The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

242 THE DREAM OF A NEW JERUSALEM AT QUMRAN
clean animals slaughtered in their cities shall be brought there (to the city
of the sanctuary).…You shall not profane the city where I cause my name
and my sanctuary to abide. (11Q19 47.3–11) 49
A further difference is that the vision of Ezekiel 40–41 moves from the
outside inward, whereas the direction of movement in the description of
the Temple Scroll is from the inside outward. 50 In the total plan in Ezekiel
40–41, the numbers twenty-five, fifty and their multiples play a major
role. 51 The number twenty-five may be favored because of the date
associated with the vision, the twenty-fifth year of the exile. 52 In the
Temple Scroll, however, the number seven and its multiples play an important
role. 53
Another difference concerns the courtyard(s) of the temple. According
to Exodus 25–27, God commanded Moses to instruct the people to make
a sanctuary (#$dqm; Exod 25:8), tabernacle (Nk#$m; Exod 26:1), or tent
of meeting (d(wm lh); Exod 27:21), so that God could dwell in the
midst of the people. This sanctuary was to have a single court (rcx), a
sacred enclosure, that was to be 50 cubits wide, 100 cubits long, and 5
cubits high. In feet, these measurements are equivalent to about 75 by
150 by 8 (Exod 27:9–18). 54 According to the Priestly writer, the tabernacle
and most of the court was an enclosed domain, inaccessible to all nonpriests.
There is a gradation of holiness and the related taboo. It is least
strong for the court and most strong for the innermost area, which is
taboo even for the priests. 55
Although 1 Kings 6–7 mentions only three courtyards, the complex on
the temple mount during the period of the first temple probably had four
courts. Solomon built three: the court of the temple; the great court in
which the public buildings were located; and the “other court,” a court
west of the Hall of the Throne and south of Solomon’s palace. Later, a
new forecourt of the temple, probably to the east of the original court,
was built. It is mentioned for the first time in connection with the reign
49. Trans. from Vermes, Complete DSS, 206.
50. See Michael O. Wise, A Critical Study of the Temple Scroll from Qumran Cave 11
(SAOC 49; Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1990), 65.
51. Zimmerli, Ezekiel II, 358–59.
52. Zimmerli, Ezekiel I, 10.
53. Wise, A Critical Study, 66–70.
54. For a table relating the various types of cubits to meters, see Maier,
“Architectural History,” 25.
55. Menahem Haran, Temples and Temple-Service in Ancient Israel: An Inquiry into the
Character of Cult Phenomena and the Historical Setting of the Priestly School (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1978), 175.