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Beyond the Veil of the Temple: The High Priestly Origins of the Apocalypses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2009

Margaret Barker
Margaret Barker
Affiliation:
24 Gordon Road, Borrowash, Derbyshire DE72 3JX, UK
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Extract

The veil of the temple was woven from blue, purple, crimson and white thread, and embroidered with cherubim (2 Chron 3.14); the veil in the tabernacle had been similar, (Exod 26.31; 36.35). It was a valuable piece of fabric, and both Antiochus and Titus took a veil when they looted the temple (1 Mace 1.21–2; BJ 7.162). In the second temple it was some two hundred square metres of fabric; when it contracted uncleanness and had to be washed, three hundred priests were needed for the job (m. Shek 8.4–5). Josephus says it was a Babylonian tapestry (BJ 5.212), a curtain embroidered with a panorama of the heavens (BJ 5.213). The veil separated the holy place from the most holy (Exod 26.33), screening from view the ark and the cherubim or, in the temple, the ark and the chariot throne. We are told that only the high priest entered the holy of holies, once a year on the Day of Atonement.

Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , February 1998 , pp. 1 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1998

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References

1 The hanging at the entrance to the holy of holies is paroket, LXX and Philo katapetasma, distinguished from the hanging at the entrance to the tabernacle, masak, LXX epispastron, Philo kalumma.

2 There was debate after the temple had been destroyed as to whether there had been a veil in the first temple as m.Yoma 5.1 describes the high priest walking between the curtains to reach the ark, but b.Yoma asks: To what are we referring here? If it be to the first sanctuary, was there then a curtain? Again, if the second, was there then an ark?

3 LXX of Isai 6.1 has the house was filled with his glory, anticipating the angelic song, v.3, the whole earth is full of his glory. The house is the earth.

4 Meeks, W.A. ‘Moses as God and King’, in Religions in Antiquity. Essays in Memory of E.R. Goodenough. Ed. Neusner, J., Leiden, 1970, p.371: ‘an elaborate cluster of traditions of Moses’ heavenly enthronement at the time of the Sinai theophany… closely connected with scripture and at the same time thoroughly syncretistic…’Google Scholar

5 The singular nature of the two is seen clearly at Rev 22.3–4; the MSS at 6.17 are ambiguous, but the singular identity is implicit at 7.9–10; 20.6; 21.22; 22.1.

6 i) Only the Prince of the Divine Presence passes within the veil, b.Yoma 77a.

ii) Clement of Alexandria, Excerpts 38: (the fiery place of the throne) has a veil in order that things may not be destroyed by the sight of it. And only the archangel enters in and to typify this, the high priest every year enters the holy of holies. 3 En 22B 6: The glorious king covers his face, otherwise the heaven or Arabot would burst open in the middle, because of the glorious brilliance, beautiful brightness, lovely splendour, and radiant praises of the appearance of the Holy One, Blessed be He. The Targum to Job 26.9 is similar.

iii) See also Fishbane, M. ‘The Measures of God's Glory in the Ancient Midrash’ in Messiah and Christos. Studies in thefewish Origins of Christianity. Presented to David Flüssner. Ed Gruenwald, I., Shaked, S., and Stroumsa, G., Tübingen 1992, pp.53–74, esp. pp.55–60Google Scholar where he discusses the veil as the cover for the ‘measure of God's Glory’, which he suggests is a reference to some esoteric knowledge.

7 According to Jerome De Viris Illustriis 11

8 Fishbane op.cit.n.6, pp.64–66, discussing the work of M. Idel that the surot in 4Q 405 19 are early evidence for mysticism and his own suggestion that sur and d'mut referred to the heavenly Man on the throne.

9 Other examples are: Deut 32. 4, 15, 18, 31 where the context is fatherhood, the Rock that begot you, or comparison with other gods, they scoffed at the Rock…and stirred him to jealousy with strange gods…; Ps 73.26, where the context is a sanctuary vision of judgement on the wicked and the psalmist expresses confidence in his Rock in heaven; also Pss 28.1; 89.26; 95.1; Hab 1.12; in none of which is ‘Rock’ represented in the LXX.

10 i) Job 38.33 has a similar meaning.

ii) Jesus’ parables give the other side of the comparison; he teaches what the Kingdom of heaven is like by using everyday stories and images.

11 Cf. Asc Isai 10–11, where Isaiah sees the whole history of the incarnation; b.Sanhedrin 38b, the Holy One… showed Adam every generation…

12 I En 89.73 describes the sanctuary of the second temple as a tower before which impure bread was offered. Ass Mos 2.4 has: The court of his tabernacle and the tower of his sanctuary … An interpretation of Isai 5 in the early second century CE, attributed to R. Yosi: he built a tower in the midst of the vineyard…this is the sanctuary…, Tos Suk 3.15. This passed into Christian usage e.g. Hermas Parables 3.2.4; 9.3.1; the Son of God is Lord of the tower, Parables 9.7.1.

13 i) Ignatius of Antioch, Phil 9: To Jesus alone as our high priest were the secret things of God committed. Clement, Miscellanies 6.7, the knowledge of things present, past and future revealed by the Son of God; Miscellanies 7.17, the true tradition came from the Lord by drawing aside the curtain., Origen Celsus 3.37, Jesus beheld these weighty secrets and made them known to a few.

ii) Also my article ‘The Secret Tradition’ in The Journal of Higher Criticism 2.1 (1995) pp. 31–67.

4 For summary and bibliography of these traditions in Canaan, Mesopotamia and later jewish sources, see Weinfeld, M. ‘Sabbath, Temple and the Enthronement of the Lord. The problem of Sitz im Leben of Genesis 1.1–23’ in Mélanges bibliques et orientaux enl'honneurde M. Henri Cazelles. Ed. Caquotand, A.Delcor, M., Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1981, pp. 501–512Google Scholar. Levenson, J.D.Creation and the Persistence of Evil. The jewish Drama of Divine Omnipotence. Harper San Fransisco 1988 pp. 78–79Google Scholar. Also N. Wyatt ‘Les Mythes des Dioscures et Ideologic Royale dans les Litteratures d'Ougarit et d'lsrael’ RB 1996 pp.481–516.

5 See Blenkinsopp, J. ‘The Structure of P’, CBQ 38 (1976) pp. 275–292Google Scholar; Levenson op. cit n.14 pp.78–99. Kearney, P.J. ‘Creation and Liturgy. The P Redaction of Ex 25–40’ ZAW 89 (1977) pp.375–387Google Scholar, who worked out one possible scheme of correspondence between the seven days of creation and the construction of the tabernacle, based on the Lord's speeches to Moses in Exod 25–31. Gorman, F.H. ‘Priestly Rituals of Founding: Time, Space and Status’ in History and Interpretation ed. Graham, M.P., Sheffield Academic Press 1993 pp.47–64 recognises that the summary in Exod 40.16–38 is the clearest link between creation and tabernacle construction but does not work out how each day corresponds to each part of the tabernacle.Google Scholar

6 None of the material cited in n. 15 makes the connection between the traditional order for the construction of the tabernacle and the order of the days of creation.

17 Stone, M.E. ‘Lists of Revealed Things in the Apocalyptic Literature’ in Magnolia Dei: the Mighty Acts of God. In Memory of C.E. Wright. Ed. Cross, , Lemke, and Miller, , New York, Doubleday 1976, pp.414–452Google Scholar: ‘this interest in the ‘measures of Zion’ seems curiously unstressed in the apocryphal and Rabbinic literatures,’ p.415. Ezekiel didsee the temple in his vision, Ezek 40–48.

18 (i)Blenkinsopp op.cit.n.15 shows how P relates the creation of the world, the construction of the sanctuary and the division of the land, p.278.

ii) We should not forget Gen I is attributed to Moses insofar as he was the ‘author’ of the Pentateuch.

19 R. Devreesse, Essai sur Theodore de Mopsueste, Studie Testi 141 Vatican City 1948 p.26n finds similarities in Theodore's work on Exodus, written early in the fifth century.

20 i) The angels of Day One were a sensitive issue; later Jewish tradition gave the seven works of Day One as heaven and earth, darkness and light, waters and the abyss, and then the winds, where Jubilees has the angels, see Charles, R.H.The Book of Jubilees, LondonA & C Black 1902, p. 11Google Scholar. The angels were variously said to have been created, not begotten, on the second day or the fifth. On the basis of Ps 104 R.Johannan taught that they were created on the second day because the Lord formed the firmament in v.3 and the angels in v.4. R.Hanina said on the fifth day because they were winged creatures. Whether we accept the view of either… all agree that none were created on the first day leslyou should say Michaelstretchedout in thesouthandGabrielinthenorthwhile the Holy One, Blessed be He, measured it in the middle, quoting next Isai 44.24, Who was associated with me in the creation of the world? Gen R. 1.3. Targum PsJ Gen 1.26: And the Lord said to the angels who ministered before him, who had been created on the second day of the creation of the world, let us make man

ii) Since H. Gunkel Schöpfung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit, Göttingen, 1895, it has been accepted that Gen I is a reworking of older material and that one of the elements of the older mythology which has been removed is any account of the birth of the gods even though Gen 2.4 these are the generations of the heavens and the earth… retains something of that older account. If the secret knowledge of the sanctuary included the birth of the angels i.e. the gods on Day One, (and also of the king?) this suggests that the material antedates the reforming monotheism of the Deuteronomists see my The Great Angel, London SPCK 1992. This is consistent with my proposal for the meaning of sur in the passages connected with divine fatherhood, see n.9.

21 i) A similar account of the creation occurs in the Song of the Three Children. Before inviting the earth and everything created after the second day to praise the Lord and exalt him forever, there is a long list of the works of Day One: the heavens, the angels, the waters above the heavens, the powers, the stars, the rain, dew, winds, fire, heat, summer and winter, ice and cold, frost and snow, lightnings and clouds. These are the phenomena whose angels praise the Lord on Day One, according to Jubilees.

ii) See also 1QH 1, 1QH 13 for similar themes. Cf. raz nihyeh of 4Q417.

22 See Wyatt op.cit.n.14 who shows that Ps 8.4 also describes the birth of the sons of God.

23 Lang, B.Eugen Drewermann, interpretede la Bible, Paris, Cerf 1994, p. 167Google Scholar, developed in ‘Lady Wisdom. A Polytheistic and Psychological Interpretation of a Bilical Goddess’ in A Feminist Companion to Reading the Bible ed A Brenner and C Fontaine Sheffield Academic Press 1997, suggests that the wise man was initiated by studying the myth of creation and then being reborn as a divine child in the presence of Wisdom who shows him the creation. Also Wyatt op.cit.n.14 onjob 15.7–8 and Ps 110.

24 The MT and LXX have here the face of the throne (Heb kisseh) but an emendation to face of the moon (Heb keseh) is usually proposed.

25 i) See Wyatt op.cit. n.14; also Weinfeld op.cit n.14 p. 507.

ii) The hymn in the sanctuary in Rev 4.11 is about enthronement and creation

26 The names of the angels were part of the secret knowledge. The Essenes were under oath to preserve the books of the sect and the names of the angels (Josephus BJ 2.142). The names of the angels, as recovered from the Aramaic, ‘were for the most part derived from astronomical, meteorological and geographical terms’, Milik, J.T.The Book of Enoch. Aramaic Fragments Oxford Clarendon 1976, p 29Google Scholar. In other words, their names reflected their functions as the angels of Day One: Fire of El, Thunder of El, Comet of El, Lightning of El, Rain of El, Cloud of El etc.

27 Charles, R.H.The Book of Enoch Oxford Clarendon 1912, p. 231Google Scholar: ‘the verses are completely out of place in the present context’, citing several eminent scholars who had drawn the same conclusion. They had not made the link between the sevenfold knowledge, the resurrected ones and the secrets of the creation. For a bettter understanding, see Stone op.cit. n.17 pp. 424–425.

28 There are similar traditions about Adam: the Lord showed him the pattern of Zion before he sinned, 2 Bar 4.3. Jer 4.23–28 also implies this experience.

29 i) LXX and Targum have created for Heb qanah. Evidence for qanah meaning create rather than acquire, see Westermann, C.Genesis 1–11 A Commentary tr Scullion, J.J.LondonSPCK 1984 p.290Google Scholar; the contrary view in R.N. Whybray Proverbs London Marshall Pickering 1994 pp. 129–130.

ii) More likely that created is begotten, c.f brought forth, w.24 and 25. She was established, v.23 c.f. Ps 2.6 where the king is established on the holy hill, but another possibility would be to read this verb nskty as ‘I was hidden’, from skk, suggested by W. McKane Proverbs London SCM 1970. Wisdom brought forth and then hidden ie behind the veil, is possible in the context.

iii) Deutero-Isaiah changed the older divine title Begetter of Heaven and Earth (as in Gen 14.9) and substituted Maker or Creator of Heaven and Earth see Habel, N. ‘Yahweh Maker of Heaven and Earth. A study in Tradition Criticism’ JBL 91 (1972) pp. 321–337.Google Scholar

iv) In my The Great Angel, London SPCK 19921 suggested that Deutero-Isaiah and the exilic reformers fused the older deities El and Yahweh, thus establishing monotheism and at the same time they suppressed the older mythology of the sons of God. ‘(Deutero-Isaiah) removed the idea that the Creator God was the Procreator, the father of gods and men… The idea of a procreator God with sons seems to have fallen out of favour with those who equated Yahweh with El…’, p. 19. This is further evidence that the sons of God of Day One were part of the tradition of the first temple and suggests the reason for their disappearance.

30 i) The figure present at the creation became the Torah in later tradition. Thus, six things precede the creation of the world: the Torah, the Throne of Glory, and the plans for the patriarchs, Israel, the temple and the name of the Messiah, Gen R 1.4.

ii) Jacob Boehme, the seventeenth century German mystic, described a similar experience of being a child: ‘Thus now I have written, not from the instruction of knowledge received from men, not from the learning or reading of books; but I have written out of my own book which was opened in me, being the noble similitude of God, the book of the noble and precious image was bestowed on me to read; and therein I have studied as a child in the house of its mother, which beholdeth what the father doth and in his childlike play doth imitate the father.’ ‘Letter to an Enquirer’, in Waterfield, R.Jacob Boehme. Essential Feadings. Wellingbotough, Aquarian Press 1989 p.65.Google Scholar

31 i) For recent discussion of possible influences on the translators, seej. Dines ‘Imaging Creation: the Septuagint Translation of Genesis 1.2’ in Heythropjournal 36.4 (1995) pp. 439–350.

ii) Plato's description of the unseen world of ideas has been suggested as a possible influence, but his account of the creation, especially in the Timaeus, is itself of uncertain origin and the question of who influenced whom must remain open. It is frequently observed by commentators that Plato inntroduces wholly new ideas of the creation with a purpose and without the jealous gods of the Prometheus myth e.g. Cornford, F.C., Plato's Cosmology LondonKegan Paul 1937 pp. 31–33Google Scholar. For the first time the world is described as the creation of a father, maker or craftsman and the stars are held to be divine, Lee, D., Plato. Timaeus and Critias London Penguin 1977 pp 7–8.Google Scholar

32 i) The Gospel of Philip includes the line: The veil at first concealed how Cod controlled the creation. Also Abot de R Nathan A 39: … because of sin it is not given to man to know the likeness (d'mut) on high; for were it not for this (ie.sin) all the keys would be given to him and he would know how the heavens and the earth were created…

ii) Fishbane op.cit.n.6 discusses Sifre Deut 355 when Israel asked Moses to tell them about the Glory of God on high, requesting esoteric knowledge that had not been revealed to them. Moses said: You may know about the glory on high from the lower heavens, and there follows a parable about the great king hidden behind a jewelled curtain.

iii) The mystic's acquisition of knowledge is well known e.g. Boehmc.'the gate was opened unto me that in one quarter of an hour I saw and knew more than if I had been many years together at a university… and I knew not how it happened tome…for I saw and knew the being of all beings…the descent and original of this world and of all creatures through divine wisdom…’ ‘Letter to an Enquirer’ op.cit. n.29 p.64.

iv) Such knowledge is still forbidden. The Pope, addressing a group of cosmologists in Rome in 1981, reminded them that science itself could not answer the question of the origin of the universe, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 73 (1981) pp. 669–670.

33 J. Neusner translates the corresponding passage in Tos Hag: above, below, within, beyond.

34 4 Ezra 14. 6, 40–48. Also my ‘The Secret Tradition’ op. cit n.13.

35 Wyatt op.cit.n.14 shows how this passage was part of the royal wisdom tradition. He reconstructs the impossible w. 2–3 on the basis of the LXX to be: I surpass all men and possess the intelligence of Adam, for God has taught me Wisdom and I know the knowledge of the holy ones. The one who ascends to heaven must be the king who becomes the cocreator, gathering the winds and the waters, and he also becomes divine.

36 Meeks op.cit.n.3. p. 369: ‘We must reckon with the probability, therefore, that the legends are composites of the strands which at some earlier stages served disparate functions’.

37 Deutero-Isaiah heard voices but, unlike Isaiah, he saw no form as he was influenced by the Deuteronomists, c.f. Deut 4.12.

38 Blenkinsopp op.cit.n. 15espp. 275andp.291:‘… beneath (P's) surface one can still make out the contours of an encompassing mythic pattern. It is also possible to interpret the ritualism of P as embodying a concern for man's concrete existence in relation to the cosmos… his entire existence on the temporal and spatial axis’ (my emphases).

39 The passages in the Timaeus are: the creation is good, 29; the invisible world, 28; the forms, 29, 38, 52; the embroidered heaven, 55; time and eternity, 37; angels created first but the story of their origin is not known, 41; the mathematics of creation, 53, 69; the bond of ceation, 31, 38; angels as stars, 38; resting as the culmination of creation, 30.

40 ‘Die Anfange christlicher Theologie’ ZTK 57 (1960) pp. 162–185.Google Scholar