Land, Sea & Sky in the
Israelite TabernacleA Cosmological Construction of its Liminal Spaces
Robert Hinckley, S.T.M.
Concordia Theological Seminary
Ft. Wayne, IN
British Association of Near Eastern Archaeology
University of Wales – Lampeter
January 6-8, 2016
Cosmic Mountain Ideology
through the waters ⇒ to the mountain ⇒ for worship
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L. Michael Morales, The Tabernacle Pre-Figured (Leuven: Peeters, 2012).
Eden, Ararat, Sinai, Zion
The Tabernacle Texts
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Jacob Milgrom diagram, Numbers JPS commentary, p. xviii.
Covenant ratifiedand regulated
Sanctuaryplanned
Covenantbroken
Theophany
Covenantrenewed
Sanctuarybuilt
CovenantregulationsE
F
G
X
E’
F’
G’
fire
encr
oac
hin
g
sacr
ed a
rch
itec
ture
Sab
bat
h la
w
“My Presence”
Sab
bat
h la
w
sacr
ed a
rch
itec
ture
fire
encr
oac
hin
g
E Exod 19-24
F Exod 25-31
G Exod 32
X Exod 33
G’ Exod 34
F’ Exod 35-40
E’ Lev 1-Num 10:10
• Rarely do the tabernacle narratives and legislation expressly
state what something “symbolizes” or represents, e.g. twelve
stones of the high priest’s breastplate (היה, Ex 28:21).
• Though a tabernacle cosmology is never explicitly stated (e.g.
Courtyard=Sea), a cosmology is implicit in the arrangement of
the textual material.
• The tabernacle’s ritual is a necessary hermeneutic to
comprehending the nature and meaning of its various
aspects, ie. spatial, material, social, temporal, etc.
Cosmology Implicit/Explicit
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Ritually Liminal Spaces
1. Courtyard ⇒ Outer Altar
2. Outer Altar ⇒ Outer Sanctum
3. Outer Sanctum ⇒ Inner Sanctum
What of the ritual makes this a liminal space? What must
they do to get from here to there? How might this reflect
a cosmology?
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Ritual as Hermeneutic
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• Daily Ritual:
1. Rite of Atonement,
2. Rite of Burnt Offering,
3. Sacrificial Meal
.(e.g. Ex 29:42 ,תמיד)
• Incorporates all three of the tabernacle’s liminal spaces.
• Note spatial aspect of Yom Kippur ritual blood manipulations (Lev 16).
Roy Gane, Cult and Character (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2005).
John Kleinig, Leviticus (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2003).
Spatial Aspect
• Ritual communication
between three levels.
• Interlocking effect of
copper, silver, gold
fields.
• cf. “Stairway to heaven”.
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Phillip Jenson, Graded Holiness
(Sheffield Academic Press, 1992).
Genesis 1 Cosmology
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Seas
Earth
Heavens
Let the dry land appear, ראה, v. 9
Sinai Ritual
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Moses enters the cloud at the summit
Ex 24:18
Sacred vision and meal halfway up
Ex 24:9-11
Altar at the foot of the mountain,
offeringsEx 24:4-5
Aaron, Nadab, AbihuSeventy Elders of Israel
Moses
First Liminal Space:
Courtyard ⇒ Outer Altar
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• “You shall put it (the Laver) between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to turn into smoke an offering by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, that they may not die” (Ex 30:20-21).
Courtyard as Sea
• Surrounds tabernacle.• Ranks lowest among items
(Ex 27:9-19, 35:17-18, 38:9-20, 31, 39:40, 40:8, 33).
• Preparation for daily ritual.• cf. Egyptian Nu(n).Margaret Barker, The Gate of Heaven (Sheffield: Phoenix Press, 2008).
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Laver as Sea
• Separates from courtyard and initiates for the holy places (Ex 30:20-21, 40:30-32).
• Tabernacle speech 3 ~ Day 3 of creation (Ex 30:17-21; Gen 1:9-13).
• Note “Sea” of 1 Kings 7:23-26, 39b.• Laver as freshwater spring or river
(cf. Ex 17:6).• cf. Mesopotamian Apsu.Eric Burrows, “Some Cosmological Patterns in Babylonian Religion.” Pages 27-47 in Cult and Cosmos, edited by L. Michael Morales (Leuven: Peeters, 2014).
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Outer Altar as Land
• Mountain setting of Ex 19-40.
• Scholars have misunderstood the description of the altar of burnt offering in Ex 27:1-8, and also its correlation with the “altar of earth” (מזבח אדמה, Ex 20:19-23).
• Ezek. 43:13-17 (ההראל, mountain of God, cf. Ex 3:1, 4:27, 24:13).
• Parallels Sinai ritual tier 1.W.F. Albright, “The Place of the Temple of Solomon in the History of Israelite Religion.” Pages 13-26 in Cult and Cosmos, ibid.
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Outer Altar as Land
• Upward movement of altar, horns, fire, smoke of עלה (cf. dry land rising above the sea).
• Fire (Lev 6:1-6).
• Ascending ramp (Ex 20:26).
• Band, כרכב (Ex 27:5).
• “Red line” determines ritual applications of blood (Mishnah Middot 3:1).
• Lattice, meshwork, מכבר (Ex 27:4-5).
• Hollow, filled with earth (Ex 27:8, 20:24).
• Square, four corners (Ex 27:1-2).
• Base, יסוד (Ex 29:12).
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Second Liminal Space:
Outer Altar
⇒ Outer Sanctum
• Movement of fire from Outer Altar to Inner Altar (incense; Ex 30:7-8, Lev 10:1, cf. 16:12-13).
• “2-tiered” holy place (Ex 30:20-21, 40:30-32).
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• Interlocking effect of metals (courtyard pillars, Ex 27:10, 11, 17, 38:17; outer/inner sanctum beams /pillars, Ex 26:19, 21, 25, 32, 37).
• Material gradation of Entrance screen .(embroidered, Ex 26:36 ,רקם)
• Columns express height (Ex 26:32, 37).• “Ascending, step up”.
Entrance Screen ⇒ Outer Sanctum
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Outer Sanctum as LandFurnishings of Holy Place
(cf. fruits of the Earth).
Incense Altar - burning of incense mixture of herbs, spices, fat (Ex 30:34-38);
Menorah – tree/fruit shape, olive oil fuel (Ex 25:31-39, 27:20);
Bread Table - 12 loaves, daily/Sabbath (Ex 25:23-30; Lev 24:5-9); note also drink offering, (Num 28:7b).
Sinai Ritual tier 2-3.Gary Anderson, “Towards a Theology of the Tabernacle and Its Furniture.” Pages 161-194 in Text, Thought and Practice in Qumran and Early Christianity, edited by F. Garcia Martinez (Leiden: Brill, 2004).Roy Gane, Ritual Dynamic Structure (Piscataway, NJ: Giorgias Press, 2014). Gordon Wenham, Numbers Commentary (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008).
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Third Liminal Space:
Outer Sanctum
⇒ Inner Sanctum• Tabernacle curtains, mishkan ,משכן)
Ex 26:1-6). • Divided by veil (פרכת, Ex 26:31-33).• The high priest communicates with
the inner sanctum daily via the rite of incense (Ex 30:7-8).
• Only once a year on Yom Kippur does the High priest physically traverse the veil (Lev 16:12-13).
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Curtains and Veil as Sky
• Material of Tabernacle curtains and veil a finer workmanship (חשב, the work of an artist, designs part of the weave, not embroidered, Ex 26:1, 31).
• Bluish purple color, overhead (Ex 26:1, 31; cf. sky).
• Narrowing of altar, upward movement of horns, rising cloud of incense, winged creatures.
Menahem Haran, Temples and Temple Service in Ancient Israel (Eisenbrauns, 1985).Nahum Ben-Yehuda, “Parokheth,” ARAM 2015 (Oxford: Oriental Institute).
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Curtains and Veil as Sky
• Ark Cover as chariot throne, revelatory (Ex 25:17-22).
• There I will meet with you
(Ex 25:22, 29:42-44, 30:6, 36).
• Cloud of incense, theophany:
I will appear in the cloud (Lev 16:2).
• Urim/Thummim (Ex 28:30).
• Sinai ritual tier 3. Rachel Elior, Three Temples (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 2005).
David Larsen, “Ascending into the Hill of the Lord.” Pages 171-188 in Ancient Temple Worship (Orem, UT: The Interpreter Foundation, 2014).
Kjeld Nielsen, Incense in Ancient Israel (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1986).
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Review
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The priest must wash at the Laver(“sea”), the blood of the animalgains him access to the altar ofburnt offering (land), from which hetakes live coals to travel further intothe outer sanctum (land), where heburns incense that reaches thetabernacle’s curtains and veil (sky).
• Ritual as Hermeneutic.
• Threefold gradations and ritual parallels in Creation, Sinai, Tabernacle (Gen 1-3; Ex 19-24, 25-31).
• תבנית as pattern of creation/mountain (Ex 25:9, 40, 26:30, 27:8).
• Circular feature of Priestly Source.Shulamit Laderman, Images of Cosmology in Jewish and Byzantine Art (Leiden: Brill, 2013).
Meir Paran, Forms of the Priestly Style in the Pentateuch (Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1989).
.
The Big Picture
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• “The Day Moses Recreated the World,” Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 2013.
• “Ritual and Cosmic Order in Creation, the Tabernacle,” Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, IN, 2014.
• “The Ascension of Aaron,” Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, 2015.
• A Structural Analysis of the Institution of the Divine Service in the First Tabernacle Speech, STM Thesis, Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne.
• Creation Tabernacle 4.0: An exegetical analysis of Ex 25-31 and its relationship with Gen 1-3.
Ongoing personal research
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Albright, William F. “The Place of the Temple of Solomon in the History of
Israelite Religion.” Pages 13-26 in Cult and Cosmos: Tilting Toward
a Temple-Centered Theology. Edited by L. Michael Morales.
Leuven: Peeters, 2014.
Anderson, Gary A. “Towards a Theology of the Tabernacle and Its
Furniture.” Pages 161-194 in Text, Thought and Practice in Qumran
and Early Christianity. Edited by F. Garcia Martinez. Studies of the
Texts of the Desert of Judah, Volume 84. Leiden: Brill, 2004.
Barker, Margaret. The Gate of Heaven: The History and Symbolism of the
Temple in Jerusalem. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2008.
Burrows, Eric. “Some Cosmological Patterns in Babylonian Religion.” Pages
27-47 in Cult and Cosmos, ibid.
Eichler, Raanan. “The Meaning of Zer.” Vetus Testamentum 64 (2014) 196-
210.
Elior, Rachel. Three Temples: On the Emergence of Jewish Mysticism.
Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 2005.
Fletcher-Louis, Crispin. All the Glory of Adam: Liturgical Anthropology in
the Dead Sea Scrolls. Edited by F. Garcia Martinez. Studies on the
Texts of the Desert of Judah, Vol. 42. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2002.
Gane, Roy. Cult and Character: Purification Offerings, Day of Atonement,
and Theodicy. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2005.
Gorman, Frank. The Ideology of Ritual: Time and Status in the Priestly
Theology. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1990.
Haran, Menachem. Temples and Temple Service in Ancient Israel: An
Inquiry into the Character of Cult Phenomena and the Historical
Setting of the Priestly School. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1985.
Hurowitz, Victor A. I Have Built You an Exalted House: Temple Building in
the Bible in Light of Mesopotamian and Northwest Semitic Writings.
JSOTSup 115. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992.
Jenson, Phillip P. Graded Holiness: A Key to the Priestly Conception of the
World. JSOTSup 106. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992.
Kearney, Peter J. “Creation and Liturgy: The P Redaction of Ex 25-40.”
Zeitshcrift fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 89 (1977): 375-87.
Kleinig, John W. Leviticus. Concordia Commentary: A Theological
Exposition of Sacred Scripture. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House, 2003.
Laderman, Shulamit. Images of Cosmology in Jewish and Byzantine Art:
God’s Blueprint of Creation. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
Larsen, David J. “Ascending into the Hill of the Lord: What the Psalms Can
Tell Us About the Rituals of the First Temple.” Pages 171-188 in
Ancient Temple Worship. Edited by Matthew B. Brown and Jeffrey
M. Bradshaw. Orem, UT: The Interpreter Foundation, 2014.
Lundquist, J. “What is a Temple? A Preliminary Typology.” Pages 205-219
in The Quest for the Kingdom of God: Studies in Honor of George
E. Mendenhall. Edited by H.B. Huffman, F.A. Spina, A.R.W.
Green. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1983.
Milgrom, Jacob. Leviticus 1-16: A New Translation with Introduction and
Commentary. Anchor Bible. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1991.
____________. Numbers במדבר: The JPS Torah Commentary. Philadelphia:
Jewish Publication Society, 1989.
Morales, L. Michael. The Tabernacle Pre-Figured: Cosmic Mountain
Ideology in Genesis and Exodus. Biblical Tools and Studies 15.
Leuven: Peeters, 2012.
Nielsen, Kjeld. Incense in Ancient Israel. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1986.
Paran, Meir. Forms of the Priestly Style in the Pentateuch: Patterns,
Linguistic Usages, Syntactic Structures (Hebrew). Jerusalem:
Magnes Press, 1989.
Wenham, Gordon J. Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale
Old Testament Commentaries Vol. 4. Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Press, 2008.
references
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