Necromancy in the Temple?

Necromancy--summoning the spirits of the dead to receive secrets or prophecies--was widespread in ancient and medieval times. In the Bible the most famous case was when Saul consulted the "witch of Endor" to summon the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel (1 Sam 28:7). In Hebrew, the "witch" was called a baʿalat ʾôv, literally one who controls or possesses a spirit. It is often translated as "one who has a familiar spirit" in the KJV. In modern terms it could be translated as a spiritual medium or a necromancer.

This type of spirit conjuring in condemned in the Bible (Lev 20:27). Manasseh, king of Judah, described as an apostate, was said to have consulted necromancers (2 Kgs 21:6, 2 Chr 33:6). Although the text does not explicitly state that Manasseh consulted them in the temple, it is implied, since it mentioned in the context of other abominations he practiced in the temple in the verses immediately preceding and following this verse. His son Josiah abolished necromancy in his temple reforms (2 Kg 23:24).

In the Talmud (Sanhedrin 65b) it states, "There are two kinds of necromancy: the one where the dead is raised by naming him, the other where he [the dead] is invoked by means of a skull." The reason I raise this issue is that the latest issue of the Biblical Archaeology Review has an article by Dan Levene entitled "Rare Magic Inscription on Human Skull" (March/April 53/2 (2009):46-50), which describes a newly discovered skull with an Aramaic inscription that was presumably used for necromancy. It may thus be a late relic representing a type of necromancy that might have been used in the temple during the apostasy of Manesseh.

Is the original Menorah hidden in the Vatican?

Nope.

http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/index.php/200903031405/Vatican-menorah-called-an-urban-myth.html

Lectures on ancient Temples

William Hamblin has posted recordings of a number of lectures from his class on ancient temple traditions. They are in reverse chronological order.

http://web.me.com/hamblinwj/HamblinClasses/Temples/Temples.html

Septuagint Studies

The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible translated in Egypt in the 2nd century BC) plays a vital role in as a link between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. It is the source of a great teach of technical Greek temple terminology that allows us to better understand allusions to temple theology and motifs in the New Testament. The following is an introductory bibliography to texts, translations, tools, and studies of the Septuagint.

Septuagint: Introductory Bibliography

Text
Rahlfs, A. Septuaginta (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006) [Modern critical Greek edition.]
Pietersma, A. and B. Wright (trs.), A New English Translation of the Septuagint (Oxford, 2007) [Contemporary critical translation.]
The Orthodox Study Bible, (Thomas Nelson, 2008) [Includes a translation of the Septuagint and New Testament with Greek Orthodox notes interpretative notes and cross-references.]


Tools
Conybeare, F. Grammar of Septuagint Greek, (Hendrickson, 2001)
Hatch, Edwin, Concordance to the Septuagint, (Baker, 1998)
Lust, J. (et. al.), Greek English Lexicon of the Septuagint, (Hendrickson, 2006)


Studies
Dines, J. The Septuagint, (Continuum, 2004)
Hengel, M. The Septuagint as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of Its Canon (Baker, 2004)
Jobes, K. and M. Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint, (Baker, 2005)
Marcos, N. The Septuagint in Context: An Introduction to the Greek Version of the Bible, (Brill, 2000)
McLay, T. The Use of the Septuagint in New Testament Studies, (Eerdmans, 2003)

Artifacts and the Temple 2: Miniature Shrines

A number of miniature shrines have been found in the Syria and Palestine regions. These were probably for small provincial shrines or private dwellings. Many scholars think that small clay images of gods were placed in these shrines for devotions. The facade of these miniature shrines probably is an imitation of full-scale temples. The two columns flanking the shrine are probably as close to an image of the twin bronze columns Jachin and Boaz which flanked the main door to Solomon's Temple (1 Kgs 7:21).

The object photographed here is in the Louvre.

Artifacts and the Temple 1: The Gezer Calendar

Written in Paleo-Hebrew, the Gezer Calendar dates from the 10th century BC, the time of the building of Solomon's Temple. It contains the following text:

"Two months of harvest
Two months of planting
Two months are late planting
One month of pulling flax
One month of barley harvest
One month of harvest and feasting
Two months of pruning vines
One month of summer fruit"

This calendar shows the the fundamental significance of the agricultural cycle in ancient Israel, which is reflected in Israelite temple festivals of the Shevu'ot ("weeks") or First Fruits in early Summer (the "month of summer" fruit in line 8), and the Feast of Ingathering (the harvest) in the Fall ("two months of harvest" in line 1). The mention of feasting is also reflects the fact that temple pilgrimages, festivals involved feasting.

Enoch Bibliography

Ancient Enoch literature is filled with interesting temple motifs. For those interested in pursuing study of these Enoch texts, I've prepared this introductory bibliography:


Ancient Enoch Texts

1 Enoch (Ethiopian)
Black, M. Apocalypsis Henochi Graece, (Pseudepigrapha Veteris Testament graece, 3), (Leiden, 1970)
Black, M., The Book of Enoch or I Enoch: A New English Edition, Studia in Veteris Testamenti pseudepigrapha, 7 (Leiden: Brill, 1985)
Charles, R. H., The Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch, (Oxford: Clarendon, 1912)
Isaac, E. trans. “1 (Ethiopic Apocalypse of) Enoch” OTP 1:5-90
Knibb, M. The Ethiopic Book of Enoch: A New Edition in the Light of the Aramaic Dead Sea Fragments, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978)
Milik, J. T., The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4, (Oxford: Clarendon, 1976)
Nickelsburg, George W. E., 1 Enoch 1, Hermeneia Commentary, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001)
•Nickelsburg, G. 1 Enoch: A New Translation, (Fortress, 2004)
Tiller, P. A Commentary on the Animal Apocalypse of I Enoch, Society of Biblical Literature Early Judaism and Its Literature, 4 (Atlanta: Scholar’s Press, 1993)
VanderKam, J. ed., Qumran Cave 4, VIII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 1. Discoveries in the Judean Desert, XIII, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994)

2 Enoch (Slavonic)
•Andersen, F. I., trans. “2 (Slavonic Apocalypse of) Enoch,” OTP 1:91-222
http://www.marquette.edu/maqom/2enoch.html

3 Enoch (Hebrew)
Alexander, P. trans. “3 (Hebrew Apocalypse of) Enoch,” OTP 1:223-316
•Oldenberg, H. 3 Enoch, (Cambridge, 1928 [rep. New York: KTAV, 1973])

Other Enoch Traditions
VanderKam, J. “Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources,” Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers, ed. P. Achtemeier (1978): 1:229-51
Kugel, J. Traditions of the Bible, (Harvard, 1998) 173-183



Modern Studies

Alexander, Philip S., “Enoch, Third Book of” ABD 2:522-6
Anderson, Francis I. “Enoch, Second Book of” ABD 2:-516-522
Barker, Margaret, The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and its Influence on Christianity, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1988)
Bautch, K. A Study of the Geography of 1 Enoch 17-19, (Brill, 2003)
Boccaccini, G. (ed.) Enoch and Qumran Origins: New Light on a Forgotten Connection, (Eerdmans, 2005)
Boccaccini, G. (ed.) Enoch and the Messiah Son of Man, (Eerdmans, 2007)
Boccaccini, G. Beyond the Essene Hypothesis: The Parting of the Ways between Qumran and Enochic Judaism, (Eerdmans, 1998)
Hess, Richard, “Enoch” ABD 2:508.
Kvanvig, H. S., Roots of Apocalyptic: The Mesopotamian Background of the Enoch Figure and of the Son of Man, Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament, 61 (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1988)
Nibley, Hugh, Enoch the Prophet (CWHN 2) (Provo, Ut: FARMS, 1986)
Lambert, “Enmeduranki and Related Matters,” Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 21 (1967):126-38
Nickelsburg, George W. E. “Enoch, First Book of” ABD 2:508-516
Reed, A. Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity: The Reception of Enochic Literature, (Cambridge, 2005)
VanderKam, James C., “1 Enoch, Enochic Motifs, and Enoch in Early Christian Literature,” in James VanderKam and William Adler, eds., The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), pp. 33-101.
VanderKam, James C., Enoch: a Man for All Generations, (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1995)
VanderKam, James C., Enoch and the Growth of an Apocalyptic Tradition, Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series, 16 (Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1984)