Jerusalem Temple Research Articles

“Whoever Has Seen Jackals on the Ruins of Our Mountain Will Yet See How They Build There”: Der Nister on Jewish “National Building” after the Holocaust

The article examines Der Nister’s writings from the final years of his life in which he challenged the notion of Jewish homelessness. It begins with an analysis of the short essay “Hate”, published in the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee’s newspaper, Eynikayt, in the summer of 1944. The essay was inspired by the author’s Moscow meeting with a Polish Jewish teenage partisan who had miraculously survived the massacre of the Jewish population of Volhynia. Moved by this tragic and passionate story, Der Nister constructed his narrative around the theme of Tisha B’Av, the traditional Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. However, the essay also expresses hope for a national renaissance. Der Nister urged his readers to rise up from the ruins and play an active part in the reconstruction of Soviet Jews as a nation.

The Jerusalem temple between “theology” and archaeology: which issues, what dialogue?

Divine presence on earth constitutes an aporia. However, it is also necessary, since that which we call “religion” is simply a series of social practices which aim to establish a line of communication, benevolent if possible, between superior beings and mankind. Ontologically speaking, divine powers are “superhuman”, which means that common parameters do not apply to them. This paper explores the first temple of Jerusalem using two sources: textual and archaeological evidence. We will therefore compare the theological and archaeological data in order to analyse the interactions between these two disciplines. The place of worship appears to be an ideal laboratory where several disciplines, methodologies and issues can be brought together to understand representations of divinity. In other words, we will explore how the consideration of “discourses about the gods” (theo-logy) can enhance the work of archaeologists and raise new questions: inversely, we will highlight that which archaeology contributes to those who conduct research into the representation of divinity in the texts.

“The Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands”: a study of possible hellenistic jewish parallels for the Jerusalem temple as idolatry in acts 7:48

O propósito do presente artigo é duplo. (1) Ele busca analisar o discurso de Estevão, uma passagem controversa no capítulo 7 do livro neotestamentário Atos dos Apóstolos. Nele, Estevão, um judeu cristão helenista, critica o templo de Jerusalém ao argumentar que “o Altíssimo não habita em obras de mãos humanas (cheiropoietos)” (At. 7:48). O uso do termo pejorativo cheiropoietos para designar o templo judaico constituía uma blasfêmia na medida em que, no período anterior à produção dos textos do Novo Testamento, este termo fora usado na Bíblia hebraica somente para templos e estátuas de divindades politeístas, os chamados ‘ídolos’. (2) Uma vez que o discurso de Estevão parece recuperar certo material histórico, o artigo, então, examina textos judaico-helenísticos escritos entre o século I a.C. e o século I d.C. e que apresentam menções negativas ao Templo de Jerusalém de forma a situar historicamente a crítica de Estevão em Atos 7:48.

“The Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands”: a study of possible Hellenistic Jewish parallels for the Jerusalem temple as idolatry in Acts 7:48

O propósito do presente artigo é duplo. (1) Ele busca analisar o discurso de Estevão, uma passagem controversa no capítulo 7 do livro neotestamentário Atos dos Apóstolos. Nele, Estevão, um judeu cristão helenista, critica o templo de Jerusalém ao argumentar que “o Altíssimo não habita em obras de mãos humanas (cheiropoi?tos)” (At. 7:48). O uso do termo pejorativo cheiropoi?tos para designar o templo judaico constituía uma blasfêmia na medida em que, no período anterior à produção dos textos do Novo Testamento, este termo fora usado na Bíblia hebraica somente para templos e estátuas de divindades politeístas, os chamados ‘ídolos’. (2) Uma vez que o discurso de Estevão parece recuperar certo material histórico, o artigo, então, examina textos judaico-helenísticos escritos entre o século I a.C. e o século I d.C. e que apresentam menções negativas ao Templo de Jerusalém de forma a situar historicamente a crítica de Estevão em Atos 7:48.

THE TEMPLE IN 2 MACCABEES – DYNAMICS AND EPISODES

Scholars differ among each other about the importance of the Jerusalem temple in 2 Maccabees. Some see the temple as of minor importance while others are of the opinion that the temple takes centre stage in this book. This article concurs with the second view. However, it goes further by also exploring crucial temple dynamics. These temple dynamics are determined by certain pre-set criteria and centre mainly on the relationship between God and the nation. The result is that three different temple episodes can be distinguished. The positive/negative view of each temple episode is determined by this relationship between the nation and God. This opens a new way of exploring 2 Maccabees.

The Letter of Barnabas and the Jerusalem Temple

AbstractThis article examines a short passage in the Letter of Barnabas (16:3-4) which appears to refer to a rumoured, planned, or actual contemporary rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple under Roman auspices. I identify a possible historical context and set the possible attempted reconstruction of the Temple in the framework of Roman policy relating to colonies and indigenous temples. In particular, I reject attempts to date Barnabas from a cryptic apocalyptic quotation (4:4-5), preferring to rely mainly on an apparent reference to 4 Ezra, datable to ca. 100 ce. Combining this approach to dating with a search for possible historical contexts leads me to opt for a Hadrianic date, specifically during the planning of the Roman military colony of Aelia Capitolina, for the actual or, more likely, planned/rumoured reconstruction of the Temple.

Why was the Dome of the Rock built? A new perspective on a long-discussed question

AbstractThe existing discussion regarding the motives for building the Dome of the Rock revolves around two suggestions: that the incentive for building was the fierce competition between ʿAbd al-Malik and ʿAbdallah b. al-Zubayr in Mecca, and that it was competition with local Christian monuments that moved ʿAbd al-Malik to building this outstanding edifice. This paper suggests that a third incentive lay in the political and ideological rivalry with Constantinople that was at its peak during that period. This rivalry drove ʿAbd al-Malik to build a monument that would outdo those of Constantinople, and especially that of the Hagia Sophia. Muslim tradition emphasized that Constantinople had contaminated the site of the Temple and had claimed to inherit its place as God's throne on earth. The building of the Dome of the Rock, the New Temple of Solomon, was thus meant to redeem the Temple of Jerusalem's honour as of old against the claims of Constantinople.

More than Meets the Eye: Incongruity and Observation in Josephus’s Account of the Triumph of Vespasian and Titus

More than Meets the Eye: Incongruity and Observation in Josephus’s Account of the Triumph of Vespasian and Titus

Narrating Violence, Narrating Self: Exodus and Collective Identity in Early Rabbinic Literature

Narrating Violence, Narrating Self: Exodus and Collective Identity in Early Rabbinic Literature

The Spirit of generosity: A new economic dispensation in the wake of Pentecost?

The nature of the economic formation in the Early Church has been widely debated through the centuries. In his work, Das Kapital, Karl Marx quotes Acts 2:44–45, and even supplies these verses as his reason for hating God. As in the case of Marx and his compatriots, several current biblical scholars (especially those from poor communities) are still disillusioned by their view that the initial drive towards sharing money and property have soon been watered down by the Early Church.This article’s main focus is on the way in which reciprocity sheds new light on the economics of the Early Church. It concludes that economics in the Apostolic Era and the Early Church introduced a clear departure from the monetary policies exercised in the First Century Temple in Jerusalem, and in the Synagogues. Not only the main ‘economic’ events in Acts, but also the subsequent results in developing congregations, then and now, are discussed.

Foreign Yahwistic Singers in the Jerusalem Temple? Evidence from Psalm 92

ABSTRACTPsalm 92 is generally approached as a wisdom, royal, or hymnic song composed for the Sabbath liturgy. The present study, however, reveals that behind this ostensible meaning, this psalm alludes to the integration of foreign Yahwistic singers among the clergy at the Jerusalem temple and the opposition that it provoked among some of their Israelite peers. Though this reality remains visible in the linear reading of the psalm, its full expression emerges only after the psalm is set in a cross-responsa fashion, a mode of complex antiphonal performance that mixes two voices singing the same text in the inverse order of its verses.

„Zburzcie tę świątynię, a ja w trzech dniach wzniosę ją na nowo”. Analiza egzegetyczno-teologiczna J 2,19

This article has been carried out analysis of Jesus’ words about the destruction and rebuilding of the temple in John 2: 19. First analyzed the meaning of the words ,,demolish” and ,,rebuild”. It has been shown that they have no meaning of physical destruction of the temple, but it means the death and resurrection of Jesus. Later it has been shown the word ,,temple” means the body of Jesus as the new space the presence of God. The analyzes carried out showed that the words of Jesus must be understood more deeply than command the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. By these words Jesus foretold his death and resurrection, and pointed out that from now not the temple of stone, but his body is a new place of God’s presence.

Feeding the Jerusalem Temple

Although the Jerusalem Temple plays a central role in Jewish/Judaean society in both ancient sources and scholarly assessments, we have little direct evidence for how it functioned as an institution. Rather than work outward from the literary sources, this article works with a hypothetical model of the Temple’s minimal requirements. This approach helps to concretize the factors that we need to understand further, to identify areas where we can find substantiating or comparative evidence, and to provide a framework for critique of this and other treatments and for further research. The article presents an assessment of the economic scale of such a modeled Jerusalem Temple, suggesting that it mobilized resources comparable to those of a city, almost certainly exceeding the scale of operations of any individual enterprise. In addition, the article considers questions of provisioning a Temple operating on this scale with animals and other resources, and the local economic and social implications of sacrifice and pilgrimage for Jerusalem and its hinterland.

Fluid Sacredness from a Newly Built Temple in Luke–Acts

In Stephen’s speech in Acts 7, Luke negates God’s indwelling of the Jerusalem Temple. God’s presence is not confined to a specific place, but is fluidly revealed to God’s people. In Luke-Acts, Jesus and his apostles take over the role of the old Temple so that they become newly built corporeal temples. Luke transfers the presence of the divine from the old Temple to the bodies of Jesus and his followers, and their behaviour produces sanctity around them. As the corporeal temple moves, this generates new sacred space everywhere. Thus, sacredness does not dwell in a fixed place, such as the Temple, but is fluidly expanded across previously restricted place.

A la recherche d’un patrimoine liturgique : anglicanisme, gallicanisme et tridentinisme

In common with other churches of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, the Church of England identified its own worship with that of the ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and of the early Church. In the aftermath of Queen Mary’s restoration of Catholicism, the Church of England’s liturgical identity was also dominated by a severe Puritan reaction against all Catholic forms. In the last decade of Elizabeth’s reign, however, an ‘avant-garde’ of clergy emerged committed to greater ceremonialism in worship according to the Book of Common Prayer. The Laudian high churchmanship that emerged from this beginning was a movement in tension, looking simultaneously to the Patristic Church, the pre-Reformation Church in England (with a strong strain of ‘gothic survivalism’) and the even more risky world of the continental baroque. From the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, the Church of England was conscious of affinities with the Gallican, nationalist tradition in the French Church, but at either end of this period the Tridentine baroque would also prove seductively fascinating to many Anglicans. The use of the chancel screen was frequently a touchstone of this debate. While the Gallican tradition was effectively submerged within Roman Catholicism by the French Revolution and the First Vatican Council, the tension between the ‘Gallican’ and ‘Tridentine’ tendencies within Anglican high churchmanship remains alive to this day. In the nineteenth century, influential Anglican converts to the Church of Rome brought with them their contrasting convictions about the appropriate architectural setting for the liturgy. The architect A. W. N. Pugin, firmly committed to liturgical Gallicanism, advocated medieval music, architecture and Sarum ceremonial, while John Henry Newman and his fellow Oratorians insisted on an ultramontane liturgy and architecture. Through the creation of the Anglican Ordinariate within the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican tradition continues to bear witness to the diversity of the Catholic tradition.

Teologiczny wymiar godów weselnych i oczyszczenia świątyni (J 2, 1–22)

Z refleksji teologicznej pierwotnego chrześcijaństwa wyłania się myśl teologiczna w formie Ewangelii. Cztery różne spojrzenia na dzieło Jezusa ukształtowały się pod wpływem zmieniających się okoliczności zewnętrznych życia chrześcijan. Niniejszy artykuł jest próbą uchwycenia myśli przewodnich św. Jana w opisie godów weselnych w Kanie Galilejskiej i oczyszczenia świątyni (J 2, 1–22). Jezus w Kanie Galilejskiej otwiera epokę łaski, która jest uobecniana we wspólnocie Kościoła w życiu sakramentalnym, szczególnie w Eucharystii. Krzyż i zmartwychwstanie Jezusa położyły kres świątyni jerozolimskiej. Jezus ustanowił nowy kult „w duchu i prawdzie”. Świątynią stało się Jego ciało. Zmartwychwstały Pan gromadzi narody, jednoczy ludzi z Bogiem i między sobą w sakramencie swojego Ciała i Krwi. On jest nową świątynią ludzkości. Stanowi to sens znaku oczyszczenia świątyni.

Dlaczego Jezus nazwał siebie „Chlebem Życia”?

Dlaczego Pan Jezus określił siebie jako Chleb Życia? Niewątpliwie pragnął dać nam siebie w Eucharystii. Ale dlaczego wybrał postać chleba, aby to uczynić? Począwszy od pierwszej wzmianki o chlebie w hebrajskim tekście Księgi Rodzaju i etymologicznego znaczenia tego słowa można zauważyć, w jaki sposób Bóg przygotowywał naród w celu ostatecznego objawienia realnej obecności swojego Syna w Najświętszym Sakramencie. Pierwszym chlebem, który stal się znakiem błogosławieństwa był chleb ofiarowany Abrahamowi przez Melchizedeka. Następnie Bóg zesłał mannę dla Izraelitów na pustyni jako chleb z nieba. Później kazał im przygotować chleby pokładne, które były szczególnym znakiem Jego Przymierza i miłości do narodu Izraela. Oczekiwania mesjańskie w tradycji żydowskiej związane z nową, przyszłą manną wyrażają dalszy ciąg odsłaniającego się planu Bożego, który osiąga swój punkt kulminacyjny podczas Ostatniej Wieczerzy w świetle ostatecznej Ofiary Chrystusa na Krzyżu.

Jak modlitwa włożona w szczelinę Ściany Płaczu… O Schulzu Jonathana Safrana Foera

A small collection of Bruno Schulz’s stories has inspired many artistic facts, from fiction through non-fiction, animated films, and photo projects. All of them refer to the past which is still important and significant for the audience. On the contrary, Foer has made a ruin in which the past shows the present as an index, a footnote. The artist’s intention is exemplified by every hole in the book. As the recipient keeps reading, the removed fragments makes him or her remember the past, while the process of forgetting is incessantly going on before his/her eyes. The abandoned, empty holes point at a loss and simultaneously make one remember that the Wailing Wall still brings to mind the Jerusalem Temple and its significance for Jews. What is the significance of Schulz for this experimental prose?

Zacharie 9-14 et le temple de Jérusalem. Observations sur le milieu de production d’un texte prophétique tardif

Following the idea developed by O. Plöger and P. D. Hanson, scholars frequently ascribe the production of Zech 9-14 to a group that was detached from the Jerusalem Temple and in conflict with the priestly authorities. It is also often supposed that this group was active at some point during the Persian period. The main evidence cited is that of Zech 11:4-14, which many scholars insist enshrines an anti-Temple perspective. Reassessing the social location of Zech 9-14, this article argues that Zech 11:4-14 can hardly be read as a polemic against the Temple. Rather, this passage is best understood as criticizing the socio-political and administrative changes that took place under Ptolemaic rule, and which affected the economy and administration of the Jerusalem Temple specifically. Moreover, the importance given to the Temple and its rituals in the utopian scenes of Zech 9-14 suggests that the text should be attributed to a group that was associated with the Jerusalem Temple. Zech 9-14 does question in certain respects the way in which the Temple is managed, but this observation does not imply a separation from the Temple. It only indicates that the group that produced Zech 9-14 did not lead the institution, and so, it could adopt a critical stance towards some aspects of the Temple conduct. The group, it is argued, was located between Jerusalem and Judea; it occupied a subordinated position within the Temple, and served there intermittently. This article therefore proposes that late prophetic literature is best explained, overall, in the context of the Jerusalem Temple, which was the central Judean institution during the Persian and early-Hellenistic periods and was all but monolithic. Such a hypothesis provides a much firmer footing for explaining the special authority afforded to this literature within emerging Judaism.

Biblical Theology

Biblical Theology Christopher T. Begg, Martin Kessler, and Bernhard Lang 1091. Reinhard Achenbach, "The Empty Throne and the Empty Sanctuary: From Aniconism to the Invisibility of God in Second Temple Theology," Ritual Innovation, 35-53 [see #1185]. A. traces the notions of divine presence beginning with the time of Josiah, shortly before the fall of Jerusalem. Emphasizing the intellectual reconceptualization that took place in response to the drastically changed conditions of the cult, A. describes how shifting theological ideas result in changed cultic practice. With the cherub throne and the ark eliminated, the penitential liturgies held at the ruined Temple in Jerusalem elevated the name as a mode of divine presence. In the conditions of exile, the theology of a mobile divine glory promised a spiritualized divine presence even outside the land. When the Temple was rebuilt, this idea endured and rendered a remaking of throne and ark superfluous. In the postexilic period, A. discerns a process of spiritualization and abstraction. The language of ritual began to be applied to human interiority. The inscribing of amulets is used as a way of speaking about the alteration of the human will: the covenant will be inscribed upon the heart (Jer 31:33). Similarly, the purification of conscience is presented as an act of circumcising the heart (Deut 10:16). This process of spiritualization and abstraction also has implications for the perception of divine exteriority, and the resulting ritual practice. The divine name, Yhwh, is no longer to be enunciated—even in the Temple; and in the collection of cultic songs known as the Elohistic psalter, the divine name is replaced with the common noun ʾĕlôhîm. See also #1106. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1092. Samuel E. Balentine, "Legislating Divine Trauma," Lens of Trauma, 161-76 [see #1174]. B.'s essay highlights the importance of trauma hermeneutics for addressing problems that arise when readers employ a "plain-sense" hermeneutic to read biblical narratives that portray God as carrying out judicial penalties that involve initiating events that traumatize. The problematic character of this type of reading becomes clear in light of B.'s observation that reading such texts in this way invites humans to model their own interactions on God's example. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1093. Samuel Bénétreau, "Critique de la thèse d'un anthropocentrisme biblique écologiquement ravageur," ThEv 15 (3, 2016) 51-80. The goal of this article is to assess the validity of a line of criticism directed against the Bible in many modern studies: its anthropocentrism creates a sharp distinction between [End Page 341] humans and other creatures, thereby laying the foundation for a contempt for non-human creation and a misuse of its resources. A careful survey of both the OT and the NT reveals, according to B., rather a message of genuine solidarity among all components of the cosmos. If humans hold a crucial position within the cosmos and if their rebellion brought suffering and futility into that cosmos, they are equally charged, inspired, and aided by Christ with leading it into a glorious renewal. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1094. Richard M. Davidson, "The Legacy of Gerhard Hasel's Old Testament Theology: Basic Issues in the Current Debate Revealed in Old Testament Scholarship of the Last Four Decades," JATS 26 (2015) 3-25. D.'s article discusses Gerhard Hasel's Old Testament Theology, published by Eerdmans in 1972. Though a few reviews were critical, this work has received high praise, particularly by D. himself, as well as by many others such as Walter Kaiser, Eugene Merrill, Bruce Waltke, and B. S. Childs. See also ##1090, 1102.—M.K. 1095. Jaco Gericke, "What Is Your God? A Classic Philosophical Perspective of אלי-X Theophory in the Hebrew Bible," JSem 25 (2016) 1-14. What, according to the Hebrew Bible, is a god assumed to be? In this article, G. examines data potentially relevant to any attempt at answering this question within a sub-type of ʾl theophory in the Hebrew Bible. The data in question involve personal names that can be rendered in English as "my god...