The Temple Scroll ( he, מגילת המקדש) is the longest of the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

. Among the discoveries at

Qumran Qumran ( he, קומראן; ar, خربة قمران ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli ...

it is designated: 11QTemple Scroll^a (11Q19 1QT^a. It describes a Jewish temple, along with extensive detailed regulations about sacrifices and temple practices. The document is written in the form of a revelation from God to Moses, thereby with the intended meaning that this is the more appropriate temple which was revealed to Moses, and that Moses' instructions were either forgotten or ignored when Solomon built the

First Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by th ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. In other words, in the mind of the Scroll writer, "Solomon should actually have built the First Temple as it is described here in the Temple Scroll".

Introduction

The Temple Scroll is written in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

in the square Herodian script of the late Second Temple Period, and comprises 65 columns (19 pieces of leather) and is 9 metres in length.Johann Maier, ''The Temple Scroll'' (Sheffield: JSOT Press upplement 341985), p. 1. The outer part of the scroll sustained considerable damage over the many centuries with the consequence that Columns 2 to 14 have many missing words and phrases. From Column 15 onward the inner part of the scroll is better preserved. Most of the text is a reworking of biblical material (mostly from Exodus chapter 34 to Deuteronomy chapter 23), although not in the same order as given in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' There is no scholarly consensus regarding the date, origin, author or authors, or its relationship to the Qumran community. Some scholars attribute the Temple Scroll to the isolated Qumran community, while others see no connection with the Qumran community; instead they see the work as a priestly (possible Zadokite) document which was hidden in a cave by

Zealot The Zealots were a political movement in 1st-century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the First Je ...

s during their flight from Jerusalem in 70 CE before the Roman destruction of the Temple. Using X-rays, samples from the scroll showed that the fragments have a ratio of chlorine to bromine about three times higher than found in sea water, and researchers conclude that the parchment of the scroll may have been made using Dead Sea water.

An idealized temple

The scroll describes a Temple compound arranged in three concentric square courts resembling the Israelites camp in the desert during their exodus from Egypt to the promised land. An idealized "four square" Temple plan is presented in the Temple Scroll. Johann Maier calculated that the scroll dimensions of the three ''inner'' courtsJohann Maier, ''The Temple Scroll'' (Sheffield: JSOT Press upplement 341985), p. 63. are: * Inner Court 280

cubit The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term ''cubit'' is found in the Bible regarding ...

s × 280 cubits (300 × 300 outer square) * Middle Court 480 cubits × 480 cubits (500 × 500 outer square) * Outer Court approximately 1,600 cubits × 1,600 cubits ontra Yadin, whose scheme of the outer court measurements are 294 × 294, 480 × 480, 1,590 × 1,590 (or 1,600 × 1,600). The sacrificial regulations of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy are blended and united into one cohesive unit for the ideal Temple. The dimensions of the Temple are much larger than the Solomonic First Temple, probably reflecting the significantly larger population whose needs must be met. This clearly means that the Scroll pre-dates the dramatic expansions of the Second Temple (sometimes referred to as

Herod's Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...

) which

Herod the Great Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renova ...

instituted to meet those same needs which had been generated by significant population growth. The four equal sides to the proposed temple find an earlier model in Ezekiel's temple (Ezekiel chapters 40–47). The Temple Scroll describes a temple, beginning with the inner sanctum, also known as the Holy of Holies, and working outwards. The first court is reserved for the priests, the second court is "the area for cultically qualified men"Johann Maier, ''The Temple Scroll'' (Sheffield: JSOT Press upplement 341985), p. 58. and the third is "the area for ritually pure Israelites."

The theme of purity (holiness) in the Temple Scroll

Purity before 200 BCE

The above-mentioned outline of the three courts, beginning with the holiest place and working outward into less and less pure areas highlights the theme of purity in the Scroll, though the writer makes it abundantly clear that an extremely high level of purity is required even to enter the city at all, as can be seen further along on this page. The call to purity has been a part of Israel's existence from early times, as evidenced in the

Pentateuch The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

and in many of the biblical prophets, both major and minor. This call was voiced very powerfully in

Jeremiah Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewi ...

and Ezekiel in the years just before the destruction of the First Temple (also known as

Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by th ...

) in 586 BCE and by Ezekiel and others in the years shortly afterward. The return of some Jewish people to Jerusalem (c. 535 BCE) following their exile in Babylonia resulted in tensions over the issue of purity, as they sought to keep themselves distinct from the local people they found living in Judah. Many other Jewish people remained in Babylonia where they faced the challenge of keeping themselves and their culture distinct and alive (see

Jewish Diaspora The Jewish diaspora ( he, תְּפוּצָה, təfūṣā) or exile (Hebrew: ; Yiddish: ) is the dispersion of Israelites or Jews out of their ancient ancestral homeland (the Land of Israel) and their subsequent settlement in other parts of th ...

Purity in the Temple Scroll

The Temple Scroll demands an extraordinary level of purity in all who draw near the Temple because of the holiness radiating from it. In drawing close to the Temple, to protect the holiness, greater degrees of cleanliness is mandated in the form of purity laws. The purity laws are more stringent than those of Pentateuch, which was mainly concerned with keeping the wilderness camp of the sojourning Israelites pure. The Temple Scroll does not appear to make provision for permanent habitation of the Temple city, but envisions temporary residents that come from other cities for festivals and religious rites. Columns 48 to 51 list sources of impurity and the steps needed to become clean again.

Anyone who lies with his wife and has an ejaculation, for three days shall not enter anywhere in the city of the temple in which I shall install my name.

Such statements go beyond the requirements of

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tor ...

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

, and imply that sexual intercourse is not to be permitted at all inside the city where the new Temple will stand. A similar regulation is found in the

Damascus Document The Damascus Document is an ancient Hebrew text known from both the Cairo Geniza and the Dead Sea Scrolls.Philip R. Davies, "Damascus Document", in Eric M. Meyers (ed.), ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East'' (Oxford Universi ...

(also found at Qumran)

Document Ref. No. CD-A]:

...it is holy. No man should sleep with his wife in the city of the temple, defiling the city of the temple with their impurity. (''
Damascus Document The Damascus Document is an ancient Hebrew text known from both the Cairo Geniza and the Dead Sea Scrolls.Philip R. Davies, "Damascus Document", in Eric M. Meyers (ed.), ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East'' (Oxford Universi ...
CD-A'', Column 12 (XII) verses 1 & 2)

The holiness extends out from the inner court of the Temple to encompass not only the other two temple courts, but takes in the entire city. These two latter passages also reveal a strong connection between the Temple Scroll and the

Festivals in the Temple Scroll

Textual evidence indicates that the text for the festivals comes from another work and was incorporated into the Temple Scroll, which lists festivals that should be celebrated throughout the year; many of the festivals are mentioned in the Bible including those found in Numbers 28–29, and Leviticus 23, but some are unique including the annual festival for priest ordination. In contrast to the single Biblical festival of First Fruits (grains), the Temple Scroll calls for four First Fruit festivals: * First day of the First Month Festival (1 Nissan). * Feast of the First Fruits of Wine (3 Av) * Feast of the New Oil (22 Elul) * Feast of the Wood Offering (23 Elul)

Sacrificial regulations and practices

The Temple Scroll reveals a rather detailed awareness of temple sacrifices right down to precise details about animals and the sacrificial practice. An example of this precision is Column 15, beginning at verse 5:

ou shall offer to Hashem the right leg,
holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
of the ram, and he fat which covers the entrails,the two kidneys and the fat which is on them, he fat which is onthe loins and the
hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...
tail, cut off at the
coccyx The coccyx ( : coccyges or coccyxes), commonly referred to as the tailbone, is the final segment of the vertebral column in all apes, and analogous structures in certain other mammals such as horses. In tailless primates (e.g. humans and othe ...
, and the lobe of the liver, and its offering and its libation, according to the regulation. You shall take up a cake of unleavened bread from the basket and a cake of oiled bread and a wafer, nd you shall place it all on top of the fatwith the leg of the wave-offering, the right leg.

The Temple Scroll has many similar passages. This particular passage is about the annual consecration of temple priests and is derived from Leviticus 8:16 and Exodus 29:1–18.Johann Maier, ''The Temple Scroll'' (Sheffield: JSOT Press upplement 341985), p. 78. In passage after passage the writer of the Scroll reveals a familiarity with countless aspects of temple sacrificial offerings, leading one to the conclusion that he had either actually been present (and perhaps an active participant in) sacrifices in the Second Temple, or at the very least had a very thorough awareness of both written (

) and oral sources of information regarding Jewish sacrificial practice. Johann Maier seems to favour the latter when he states:

... since Biblical passages (dealing with festivals and sacrifices) have been woven together, they should not be treated first and foremost as textual witnesses but rather as modified and adapted Biblical material.Johann Maier, ''The Temple Scroll'' (Sheffield: JSOT Press upplement 341985), p. 3.

Meier claims that "a distinct closeness to the Greek translation (the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

) can at times be detected". A strong priestly influence is obvious in the Scroll, whether it originated in

itself or in

References

External links

The Temple Scroll Online at the Israel Museum

11QT
the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
COJS Dead Sea Scrolls: Ideology
{{Authority control Dead Sea Scrolls 1956 archaeological discoveries Israel Antiquities Authority Biblical paraphrases