinic literature, with one well-known but controversial exception. In contrast, literature and archaeological motifs beginning from the biblical period and reaching a climax in the late Second Temple period are replete with floral themes. The Madonna lily – lilium candidum – is especially celebrated as a symbol of ancient Israel, and particularly the Temple in Jerusalem, which may have been adorned with them in the late spring. In this essay, we analyze the Jewish culture of flowers in its Greco-Roman context and suggest possibilities to account for its ulti- mate disappearance – in particular, the translocation of Rabbinic scholarship to a Zoroastrian milieu, in which flowers played a central role in worship.

Mythological Images and Their Interpretations in Jewish Art of Eastern Galicia, 18th – 19th Century

This study analyzes the mythological representations of sea creatures, the hippocampus, and the Leviathan in the Jewish art of Eastern Galicia. It identifies the formation of a distinctive symbolic and sign system within Jewish art, serving as a means to convey fundamental religious and philosophical principles. The prohibition of anthropomorphic depictions contributed to the development of an entire cycle of animalistic and botanical images, illustrating the diaspora Jews' conceptualizations of the Land of Israel, the Jerusalem Temple, the Gardens of Eden, the commandments of the Torah, and the Talmud. Based on the study of artworks, including preserved illustrations from the destroyed synagogues in Khodoriv and Hvizdets during the Holocaust, as well as ritual objects such as Torah shields, Torah reading pointers, Hanukkah lamps, and the decoration of tombstones-matzevot, it has been established that Jewish art developed its own program of ornamentation and the use of symbols and signs. The features of the iconography of mythical sea creatures have been identified. It is emphasized that the traditional representation of the hippocampus as a creature with the body of half horse and half fish in Jewish art monuments was replaced by depictions of a creature with the body of half goat and half fish, or half lion and half fish. Such transformations can be explained by the influence of folklore and the reinterpretation of folk art. The symbolism of the hippocampus is associated with perceptions of the sea that surrounds the Land of Israel and serves as a metaphor for the transition to another, beautiful, paradisiacal world. The iconography of the depiction of the Leviathan is also connected to its symbolism. The Leviathan coiled in a ring is a traditional symbol of anticipation of messianic times, and the Leviathan coiled around a city or specific structures embodies the concept of the temple, alluding to a sacred space, as the skin of the mythical creature will be used for the tent of the righteous. Representations of the hippocampus and Leviathan on tombstones-matzevot embody the idea of anticipating messianic times and resurrection. The exploration of symbolism in Jewish representational and decorative art provides insight into the traditional Jewish culture of Eastern Galicia.

Continuity and innovation in architectural depictions of the Jerusalem Temple

Architectural depictions of the Israelite or Jewish sanctuaries are found throughout ancient Jewish literature, from the tabernacle account in Exodus to the Mishnah. This article examines how and to what extent the attempt to create architectural continuity has influenced some of the depictions of both the First and the Second Temple composed during the Second Temple period. It turns out that similar exegetical challenges underlie the Temple accounts of Chronicles, Josephus and the Mishnah, and their depictions were influenced not only by their historical sources but also by their exegetical and ideological views. The discourse on continuity and innovation in the architecture of the Temple is part of the larger question of the relation to the biblical past, which has preoccupied Jewish authors in the Second Temple period and in the first centuries after the destruction.