Temple and Worship in Biblical Israel [Paperback]

This major work examines the subject of Temple and Worship in biblical Israel, ranging from their ancient Near Eastern and archaeological background, through the Old Testament and Late Second Temple Judaism, and up to the New Testament. It is the product of an international team of twenty-three noted scholars.

Special attention is paid to such subjects as the ideology of temples and the evidence for high places in Israel and the Canaanite world; the architecture and symbolism of Solomon's Temple; the attitude of various parts of the Old Testament to the Temple and cult, including that of several prophets; the light shed on Temple worship by the Psalms; the role and fate of the Ark of the Covenant; and the Day of Atonement. It also examines attitudes to the Temple in the Septuagint, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, first-century Judaism, and the New Testament.

This important work is the product of an impressive array of twenty-three noted scholars.

The contributors include John Barton, H.G.M. Williamson, John Day, Susan Gillingham, John Jarick, C.T.R. Hayward, Michael Knibb, George Brooke, Martin Goodman, Christopher Rowland and Larry Kreitzer.

Part 1. Temples and High Places in Israel and the Canaanite World1. Like Deities, Like Temples (Like People),Mark S. Smith, Skirball Professor of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, New York University 2. Massebot in the Israelite Cult: An Argument for making Implicit Cultic Criteria Explicit,Elizabeth Bloch-Smith, Senior staff member on the Tel Dor excavations (she has been adjunct professor at various American universities) 3. From Gibeon to Gibeah: High Place of the Kingdom,Simcha Shalom Brooks, Freelance scholar working in London (teaches part-time at Birkbeck College, London) Part 2. Temple and Worship in the Old Testament 4. YHWH's Exalted House - Aspects of the Design and Symbolism of Solomon's Temple,Victor (Avigdor) Hurowitz, Professor ofl#*