The Purpose of the Balustrade in the Herodian Temple

Abstract Within the Herodian temenos in Jerusalem, a warning inscription prohibited non-Jews, under penalty of death, from proceeding any further inward. This was mounted on a low stone balustrade that encircled an area larger than the actual holy ground. As suggested in research, the underlying pen...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Orian, Matan (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2020
In: Journal for the study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman period
Year: 2020, Volume: 51, Issue: 4/5, Pages: 487-524
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Temple / Jerusalem / Architecture / History
IxTheo Classification:HD Early Judaism
HH Archaeology
Further subjects:B fictive reading
B warning inscription
B Second Temple Period
B exclusion of gentiles
B Herodian Temple
B Herod
B Septuagint
B Biblical Interpretation
B Jewish Law
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Summary:Abstract Within the Herodian temenos in Jerusalem, a warning inscription prohibited non-Jews, under penalty of death, from proceeding any further inward. This was mounted on a low stone balustrade that encircled an area larger than the actual holy ground. As suggested in research, the underlying pentateuchal law for the inscription was הזר הקרב יומת , “the unauthorized encroacher shall be put to death.” The subjection of gentiles to this law, in particular, and its application even when they had not, de facto , trespassed on holy ground remain, however, unexplained. The article suggests that the inscription applied הזר הקרב יומת to a זר , in the sense of “a foreigner,” who merely קרב , “draws near” to sacred ground. A further suggestion is that this reading and implementation of the biblical law reflects a preemptive endeavor to blunt Jewish objection to a major cultic innovation by Herod: granting gentiles access to the Jerusalem temenos .
ISSN:1570-0631
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman period
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700631-BJA10021