76 E.g., Kathleen Kenyon, Royal Cities of the Old Testament, Barne & Jenkins, London, 1971, p. 148: ‘Probably the Ark vanished in the burning of the Temple, though there is no actual reference to it subsequent to its deposit in the Holy of Holies in the time of Solomon.’
77 2 Kings 24:15–16.
78 2 Kings 25:11, 21.
79 Psalm 78:1–6.
80 Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., Chronological Table, p. 346.
81 Peter Calvocoressi, Who’s Who in the Bible, Penguin, London, 1988, p. 45.
82 Ibid.
83 Ezra 1:7–11.
84 Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., Chronological Table, p. 346.
85 Ibid. See also Ezra 3:8; 5:16.
86 The Jerusalem Bible Chronological Table, op. cit. gives a completion date of 515 BC. The Encyclopaedia of Judaism proposes the slightly earlier dates of 520–517 BC. See Geoffrey Wigoder (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Judaism, Jerusalem Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1989, p. 694.
87 Hebrew-English Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, Soncino Press, London, Jerusalem, New York, 1974, Tractate Yoma, 21b.
88 See also Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, op. cit., vol. VI, p. 442: ‘The following five things were in the First Temple only: the heavenly fire, the holy oil of anointing, the Ark, the Holy Spirit, and the Urim and Thummim.’ Biblical references to the Urim and Thummim can be found in Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8; Ezra 2:63; and Nehemiah 7:65.
89 Zev Vilnay, Legends of Jerusalem, op. cit., vol. I, p. 123. See also Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, op. cit., vol. VI, p. 378: ‘Solomon, at the erection of the Temple, provided a secret place to be used later for “hiding” holy objects.’
90 Hebrew-English Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, op. cit., Tractate Yoma, 53b.
91 Dates from the Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., Chronological Table, p. 345.
92 Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 282. See also Hebrew-English Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, op. cit., Tractate Yoma, 52b. See also C. Roth and G. Wigoder (eds), The New Standard Encyclopaedia of Judaism. W. H. Allen, London, 1970, p. 158.
93 Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, op. cit., vol. III, p. 158.
94 Ibid.
95 Herbert Danby (trans.), The Mishnah, op. cit., p. 158. See also Zev Vilnay, Legends of Jerusalem, op. cit., p. 122.
96 See entry on the Books of Maccabees in F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 1988, p. 855.
97 Ibid. In its ‘Introduction to the Books of Maccabees’ the Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., concludes that Maccabees was probably written around 63 BC.
98 2 Maccabees 2:1, 4–5.
99 Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., p. 605, footnote 2a and ‘Introduction to the Books of Maccabees’, p. 569.
100 F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, op. cit., p. 855.
101 Jeremiah was born around 650 BC. The exact date of his death is not known; however it is thought to have occurred within a decade of the destruction of Solomon’s Temple. See F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, op. cit., pp. 730–1. See also Peter Calvocoressi, Who’s Who in the Bible, op. cit., pp. 101–2.
102 2 Maccabees 2:1, 4.
103 See Deuteronomy 34:1.
104 Mount Nebo is on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, in the modern state of Jordan, overlooking Jerusalem and Jericho.
105 Because he foretold – and welcomed – the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar, whom he saw as God’s chosen instrument for chastising Judah, ‘He was frequently in personal danger from his own people, physically assaulted and for several years in hiding’ (Peter Calvocoressi, Who’s Who in the Bible, op. cit., p. 101). See also F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, op. cit., p. 730: Jeremiah faced ‘the hostility of the official representatives of the Jewish religion’.
106 Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 320: ‘The Holy Ark, the altar of incense, and the holy tent were carried by an angel to the mount whence Moses before his death had viewed the land divinely assigned to Israel. There Jeremiah found a spacious cave in which he concealed these sacred utensils.’
107 For further details on the Wailing Wall and on the current politico-religious status of the Temple Mount the reader is referred to the appropriate entries in Geoffrey Wigoder (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Judaism, op. cit., pp. 696–7 and 727–9.
108 See Meir Ben-Dov, In the Shadow of the Temple: the Discovery of Ancient Jerusalem, Harper & Row, New York, 1985, p. 24.
109 Ibid., p. 25.
110 Ibid., pp. 19–20.
111 See Geoffrey Wigoder (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Judaism, op. cit., p. 695 and 481–3.
112 Meir Ben-Dov, In the Shadow of the Temple, op. cit. See in particular Chapter 2, ‘Remains from the Kingdom of Judah’. The rest of this excellent book, from p. 57 forward, is devoted to the finds relating to other periods.
113 Ibid., pp. 16–18. See also Neil Asher Silberman, Digging for God and Country: Exploration, Archaeology and the Secret Struggle for the Holy Land, 1799–1917, Knopf, New York, 1982, pp. 89–99.
114 Neil Asher Silberman, Digging for God and Country, op. cit., pp. 89–99.
115 Ibid., p. 93.
116 Ibid., pp. 94–7.
117 Meir Ben-Dov, In the Shadow of the Temple, op. cit., p. 18.
118 Kathleen Kenyon, Digging up Jerusalem, op. cit., p. 31.
119 See Neil Asher Silberman, Digging for God and Country, op. cit., pp. 180–8. In general I am indebted to this useful and informative work for the account of the Parker expedition that follows.
120 Ibid.
121 Kathleen Kenyon, Digging up Jerusalem, op. cit., p. 30.
122 See ‘Tom Crotser has found the Ark of the Covenant – or has he?’, Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 1983, pp. 66–7.
123 Ibid., pp. 66–7.
124 Ibid., p. 66.
125 Ibid., p. 67.
126 Ibid., p. 68, quoting UPI reporter Darrell Day.
127 Ibid., p. 68.
128 Ibid., p. 68.
129 Ibid., p. 68.
130 Ibid., pp. 68–9.
131 Ibid., p. 69.
132 Richard Elliott Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible?, Jonathan Cape, London, 1988, p. 156.
133 Ibid.
Chapter 15 Hidden History
1 Richard Elliott Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible?, Jonathan Cape, London, 1988, p. 156.
2 Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, The Queen of Sheba and her Only Son Menelik: being the ‘Book of the Glory of Kings’ (Kebra Nagast), Oxford University Press, 1932, pages 99 and 100. See Chapter 3, n. 94 above.
3 Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, Loeb Classical Library (Heinemann), London, 1934, books V-VIII, p. 665.
4 1 Kings 10:2.
5 E. A. Wallis Budge, A History of Ethiopia, Nubia and Abyssinia, London, 1928, Preface.
6 See David L. Edwards, A Key to the Old Testament, Fount Paperbacks, London, 1989, pp. 209–11, in particular p. 210.
7 Ibid. See also Richard Elliott Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible?, op. cit., p. 146.
8 1 Kings 8:6–8 (emphasis added). New English Bible translation, Oxford and Cambridge University Presses, 1970, p. 384.
9 See David L. Edwards, A Key to the Old Testament, op. cit., p. 210.
10 William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, Scene 2, line 25.
11 Julian Morgenstern, ‘The Book of the Covenant’, in Hebrew Union College Annual, vol. V, 1928, reprinted by KTAV Publishing House, New York, 1968, p. 29, footnote 37.
12 Kings 8:9 (Jerusalem Bible translation).
13 Deuteronomy 10:5 (New English Bible translation). The Jerusalem Bible translation states: ‘and there they stayed’; the King James Authorized Version states: ‘and there they be’.
14 Julian Morgenstern, ‘The Book of the Covenant’, op. cit., p. 29, footnote 37.
15 Ibid. Emphasis ad
ded.
16 Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1909, vol. IV, p. 282.
17 Hebrew-English Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, Soncino Press, London, Jerusalem, New York, 1974, Tractate Yoma 53b.
18 John Oates, Babylon, Thames & Hudson, London, 1988, p. 128.
19 Ibid., pp. 126–9.
20 2 Chronicles 34:33 (Jerusalem Bible translation); 2 Chronicles 35:2–3 (King James Authorized Version translation).
21 2 Chronicles 35:19 (cf. 2 Chronicles 35:1–3).
22 This date is arrived at by simple mathematics, since it is known that Josiah came to power in 640 BC (see Jerusalem Bible, Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1968, Chronological Table, p. 345), the eighteenth year of his reign must therefore have been 622 BC.
23 Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry in 626 BC – see Geoffrey Wigoder (ed.), The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, Jerusalem Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1989, p. 380. I attribute the date of 626 BC to the verses quoted because they are recognized by leading biblical scholars as being amongst ‘Jeremiah’s earliest prophecies’. See Menahem Haran, Temples and Temple Service in Ancient Israel, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1978, reprinted in 1985 by Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana, p. 281.
24 Jeremiah 3:16–17 (Jerusalem Bible translation).
25 Jeremiah’s authorship of the book of Jeremiah is not in doubt – although he probably dictated it to an amanuensis. See, inter alia, Geoffrey Wigoder (ed.), The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, op. cit., pp. 380–1; Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., Introduction to the book of Jeremiah, p. 1067; F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 1988, pp. 730–1.
26 Menahem Haran, Temples and Temple Service in Ancient Israel, op. cit., p. 281.
27 See Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., Chronological Table, pp. 344–5. The fifteen kings between Solomon and Josiah were Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehosophat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh and Amon.
28 The Holy Bible, King James Version (Electronic First Edition, KJ21), Franklin Computer Corporation, New Jersey, 1989. Throughout my research I made exhaustive use of this marvellous investigative instrument.
29 See Numbers 12:10 and discussion in Chapter 13 above.
30 The occurrences were: Exodus 25:22, Numbers 7:89; 1 Samuel 4:4; 2 Samuel 6:2; and 1 Chronicles 13:6.
31 2 Kings 7:3.
32 Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., Chronological Table, p. 345.
33 2 Chronicles 26:16.
34 2 Chronicles 26:19.
35 See Leviticus 10:1–2.
36 See Chapters 12 and 13 above for a fuller discussion.
37 2 Chronicles 26:21–3.
38 Geoffrey Wigoder (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Judaism, op. cit., p. 575: ‘the precise dating of individual psalms is impossible.’
39 F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, op. cit., p. 1139. See also Geoffrey Wigoder (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Judaism, op. cit., pp. 574–6; and Stephen Bigger (ed.), Creating the Old Testament: The Emergence of the Hebrew Bible, Blackwell, Oxford, 1989, pp. 254–8.
40 Ezekiel 10:2; Ezekiel 10:6; Ezekiel; 10:7.
41 For the dating of Ezekiel see ‘The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel’, The Cambridge Bible Commentary, Cambridge University Press, 1974, Historical Table, p. xi.
42 Ezekiel 8:1–3: ‘the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem.’
43 Ezekiel 10:20–2, especially 21.
44 Ezekiel 10:1, 15, 20.
45 Ezekiel 10:19, 5.
46 Isaiah 37:16; 2 Kings 19:15.
47 Isaiah 37:14–16.
48 2 Kings 19:14–15.
49 Biblical scholars are unanimous that chapters 1–39 of the book of Isaiah, including this chapter of course, were written by Isaiah himself. See Geoffrey Wigoder (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Judaism, op. cit., p. 369. See also Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., ‘Introduction to Isaiah’, p. 970. See also Peter Calvocoressi, Who’s Who in the Bible, Penguin, London, 1988, pp. 87–8. Some of the later chapters in Isaiah, from 40 onwards, were certainly written later. The antiquity of chapter 37, however, the one in which the reference to ‘between the cherubims’ crops up, is not in doubt. Moreover since the chapter refers to a known historical event – Sennacherib’s invasion – it can be dated fairly precisely to 701 BC (see Jerusalem Bible, Chronological Table, p. 345; and F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds), Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, op. cit., p. 715.
50 See Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., ‘Introduction to the Book of Isaiah’, p. 970. See also F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, op. cit., p. 715.
51 Isaiah 6:1–3, and Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., p. 970.
52 Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., Chronological Table, p. 345, for dates.
53 F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, op. cit., p. 715. See also Handbook to the Bible, Lion Publishing, London, 1988, p. 376. See also the Encyclopedia of Judaism, op. cit., p. 369. ‘Modern scholars maintain that the book of Isaiah is a composite work written by more than one prophet, and that only chapters 1–39 are the words of Isaiah.’ The verse quoted above falls safely within this range, in chapter 37 of Isaiah.
54 Isaiah 37:6–7. See also Handbook to the Bible, op. cit., p. 376; The Encyclopedia of Judaism, op. cit., p. 369.
55 Isaiah 37:14.
56 Isaiah 37: 17–20.
57 Isaiah 37:33, 35.
58 Isaiah 37:36–7.
59 See, for example, Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1988, p. 73.
60 Ibid.
61 See Chapters 12 and 13 above.
62 Isaiah 37:14. The house of the Lord’ is of course a synonym for the Jerusalem Temple (compare Jerusalem Bible translation of the same verse).
63 Isaiah 37:14.
64 1 Kings 3:15.
65 2 Samuel 6:5.
66 Deuteronomy 10:8.
67 Dates from Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., Chronological Table, p. 345.
68 2 Kings 21: 2–7.
69 Jerusalem Bible, op. cit., p. 419. See also Irving M. Zeitlin, Ancient Judaism, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1986, p. 173.
70 1 Kings 6:19 (Jerusalem Bible translation). With specific reference to the Ark, Solomon had asked: ‘But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee: how much less this house that I have builded? Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee today: that thine eyes may be open towards this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, “My name shall be there”.’ 1 Kings 8:27–9. See also 2 Samuel 6:2: ‘the Ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of Hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims.’ (Emphasis added.)
71 E.g. see 1 Chronicles 28:2.
72 2 Kings 21:16 (Jerusalem Bible translation).
73 2 Kings 21:20–1, 23–4.
74 2 Kings 22:1.
75 2 Chronicles 34:3.
76 2 Chronicles 34:3.
77 2 Kings 23:6 (amalgam of King James Authorized Version and Jerusalem Bible translations).
78 2 Chronicles 34:7–8.
79 2 Kings 22: 6.
80 Professor Menahem Haran, Temples and Temple Service in Ancient Israel, op. cit., pp. 277, 278, 288, 281.
Chapter 16 Door of the Southern Countries
1 Jill Kamil, Upper Egypt, Longman, London and New York, 1989, p. 35.
2 Ibid., p. 36.
3 Bezalel Porten, Archives from Elephantine: the Life of an Ancient Jewish Military Colony, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, 1968, p. 110. ‘The length of the Temple was at least sixty cubits. A width of approximately twenty cubits may be inferred from the presence of two buildings
lying northeast of the Temple.’ An ancient cubit measured eighteen inches – see Dr J. H. Hertz (ed.), The Pentateuch and the Haftorahs, Soncino Press, London, 1978, p. 327. The Jerusalem Bible, footnote (b) p. 887, concurs (Jerusalem Bible, Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1968).
4 Bezalel Porten, Archives from Elephantine, op. cit., p. 110.
5 1 Kings 6:2: ‘the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits.’
6 Emil G. Kraeling (ed.), The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic Papyri: New Documents of the fifth century BC from the Jewish Colony at Elephantine, Published for the Brooklyn Museum by the Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1953, p. 101.
7 1 Kings 6:9.
8 Bezalel Porten, Archives from Elephantine, op. cit., p. 133; Emil G. Kraeling, The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic Papyri, op. cit., p. 100.
9 Bezaleel Porten, Archives from Elephantine, op. cit., pp. 13 and 133.
10 Ibid., pp. 109, 152. See also Emil G. Kraeling, The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic Papyri, op. cit., p. 85.
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