Persian Temple Renovations and the Rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple

2019 ◽  
pp. 88-154
Author(s):  
Andrew R. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Jerusalem Temple

This chapter shows how Persian kings used temple renovation to distance themselves from recent turmoil and to associate their reigns with more illustrious past traditions. The renovation was also the beginning of a larger program of cultic and/or economic restoration. This rhetoric of renovation sheds light on texts relating to the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple, especially Ezra 5:7–6:12, which employs similar rhetoric. For the Jewish elders in this passage, the renovation of the Jerusalem temple is the symbol through which they express religious continuity as well as discontinuity.

THE TEMPLE IN 2 MACCABEES – DYNAMICS AND EPISODES

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 352-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre J Jordaan
Keyword(s):  
Minor Importance ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Negative View ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Temple

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.

INTERNAL CONTROLS IN THE TALMUD: THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Fonfeder ◽  
Mark P. Holtzman ◽  
Eugene Maccarrone
Keyword(s):  
Internal Controls ◽  
Court System ◽  
Sound System ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Extensive System ◽  
Priestly Class ◽  
The Temple

We examine the Hebrew Talmud's account of internal controls in the ancient Jerusalem Temple (c.823 B.C.E. to 70 C.E.) This far-reaching enterprise involved an extensive system of sacrificial offerings, management of three annual pilgrimages, a court system and maintenance of a priestly class. We outline the annual process of collecting half-shekel and other donations, withdrawals from the Temple treasury and the sale of libations. The Talmud describes numerous internal controls: donations were segregated according to their specific purposes and donation chests were shaped with small openings to prevent theft. When making withdrawals from the Temple treasury, the priest-treasurer was required to wear specific clothing to prevent misappropriation of assets. The Treasury chamber itself had seven seals, requiring the presence of seven different individuals, including the king, in order to open it. The process of selling libations and meal offerings required purchasing and then redeeming different tickets, which were specifically marked to prevent fraud. In explaining the reasoning for this tight system of internal controls, the Talmud reveals that an individual “shall be guiltless before G-D and before Israel” [Numbers 32: 22], so that a sound system of internal controls prevents both theft and any suspicion of theft, thus establishing the fiscal credibility of the Temple institution in the eyes of its congregants. Such an approach indicates that accounting did not represent a profane, secular vocation at odds with the Temple's mission. To the contrary, a system of accountability formed integral steps in the Temple's ritual processes.

The Literary and Ideological Character of the Letters in Ezra 4–7

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Grätz
Keyword(s):  
Persian Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Biblical Texts

At first glance, the Aramaic letters embedded in the biblical book of Ezra look like authentic documents issued in favour of the Judaeans by the Achaemenid chanceries. This chapter shows that the letters display formulaic and stylistic features differing from authentic imperial Persian royal correspondence, that the contents of these letters are influenced by other biblical texts, chiefly Deutero-Isaiah and the books of Chronicles, and that the image of the king in these letters comprises aspects of the euergetism characteristic of Hellenistic monarchs. Grätz therefore suggests that the letters in Ezra 4–7 are fictitious and serve certain literary and ideological purposes: they present the Persian period as a time of divinely monitored reconstruction after the exile, and they emphasize God’s lasting election of Judah and the Jerusalem temple. The deployment of letters for such purposes can be compared with similar practices in Hellenistic historiography.

Paschal Politics: Deploying the Temple's Destruction against Fourth-Century Judaizers

2008 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Shepardson
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
John Chrysostom ◽  
Political Boundaries ◽  
The Temple

AbstractThe fourth-century Syriac writings of Aphrahat and Ephrem, and Greek homilies by the Syrian John Chrysostom, warn Christian congregants against joining Jewish festival celebrations such as Passover. In light of the respected age of Judaism's scriptures and traditions, not all of these authors' church attendees were easily convinced by supersessionist claims about Judaism's invalidity. These authors surpass earlier Christian claims that the Temple's destruction revealed God's rejection of the Jews, by arguing that Jewish scripture requires ritual sacrifices that were confined to the Jerusalem Temple. us without the Temple sacrifices, fourth-century Jewish festivals, these authors claimed, defied God's biblical commands, a declaration with sharp implications for Judaizing Christians. Demonstrating the nuances of this argument, which crossed eastern linguistic and political boundaries, contributes to complex discussions regarding these texts' audiences, highlights distinctive elements that their contexts shared, and reveals an unrecognized role that the Temple's destruction played in fourth-century anti-Judaizing discourse.

Jewish Identity and the Intercommunal Links between Diaspora Jewish Communities in the Second Temple Period

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Trotter
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Shared Identity ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple

Abstract Many diaspora communities identify not only with a distant homeland but also with others distant from the homeland. How exactly do these intercommunal connections take place and contribute toward a shared identity? What specific aspects of diasporan identity are created or strengthened? What practices are involved? This study will begin to answer these questions through investigating two practices which were widespread among diaspora Jewish communities during the last two centuries of the Second Temple period (1st cent. B.C.E.–1st cent. C.E.). First, we will show how sending offerings and making pilgrimages to the Jerusalem temple from these communities enabled regular intercommunal contact. Then, we will suggest some ways in which these voluntary practices reinforced a cohesive Jewish identity and the importance of the homeland, especially the city of Jerusalem and the temple, for many diaspora Jews, whether they lived in Alexandria, Rome, Asia Minor, or Babylonia.

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