Re: Jerusalem Temple Inscription Warning Gentiles of Death

In "The Beginnings of Jewishness" Shaye Cohen points out that the ban on gentiles in the Temple was virtually unenforceable and depended on voluntary compliance.  Who could possibly monitor the enormous crowds that gathered and check their credentials as Jews?  Who carried such credentials ("government-issued photo ID?") in the first place?  Perhaps men could be checked for circumcision at miqva'ot near the Temple precinct, but even so the sheer magnitude of the problem must have been overwhelming.

 

And the same can be said even of those known to be Jews; the laws of purity are generally a matter of voluntary compliance.  Who knows which men have recently emitted semen or which women just finished menstruating or which men have sat on such women's furniture?  (Tzar'at was presumably a different story.)

Robert Goldenberg
Professor of History and Judaic Studies
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY 11794-4348

(631) 632-7484
-----owner-ioudaios-l@Lehigh.EDU wrote: -----

To: "First Century Judaism Discussion Forum" <ioudaios-l@Lehigh.EDU>
From: Dwight Swanson <dswanson@nazarene.ac.uk>
Sent by: owner-ioudaios-l@Lehigh.EDU
Date: 12/20/2009 01:07PM
Subject: Re: Jerusalem Temple Inscription Warning Gentiles of Death

Public inscriptions were a commonplace in the ancient world--cf the
stele in Assyria and Egypt. One has to see some setting in which these
were read out publicly, and in a didactic manner.

Regarding recoginising an uncircumcised male--cf Paul's problem in Acts
21, where 'Jews from the province of Asia' had seen an Ephesian
companion of Paul in the city. There seemed to be ways of knowing.
Further, however, the prominence of miqvaoth at and near the entrances
to the temple suggest it was, indeed, possible to demonstrate one's
circumcision...

ds

Kenneth Litwak wrote:
> David,
>  
>   Thanks for the information.  So given that the inscription did indeed exist, it leaves open the question of why, since on the view of most, neither Jews nor Gentiles could read and therefore the inscription would have no value.
>  
>    In addition to that, I've often wondered how one would know that an uncircumcised male had entered the Court of Israel and how one would recognize a Gentile woman from a Jewish woman.  Particularly for men, it creates images of someone requiring men to demonstrate that they were circumcised.
>  
>  
> Ken Litwak
> Kenneth D. Litwak, Ph.D.
> Azusa Pacific University
> 901 E. Alosta Ave.
> Azusa, CA 91702
>
> ________________________________

--
Dwight D Swanson, PhD
Senior Research Fellow and
Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies
Nazarene Theological College
Manchester, England
www.nazarene.ac.uk