Qumran Temple?

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-85
Author(s):  
Lawrence H. Schiffman
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Proper Place ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
Sacrificial Ritual ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Times ◽  
The Temple

Study of the textual evidence preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls makes it exceedingly unlikely that the sectarians would have conducted sacrificial worship at their desert retreat. They disagreed vehemently with the Jerusalem establishment and refused to worship at the Temple because the sacrificial ritual did not accord with their halakhic ideals. However, they still maintained that the Temple was the only proper place to worship: it just had to be renewed under their aegis at the End of Days, when they would control all its functions. In the meantime, the sectarians viewed their community as a substitute Temple; they conducted prayers at the times when the Temple sacrifices took place; their communal meals became ritualized as a replacement for the Temple offerings; they studied the laws of sacrifices. Priests and Levites were given preferential roles, the communal meals and study sessions substituted for Temple rituals, and the ritual purity that the sect maintained assured them that they would be ready for the soon-to-dawn eschaton that would restore the glory of the Temple to them. Thus, the literary evidence points to a longing for the Temple but also to a resignation that, until the End of Days, various modes of worship would have to substitute for its sacrifices.

The Fratricidal Hasmonean Conflict and the Murder of Onias

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vered Noam
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Original Version ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Political Stance ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Temple

This chapter examines the story of the internecine struggle between the two Hasmonean brothers, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, which brought the Hasmonean commonwealth to its end. Only in Josephus is the story of the murder of a righteous man, Onias, juxtaposed to the central tradition regarding the siege of the temple during this war, although this too was clearly an early Jewish tradition. In the rabbinic sources, the story of the siege and the sacrificial animals underwent multiple reworkings, and it is the Babylonian Talmud that reflects the more original version and message of the story. If in Chapter 2, we saw the “rabbinization” of the figure of John Hyrcanus, here the story itself underwent this process and its original moral message was replaced by multiple halakhic implications. In both corpora, this dissension between brothers is seen as the leading cause of the downfall of the Hasmonean dynasty. This was in contradistinction to the political stance represented in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which interpreted the Roman occupation as proof of the sinfulness of the Hasmonean state from its very inception.

Writings in the Dead Sea Scrolls

2018 ◽  
pp. 324-341
Author(s):  
Lawrence H. Schiffman
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Second Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Hebrew Word ◽  
The Dead

This chapter argues that the Writings was an evolving collection of scripture used in a wide variety of ways by the Dead Sea Scrolls community at Qumran (second century bce to first century ce). Though the Hebrew word Ketuvim (Writings) does not occur in the Scroll material, all but one (Esther) of the books contained therein are found. The plentiful and varied textual evidence at Qumran, and occasionally other Judean desert sites, is presented with special attention to the number of biblical and other manuscripts and place found; textual comparisons with the biblical Masoretic text and others (e.g., Septuagint); citations; and other interpretive uses in sectarian documents. The importance of the books in the Writings for the life of the late postexilic community of Qumran and the nature of the Dead Sea Scrolls biblical collection are, together, a constant focus of the study.

Nations and Goyim, Hellēnes and Others

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adi Ophir ◽  
Ishay Rosen-Zvi
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Temple

Chapter 4 concentrates on terminology, examining the changes in the meanings of both ethnē and goyim. After discussing the Dead Sea Scrolls and the First and Second Maccabees, it moves to Philo and Josephus, discussing the different terms they use for foreigners, collective and individual, and their discursive meanings. For both authors, Israel is conceived as an exception that does not define the rule. Instead, it was understood on the terms of Israel’s constitution, which Philo interpreted theologically, and Josephus read politically and historically. The chapter ends with an analysis of the Greek warning inscription found in the Temple court, which forbade strangers from entering the Temple on pain of death.

Southwest Asia - Lamia Al-Gailani Werr, John Curtis, Harriet Martin, Augusta McMahon, Joan Oates & Julian Reade (ed.). Of pots and p1ans: papers on the archaeology & history of Mesopotamia and Syria presented to David Oates in honour of his 75th birthduy. xi+401 pages, 347 figures, 9 tables. 2002. London: Nabu; 1-897750-62-5 hardback £48. - D.H. French. Canhasan I: stratigraphy and structures (Canhasan Sites 1; British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara Monograph 23). x+102 pages. 60 figures, tables, 18 plates. 1998. London: British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara; 1-898249-09-1 hardback £45. - Max Schwartz. The Biblical engineer: how the Temple in Jerusalem was built. xxv+l66 pages, 166 figures, 4 tables. 2002. Hobokcn (NJ): Ktav; 0-88125-711-7 hardback $29.50, 0-88125-710-9 paperback $17.95. - Philip R. Davies, George J. Brooke & Phillip R. Callaway. The complete world of the Dead Sea scrolls. 216 pages, 132 b&w illustrations, 84 colour illustrations, tables. 2002. London: Thames & Hudson; 0-500-05111-9 hardback £24.95. - Nigel Groom. Sheba revealed: a posting to Bayhan in the Yemen. xv+296 pages, 1 map, 37 photographs. London: London Cenire of Arab Studies; 1-900404-31-1 hardback £24.95.

Antiquity ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (293) ◽  
pp. 881-882
Author(s):  
N. James
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Southwest Asia ◽  
History Of ◽  
British Institute ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Temple

John Hyrcanus and a Heavenly Voice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vered Noam
Keyword(s):  
Second Generation ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Military Leader ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Military Victory ◽  
The Temple

This chapter treats the second-generation Hasmonean figure John Hyrcanus to whom the virtues of leadership, priesthood, and prophecy are attributed. This ascription is reflected not only in Josephus and rabbinic literature but also receives a hostile twist in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Based on an earlier stratum from a lost Aramaic chronicle, the legend recounts an announcement of military victory by a heavenly voice in the temple. In essence this tale belongs to a genre identified as priestly temple legends. This priestly legend was in turn integrated into both the Josephan and the rabbinic contexts. The new rabbinic setting in effect “rabbinized” the image of John Hyrcanus and inverted the message of the story, using it to announce the end of the era of prophecy. In contrast, Josephus underscored the merit of prophecy and retained the full image of John as a political and military leader. For both corpora, Hyrcanus represents the acme of the Hasmonean rulership.

The Literature of the Second Temple Period

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Biblical Sources

Strictly speaking, the Second Temple period extends from the construction of the temple at the end of the sixth century bce to its destruction by the Romans in 70 ce. Some scholars would now argue that the entire biblical corpus belongs in this period. Even if one accepts the more traditional dating of biblical sources, the final edition of the Torah must be placed after the Exile. This article deals with this literature. The literature may be divided into three categories, based on provenance more than on literary genre, although each category has its own characteristics. These are the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha; the Dead Sea scrolls; and the literature of the Greek-speaking diaspora. The first and third categories were preserved by Christians, the second was only recently recovered from the caves by the Dead Sea.

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