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Temples and Sanctuaries within Their Apocalyptic Setting

  • Stefan Beyerle
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Various Aspects of Worship in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature
This chapter is in the book Various Aspects of Worship in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature

Abstract

References to cult and sacrifices in Jewish apocalyptic literature from Hellenistic-Roman times are rather meager. This is also true with regards to places, better say the place, that may function as a dedicated site for those sacrifices: the temple. Temple imagery is clearly attested in Jewish apocalyptic traditions, but its role can at best be described as ambiguous. While sources from the “real-life” sphere, like the coins of the Bar Kokhba revolt-whose leader obviously was a figure within a messianic-apocalyptic setting-refer explicitly to the Jerusalem Temple, the earlier apocalyptic writings like the Book of the Watchers, the Apocalypse of Weeks or the Animal Apocalypse tend to turn the temple, or temples and sanctuaries, into metaphors-like “Heaven,” “Adam” or “God”- and to adopt a more or less hesitant attitude towards cult and locations for cult. In my opinion, the reason for this opaque treatment of the temple or temples is that apocalypticism integrates those places for worship into its “cosmic” worldview.

Abstract

References to cult and sacrifices in Jewish apocalyptic literature from Hellenistic-Roman times are rather meager. This is also true with regards to places, better say the place, that may function as a dedicated site for those sacrifices: the temple. Temple imagery is clearly attested in Jewish apocalyptic traditions, but its role can at best be described as ambiguous. While sources from the “real-life” sphere, like the coins of the Bar Kokhba revolt-whose leader obviously was a figure within a messianic-apocalyptic setting-refer explicitly to the Jerusalem Temple, the earlier apocalyptic writings like the Book of the Watchers, the Apocalypse of Weeks or the Animal Apocalypse tend to turn the temple, or temples and sanctuaries, into metaphors-like “Heaven,” “Adam” or “God”- and to adopt a more or less hesitant attitude towards cult and locations for cult. In my opinion, the reason for this opaque treatment of the temple or temples is that apocalypticism integrates those places for worship into its “cosmic” worldview.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Preface of the Editorial Board of Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook vii
  3. Preface ix
  4. Contents xi
  5. How did Early Judaism Understand the Concept of ʿAvodah? 1
  6. The Garland: A Sign of Worship and Acknowledgement 17
  7. Temples and Sanctuaries within Their Apocalyptic Setting 41
  8. Solomon’s Temple and Israel’s Earlier Cultic Traditions in 2 Chronicles 1−8 63
  9. Sirach Chapter 2 and the Temple 77
  10. Ben Sira on the Piety of Men and the Piety of Women 107
  11. Word and Prayer in the Book of Ben Sira 117
  12. Worship in the Restored Second Temple in Sirach 50 141
  13. The Temple as a Place of Worship and the God of Heaven in 2 Maccabees 167
  14. A Narrative-Therapeutic Reading of the Martyr Narrative in 2 Maccabees 6 and 7 181
  15. Bodily Signs of Penitence in the Book of Baruch 197
  16. Piety without the Temple according to the Book of Baruch 215
  17. Babylonian Priests in the Description of the Epistle of Jeremiah 225
  18. No Place for Worship 247
  19. Gestures and Locations of Worship in the Book of Tobit 261
  20. Charity and Cult in the Book of Tobit 277
  21. Worship and Holy Places in the Wisdom of Solomon 289
  22. Aspects of Worship in the Letter of Aristeas 305
  23. Die kosmische Bedeutung des jüdischen Hohenpriesters im Denken Philos von Alexandrien 319
  24. Temple and Synagogue in Late Antiquity 341
  25. Worship in Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum 365
  26. Worship and Creation 389
  27. Contributors 421
  28. Index of References 423
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110467406-005

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Preface of the Editorial Board of Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook vii
  3. Preface ix
  4. Contents xi
  5. How did Early Judaism Understand the Concept of ʿAvodah? 1
  6. The Garland: A Sign of Worship and Acknowledgement 17
  7. Temples and Sanctuaries within Their Apocalyptic Setting 41
  8. Solomon’s Temple and Israel’s Earlier Cultic Traditions in 2 Chronicles 1−8 63
  9. Sirach Chapter 2 and the Temple 77
  10. Ben Sira on the Piety of Men and the Piety of Women 107
  11. Word and Prayer in the Book of Ben Sira 117
  12. Worship in the Restored Second Temple in Sirach 50 141
  13. The Temple as a Place of Worship and the God of Heaven in 2 Maccabees 167
  14. A Narrative-Therapeutic Reading of the Martyr Narrative in 2 Maccabees 6 and 7 181
  15. Bodily Signs of Penitence in the Book of Baruch 197
  16. Piety without the Temple according to the Book of Baruch 215
  17. Babylonian Priests in the Description of the Epistle of Jeremiah 225
  18. No Place for Worship 247
  19. Gestures and Locations of Worship in the Book of Tobit 261
  20. Charity and Cult in the Book of Tobit 277
  21. Worship and Holy Places in the Wisdom of Solomon 289
  22. Aspects of Worship in the Letter of Aristeas 305
  23. Die kosmische Bedeutung des jüdischen Hohenpriesters im Denken Philos von Alexandrien 319
  24. Temple and Synagogue in Late Antiquity 341
  25. Worship in Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum 365
  26. Worship and Creation 389
  27. Contributors 421
  28. Index of References 423
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