Judaism I. Группа авторов

are »Jews« is a matter of debate. Josephus tells us that the Samaritans presented themselves as Jews when it suited them and as non-Jews when being Jews would have been harmful to them (cf. Ant. 12.257–264). This is made especially clear in relation to the oppression of the Jewish cult in Jerusalem under Antiochus IV and the Maccabean uprising. Josephus reports (Ant. 12.257–264, excerpts):

      (257) When the Samaritans saw the Jews under these sufferings, they no longer confessed that they were of their kindred, nor that the temple on Mount Gerizim belonged to Almighty God … And they now said that they were a colony of Medes and Persians; and indeed they were a colony of theirs. So, they sent ambassadors to Antiochus, and an epistle, whose contents are these: »To king Antiochus the god, Epiphanes, a memorial from the Sidonians, who live at Shechem. (259) Our forefathers, upon certain frequent plagues, and as following a certain ancient superstition, had a custom of observing that day which by the Jews is called the Sabbath. And when they had erected a temple at the mountain called Gerizim, though without a name, they offered upon it the proper sacrifices. (260) Now, upon the just treatment of these wicked Jews, those that manage their affairs, supposing that we were of kin to them, and practiced as they do, make us liable to the same accusations, although we be originally Sidonians ... (261) We therefore beseech thee, our benefactor and Savior, to give order to Apollonius, the governor of this part of the country, and to Nicanor, the procurator of thy affairs, to give us no disturbance … ,since we are aliens from their [i.e. the Jews’] nation, and from their customs; but let our temple, which at present hath no name at all be named the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius.⁷⁶

      Antiochus acquitted the Samaritans of the allegations and granted that their sanctuary should be named after Zeus Hellenius (Ant. 12.262–264).

      The period following this was not free of conflicts with Jerusalem and the Judeans either. The most important event was the above-mentioned destruction of the sanctuary on Gerizim by the Hasmonean Hyrcanus I. Herod sought peace by rebuilding Samaria as Sebaste (Ant. 15.296–298; J.W. 1.403) and the marriage of the Samaritan woman Malthake (Ant. 17.20; J.W. 1.562f.). Enmity was inflamed by the desecration of the Temple of Jerusalem by Samaritans strewing human bones in the Jerusalem temple (Ant. 18.29) and the murder of Galilean Passover pilgrims (Ant. 20.118–136; J.W. 2.232–247). At the beginning of the Jewish Revolt against Rome (66–74 CE), the rebels destroyed Sebaste (J.W. 2.458–460).⁷⁷

      6 The Temple in Jerusalem, Other Jewish Temples, and Communities without a Temple

      6.1 The temple in Jerusalem and other Jewish temples

      The rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem after the return of the exiles in the years 520 (Hag 1:14f.) and 515 BCE (Ezra 6:15) placed the Temple and its cult to the center of religious life in Judea. That Jewish military settlers had a YHWH-temple in Elephantine in Upper Egypt in the fifth century BCE is not mentioned in any biblical account, as a female deity, Anath-Bethel or Anat-Yahu, was also worshiped there. The temple was destroyed at the instigation of Egyptian priests in 410 BCE, whereupon those affected appealed to the governor in Judah and were given permission to rebuild it, although animal sacrifices and burnt offerings were prohibited.⁷⁸ The existence of this temple was a blatant violation of the claim to the exclusivity of Jerusalem in Deut 12, but it was consented to by Judea.

      While the first Temple, the temple of Solomon (10th cent. BCE), was a royal temple, the Second Temple was the temple of the Judean priestly aristocracy and of the Judean people. It was attended and provided with sacrifices by the people of Jerusalem and Jews from all over the country and increasingly from the Diaspora flocked there for the pilgrimage festivals: Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Tabernacles. It became a symbol of Judaism under Persian, Seleucid, and Roman rule. In the year 167 BCE, in the interplay of the High priest and Jerusalem temple aristocracy with the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 BCE) and the temple’s transformation into a temple to Zeus Olympios was deemed very serious. It led to the Maccabean Revolt, with the restoration of the cult of the God of Israel in 164 BCE. The preceding years saw the founding of the YHWH-temple in Leontopolis in Lower Egypt by Onias IV, who had been exiled to Egypt. At the same time as the Second Temple, there was the temple of the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim.⁷⁹

      So it is all the more astonishing that before the destruction of the temple in the year 70 CE there were Jews without a temple.⁸⁰

      6.2 Judaism without a temple

      The Yahad⁸¹ of Qumran

      The »pious« (Ḥasidim) of the Maccabean period and their temporary support of the insurgents developed into a strictly religious group, separate from the Hasmonean High priests, whose theological thinking and lifestyle is described in texts found at Qumran, and who called themselves Yahad, »community.« (This self-designation of the community will be retained as a technical term so as to avoid possible associations with Christian monastic communities or modern church structures.)

      The broad consensus is that the community of the Yahad—the Qumran texts being viewed generally as its legacy, the center of their community being very close to the caves where the manuscripts were discovered—belonged to the Essene movement, which is known from ancient Jewish and non-Jewish sources.⁸² However, not only do the ancient reports of the Essenes display differences between them, but also the texts found at Qumran are highly disparate. Even if one disregards the manuscripts of writings which were later included in the Hebrew canon or are part of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the extant material cannot all be ascribed to the production and/or copying activity of the members of the Yahad. Archaeological, paleographic, and historical criteria, as well as correspondences in content suggest there is good reason to see the community of the Yahad as part of the broader Essene movement. This is indicated by community meals, hierarchy, community property (»community of goods«), the probation period for novices, the tense, polemic-filled relationship with the Jerusalem temple and its High priest, the significance of cultic purity, and the 364-day solar calendar. On these points the ancient accounts of the Essenes, the genuine writings of the Yahad, and archaeological finds from the settlement appear to agree, although the connection between them remains a matter of debate.

      There is no consensus on the history of the Yahad. A widespread view is that the founder of the community was the »Teacher of Righteousness,« a (high) priest expelled from the Jerusalem temple. He formed the Yahad from a lay group emerging from the Ḥasidim, together with his priestly followers, in the time of the Hasmonean High priest Jonathan (153–143 BCE)—his counterpart, referred to as the »Wicked Priest.« Hartmut Stegemann,⁸³ on the other hand, represented the view that the Teacher of Righteousness was not the founder of the Yahad, but came into an already existing community and claimed leadership on the basis of his divine legitimation. His appearance led to division. The original community, which belonged to the Hasidic movement but had a strong priestly orientation, was reconstituted in an even more emphatically priestly way by the »Teacher of Righteousness«, with the priests (»Zadokites«) who fled Jerusalem with him. Its claim was that it represented the true divine covenant, unlike the Judaism associated with the Jerusalem temple, which had gone astray. This thesis has not met with universal acceptance. Some see the Yahad community as a group of late returnees from the Babylonian Exile, while others prefer not to see the »Teacher of Righteousness« as a unique historical figure but as a type of the teacher of the Yahad. With its strong priestly orientation, yet others see the background of this community in the Sadducees, rather than the less strict Pharisees. The latter position, however, tends to confirm the old thesis that the Yahad came about as the result of a revolt by traditionally priestly groups against the Hasmonean usurpation of the High priesthood.

      Their rejection of the Jerusalem temple and its priesthood is expressed in two lines of argument: in the rejection of the incumbent Jerusalem High priest, the »Wicked Priest«, as is clear in 1QpHab, and in the associated non-participation in sacrifices at the Jerusalem temple and its replacement by worship and complete obedience to the Torah.

      Atonement for the land⁸⁴