Treasures of the Old Testament Temple. A Biblical-Historical Note /1/

Author: Professor Dmitry Ivanovich Vvedensky

The waves of world history, like the waves of the sea, are fickle. They sometimes affirm the foundations of kingdoms and peoples, sometimes shake them, degrading and burying in unknown graves the former splendor and glory of these kingdoms. And then, from time to time, this same history, as if by some incomprehensible whim, seems to recall forgotten kingdoms, cities that served as the main centers of life for once-glorious peoples, cast down to dust by the elements and time. The same must be said of Palestine. And this is truly said of it when it is compared to a “coral reef”2, occasionally emerging from the depths of the turbulent ocean.

We have known of Palestine almost since prehistoric times, when the tents of Abraham appear among its little-known natives. We even see how, like a mysterious yet alluring “mirage” across the desert sands, Palestine beckons the enslaved sons of Israel from Egypt, who later grow here into a nation with their own judges and kings. Then Babylon lays its powerful hand upon it, and Palestine, with its main center of religious life—Jerusalem—submerges into a quiet, though perhaps not entirely peaceful, existence, while captive Israel, for the most part, weeps by the rivers of Babylon. During the time of the Maccabees, Palestine seems to come alive again—revived by the exploits of heroes who seem to recall the former glory of ancient “Zion.” Waves rage within it, and particularly around Jerusalem. Jerusalem once again becomes a stronghold, but one around which not only the waves crash, but which itself is itself crumbling under these waves. But now the Roman eagles rise above Jerusalem, and the iron spears of mighty Rome guard the political silence of the great tomb into which Jerusalem was transformed after the campaign of the Roman general and later Emperor Titus. And almost simultaneously with the final collapse of the Jews’ political significance, Jerusalem becomes the cradle of Christianity—and from that time on, the national fall of Israel is, as it were, forgotten. For Israel, Jerusalem once again becomes a beautiful “mirage,” beckoning to it and nourishing it now with memories and hope alone. But neither Judaism nor Christianity remains in their homeland—Judaism because Israel’s wickedness deprived it of its right to a homeland, as Moses clearly pointed out to the Jews who first entered Palestine, describing their future enslavers (Deut. 28:42–67). Christianity because it is a force that is nourished and grows not only in its historical cradle, but also in the heart of every person of faith—a member of the Church of Christ.

The crescent moon is raised over Israel and then over the Cross in Palestine. Palestine and Zion, sacred to Israel and Christians, become sacred, like Mecca, to Muslims. And although Muslims now effectively monopolize Palestine, the Christian world is still ideologically and historically close to it. It is therefore understandable that Palestine, long the spiritual core of half the globe, first in Judaism, then in Christianity and Islam, with its far-reaching history, cannot be indifferent to contemporary cultured humanity. Its glorious past, the sum total of its memories, will never plunge this “sacred land” into slumber, though it sometimes seems to observers as if lost in a quiet slumber. Jerusalem, captured, according to history, thirty-six times by the enemy and at least twice razed to the ground, Jerusalem, which saw God in man, cannot remain outside the interests of faith and science. And faith’s interest in it is entirely understandable without explanation. Science’s interest is also entirely explicable. Science, seeking and finding in the depths of the earth clues to the fate of historically known, albeit extinct, civilizations, seeks to come closer to the forgotten past of world history. This is the reason for the virtually ceaseless excavations being conducted in the East in general and in Palestine in particular.

This time, we will touch on just one episode in the general history of scholarly interest in the past of Palestine and Zion.

Both foreign and Russian periodicals have continued to rave about a recent risky venture by Anglo-American entrepreneurs. According to the same press, officials who did not hinder, and likely even assisted, these entrepreneurs in their undertaking are still languishing in Turkish prisons. Let us recall its history. This year, on the night of April 4th-5th, an Anglo-American company of archaeologists, or rather treasure hunters, conducting excavations in Jerusalem beneath the very center of the so-called Mosque of Omar, suddenly disappeared from Palestine. Having bribed the guards of the mosque, the Anglo-Americans, led by Captain Parker and the American Wilson, who had at their disposal a huge sum of money (20,000 pounds sterling, about 200,000 rubles), penetrated into a mysterious dungeon of Mount Moriah.

Even earlier, travelers had noted that in one spot, beneath the sacred “Hanging Rock,” in the floor of the mosque that covered it, there were several slabs that, when struck, emitted a peculiar sound, indicating that there was a void beneath them. Unable to penetrate this area to conduct their investigations, the Anglo-Americans, with the help of the guards of the Mosque of Omar, allegedly reached the treasured slabs and opened them. They found objects beneath them, and that same night, several boxes were transported by car to Jaffa, aboard a previously chartered English steamship. The Turkish authorities, not without irony, having previously observed the work of the underground moles—the “giaours,” who included not only the British but also Jewish-French archaeologists subsidized by Rothschild—were surprised and outraged by the brazenness of the enterprising treasure hunters. This event sparked heated debate in the Turkish parliament, shook Hakki Pasha’s cabinet, and, it seems, deprived him of the finance minister’s portfolio. But this did not help matters. The mysterious treasure was taken away, and nothing is known about it yet.

But soon after this event, various speculations about the stolen treasures began to appear in the pages of foreign magazines and newspapers. The Constantinople correspondent of the Daily News, among other things, reported rumors among Jews and Muslims about some valuable relics allegedly recovered by Anglo-Americans from the dungeon of the Mosque of Omar. Professor Charles Fossen of the College de France, in response to this question, argued that nothing valuable could have been found beneath the Mosque of Omar…

What, in fact, could have been taken from the mysterious dungeon of Omar—from this tombstone of the Israeli religion, over which Islam now maintains a sort of “funeral guard”? In raising this question, we must first note that the subterranean depths of Mount Moriah are primarily the subject of legend, and primarily Muslim tales.

However, it seems certain that beneath the Temple of Solomon and later the Temple of Herod the Great there were unique catacombs, as antiquity generally favored subterranean structures. Muslims, aware of the subterranean depths of their mosque, say that spirits are imprisoned in one of the caves of Mount Moriah. In the center of this cave is a well, known to Muslims as the “Spring of Spirits.” This spring, according to some scholars, based on rabbinic interpretations, is a remnant of a common system of ancient aqueducts designed to drain blood and waste during Israelite sacrifices. According to imams, this spring was open before 1790, and through it, living people communicated with the other world. But since one resident of Jerusalem, with her intercourse with the dead, disturbed the peace of many families, this source was closed.7 Jewish and, in particular, Talmudic traditions speak of David, who sang a psalm song on the steps of the abyss that was on the sacred Mount Moriah, of the stormy waves of the underworld that rose to the stone lying above the abyss, of the dungeon dug by the clairvoyant Solomon in case of hiding in it the Ark of the Covenant, which later disappeared without a trace, of the sacred accessories of the sanctuary hidden here by King Josiah, which supposedly stand invisibly to this day in the cave of the rock,8 where the souls of all the descendants of Abraham are guarded.

But if the legendary tales of Mount Moriah’s empty cisterns being filled with the spirits and souls of the dead must be dismissed as mere fantasy, then the hypothesis of the existence of underground structures, as mentioned in these same legends, can be considered entirely plausible.

Leaving aside the archaeology of the Old Testament temple, which essentially provides no definitive answer to the question of the presence of treasures in its crypts, even if the value of these treasures were determined not by gold and silver, but by the remains of ancient architectural art9, we will simply note that both the Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple, and later Herod’s Temple, always contained valuable treasures. Thus, in addition to gold and silver, which covered in significant quantities, for example, the poles for carrying the Ark of the Covenant and the Ark of the Covenant itself, as well as various sacred images (Ex. 25:17-28, cf. 26:29; cf. 37:1-15), in the Old Testament tabernacle there were also cups, mugs, dishes, censers (Ex. 25:29, Ex. 37:16), tongs, trays of pure gold (Ex. 25:38 cf. 37:23), pots for ash, shovels, bowls, forks and charcoal pans – made of copper (Ex. 27:3 cf. 38:3: Num. 4:7, 9:14).

Solomon’s Temple, striking in its splendor, was, of course, no less rich in its furnishings. It is at least known that Hiram made valuable gold and silver vessels for Solomon’s Temple and adorned various temple fittings with gold and silver (3 Kings, Chapter 7). There was a golden altar, a golden table for the shewbread, golden lampstands, golden lamps, golden dishes, knives, bowls, trays, and even golden door hinges (3 Kings 48-51). Josephus, enthusiastically describing the richness of Solomon’s Temple, numbers the sacred vessels in the tens of thousands. Thus, according to him, in Solomon’s temple there were 20,000 cups and pitchers of gold and 40,000 of silver, 60,000 gold and 120,000 silver kneading troughs, 80,000 gold and 160,000 silver trays, 20,000 gold measures and 40,000 silver measures (hins and assarons), 200,000 trumpets and the same number of garments for singers, musical instruments (made of electron)10 40,00011 etc. Even if these astonishing figures are exaggerated, it must still be acknowledged that Solomon’s temple possessed rare treasures. It is not surprising that the kings of Judah sometimes used the treasures of their temple during times of distress (1 Kings 15:18; 4 Kings 18:15). The Israelites’ enemies also knew about these treasures and sometimes encroached on them (1 Kings 14:26; 4 Kings 14:16, 17).

Some of these treasures were undoubtedly also in the Second Temple. Although many of the treasures of Solomon’s Temple were destroyed or stolen by Nebuchadnezzar’s general, Nebuzaradan, who burned Solomon’s Temple, although several tunnels with gates survived, we still see some of these treasures in the Second Temple. For example, it is known that by decree of the Persian king Cyrus (Ezra 6:3-5), the vessels taken from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar were returned to the Israelites. They were returned 30 gold plates, 100 silver plates, 29 knives, 30 gold cups, 410 silver cups, 1,000 other vessels, and a total of 5,400 vessels (Ezra 1:9-11). Of course, this is a very small number compared to Josephus’s estimates of the riches of Solomon’s Temple. However, at the same time, the treasury of the Second Temple was replenished with valuable offerings, both from Israelites and from foreigners (Ezra 1:4-6).

During the reign of Artaxerxes, the treasury of the Old Testament Temple was further replenished (Ezra 8:26-28), so that later Antiochus Epiphanes, following Nebuchadnezzar’s example, committed further theft from the Jerusalem Temple (1 Macc. 1:21-23). In 63 BCE, Pompey, the conqueror of the Jews—the “first Roman” to enter the sanctuary of the Temple in Jerusalem—discovered rich treasures there once again. He found a golden table with lamps, sacrificial bowls, and approximately two thousand talents of sacred money. However, out of respect for the sacred relics of Israel, he did not touch these treasures. The Roman general Crassus, who passed through Jerusalem almost immediately after Pompey, did not possess Pompey’s magnanimity and selflessness. He took a golden pole from the Temple of Jerusalem, offered to Crassus by the priest Eleazar, hoping to sate the greed of the Syrian governor. But Crassus was not content with this. He stole gold plate and temple money (a total of 10,000 talents) from the Temple. Josephus, however, cautions that his mention of the temple’s rich treasures is not exaggerated. “No one should be surprised that our temple contained such a mass of gold,” he says, “for the Jews of the whole world, as well as other worshippers of the Eternal, in Asia and Europe, have from ancient times brought offerings there… The mass of the treasures we have mentioned is not at all exaggerated by us out of vanity or boastfulness.” Josephus sees indirect support for his information about the wealth of the Jerusalem temple treasury in Strabo’s references to the Jews transporting treasures to the island of Kosi and filling them “with the whole world.”14 Consequently, the influx of wealth into the Jerusalem temple from wealthy Jews from the Diaspora was always very great.

Reports on the Jerusalem temple’s wealth also survive from its later history. Thus, after Herod’s death, during a Jewish revolt, the Roman Emperor’s deputy, Sabinus, along with his soldiers, plundered the treasures of the Jerusalem Temple.15

Possessing vast treasures, the Jerusalem Temple throughout its long history must have had, and indeed did have, its own treasuries (γαζοφύλάκια) in the inner courtyard of the Temple and special guardians of these treasuries (γαζοφύλάκας)16, who had the right and duty to save the treasures in exceptional cases, a right which, one would assume, they exercised17 in cases of enemy invasion of Jerusalem and its heart – the sacred precinct. It is not surprising, therefore, that, despite the continuous theft of the Temple’s treasures, by the time of the Roman Emperor Titus we again see a rich treasury there.18 There were, undoubtedly, special rooms at the Jewish temple – book depositories.19 And Titus made use of both the treasures of the Jerusalem temple and its book depository.20 Incidentally, the details of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple under Titus are interesting. Beholding the splendor of the Old Testament Temple, Titus, having already entered the city, implored the Jews to surrender and preserve the monument of faith and their fathers. But the Jews refused the offer. And so, under the very porticoes of the Temple, a fierce battle broke out between Jews and their opponents, which one rabbi compares to the waves of a stormy sea. 21 A fire then broke out and engulfed the entire Temple, and under one of its porticoes, three centurions belonging to the Third Roman Legion, along with their tribunes and standards, were consumed by the flames. But then the Roman swords had already destroyed the Temple door, and Titus, having penetrated the sanctuary with several soldiers, turned his attention to the sacred vessels. But the priests and Levites hiding there suddenly attacked him and forced him to leave the sanctuary. Returning to the temple, Titus saw on its platform, amid the thick smoke shrouding the corpses of the defenders, the few other priests still alive—fighters for the sanctity of the temple—who had fallen near it. This event caused one learned rabbi, Abrabanell,23 to exclaim in his description of the devastation of Jerusalem: “Weeping, daughter of Judah! You have no longer a roof over your head; the wicked has raised a sacrilegious hand against your priests in the very sanctuary. Virgin of Zion! In vain do your eyes seek a young man who would love you! Rather, clothe yourself in widow’s clothing and do not think of the marriage bed. Israel! Cover your head with ashes! The Holy of Holies no longer exists!” And this grief of Abrabanell, or rather its general tone, was, of course, well understood even without words by the remnants of the Palestinian Jews of the time of Titus II; the bitterness of their feelings was perhaps increased by the fact that in the struggle with the Romans, the Jews, according to the testimony of Josephus Flavius, lost more than one million one hundred thousand killed and captured. Ninety-seven thousand. Furthermore, Titus allegedly ordered a march through Jerusalem and the digging of the temple’s foundations. This is mentioned by the Talmud and the rabbis. 24

Having defeated, in Titus’s words, “a most restless people,” the victor, condescending to the Jews’ misfortune, refused to satisfy the request of the Antioch Greeks, who wanted to expel all Jews from Antioch, but did not refuse to hold a solemn triumph in Rome. During this triumph, the captive Jews suffered not only political but also religious humiliation. A relatively small group of them witnessed the victors carrying the sacred vessels of the Jerusalem Temple and its gold plate in general. Even today, a large triumphal arch dedicated to Titus still exists in Rome, depicting Roman soldiers carrying the sacred vessels of the Jerusalem Temple. Below this image a corresponding inscription, announcing to posterity the exploits of Titus. 25 In discussing these details, we are, of course, not referring to the interest of simple curiosity, for the sake of which one could note much more from the history of Titus’s conquest of Jerusalem. What is important to us is the indication that the victor, Titus, entered the Jerusalem Temple over the corpses of the Jews and took the spoils. And if he saw in the last priests of the Temple fighters for its sanctity, then it is understandable that these same priests, who did not spare their lives, could have hidden some of the precious vessels of the Temple in secret vaults, which, with its smoking ruins, seemed to cover them. This is a common occurrence in the conquest of cities, but in the conquest of Jerusalem it is all the more likely, since the Jews were offended not only and not so much by the destruction of treasures, but by the touching of them by the wicked. True, the victor, for the sake of profit, could have also engaged in excavations of the ruins of the Old Testament Temple. But if Even if they were, they certainly didn’t resemble the excavations of later archaeologists. This would have required considerable time, which Titus didn’t have.

After Titus, the Old Testament temple remained a heap of ruins for a long time. Emperor Hadrian, who rebuilt the city of Jerusalem (in 136) and built a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus on the ruins of the Temple of Jehovah, forbade Jews, under penalty of death, to settle in the new city or approach the destroyed temple. From that time on, only handouts from Roman soldiers could buy permission for Jews to weep in mourning clothes on the Mount of Olives, within sight of Jerusalem. 26 Thus, according to the prophet, the Israelites, who forgot the ways of the Lord (Jer. 5:4), were “cast out” from Jerusalem (Jer. 16:13), given over “to the vexation of the kingdoms of the earth.” “a reproach and a curse in all places” (Jer. 24:9) and “fanned with a fan outside the gates of their land” (Jer. 15:7).

The subsequent history of the Old Testament temple is of little use for our purposes.

Under Constantine the Great, Hadrian’s Temple of Jupiter was destroyed. The mournful silence of Mount Moriah was later broken by Emperor Julian the Apostate’s attempt to restore the ancient Jewish temple. But a terrible earthquake and flames erupting from the depths of the earth halted the work, which the Jews had begun with stubborn zeal. According to Gregory of Nazianzus, they dressed in their finest garments for the work and even brought silver shovels and precious baskets.

Under Islamic rule, the summit of Mount Moriah began to be built up. Here, the majestic Mosque of Omar emerged, named after the Caliph Omar, who captured Jerusalem in 637. Its dome (Qubbet Essahra), believed to tower over the central portion of the Old Testament Temple, was believed to tower over the site of the Temple. The comparatively short-lived Crusader rule could not significantly affect the structures on the site of the Old Testament Temple and its dungeons. 28 The cold and proud, yet still beautiful Mosque of Omar stands guard over the sacred Mount Moriah, among other buildings, even after the Crusaders’ temporary stay in Jerusalem. Everything built above the highest point of Mount Moriah, and in particular above the rock where the great religious experience began—the sacrifices that led to the new, perfect Sacrifice of Golgotha—is distinguished by its uniqueness. The interiors of the mosques seem filled with a mysterious, twilight light, shimmering with gold, silver, and vibrant colors. This, as one aptly put it, represents the embodiment of pure Mohammedan reverence, a “pious half-slumber” that descended on the spot where the Old Testament temple with its treasures once stood.

Thus, the history of the treasures of the Old Testament temple is lost in the story of its destruction by Titus. Its subsequent fate, it seems, provides no precise clues regarding the question we are interested in. It’s certainly possible that the “cyclopean” structures of the Old Testament temple, to which Titus gave the palm of primacy among all the temples known to him, have suppressed and are now preserving some valuable remnants of what were once countless treasures. But, of course, along with the temple’s deep foundations, they have long since sunk into the earth.

And while the Russian and foreign press has begun to talk, and continues to talk, about some valuables allegedly stolen by Anglo-American entrepreneurs, all this talk is based on pure conjecture. Archaeologists working almost constantly in Jerusalem, and particularly on Mount Moriah, have, and continue to do so annually and, one might say, monthly, unearthing fragments of pottery and stones with fragments of ancient Hebrew inscriptions from the depths of the earth, and specialized foreign press outlets constantly proclaim these discoveries. The Anglo-Americans could have found similar remnants of antiquity, the value of which could be determined not only by gold and silver, but also by scientific interest. It is at least known what expenses Palestinian scholars incurred to acquire, restore, and study, for example, the monument of the Moabite king Mesha, who told the world about the ancient fate of the Kingdom of Israel. Eminent scholars from various civilized Western countries gathered around a single stone.

This is understandable, because if Anglo-American entrepreneurs have found such valuables in the caves of Mount Moriah, then their risky antiquities-hunting venture must be considered worthwhile. But it would not be surprising to hear about gold and silver.

It is, of course, possible that the Anglo-American enterprise will provide further grounds for speculation in the field of biblical archaeology. The history of excavations in Palestine knows, at least, of cases where antiquities of dubious origin were offered to the scholarly world for profit. Thus, biblical scholars and archaeologists are well aware, for example, of the forgery of one cunning inventor of antiquities, Shapiro, who, with his “discovery” in 1883, misled several prominent orientalists by selling to the British Museum for an enormous sum a “one-of-a-kind” manuscript telling of the wanderings of the Jews in the desert. This manuscript, purchased, according to Shapiro’s statement, from a Bedouin who kept it as a talisman, was embalmed according to Egyptian custom, which supposedly explained its preservation for several centuries and even millennia. But it turned out that this “manuscript” with archaic writings was only a “cut-off edge of an old synagogue scroll: the archaic writings were a crude forgery. And this exposure of the forgery, made by the scholar Clermont Ganneau, sent by the French Ministry of Public Education to The manuscript’s arrival in London occurred after the Leipzig professor of Palestinian studies, Guthe, had transcribed and translated the “manuscript.” It’s possible that the Anglo-American enterprise, which allegedly penetrated the Mosque of Omar, will give rise to speculation, and the scholarly world will once again be forced to resolve the question of the antiquity of this or that newly discovered monument. But this understandable concern does not, of course, exclude the possibility that the Anglo-Americans, along with some Muslim antiquities, also obtained some genuine Palestinian Old Testament antiquities.

However, we conclude, all this is merely speculation, not a conclusion from definitive data—guesswork, not historical evidence.

But if the secrets of Mount Moriah, concerning the actual presence of the treasures found therein, remain hidden from us, then amidst the restless speculation about these secrets, one thing is clear: the enduring significance of Palestine.

Clearly, the conscious searches of individuals are followed by an unconscious, yet psychologically understandable, interest of society.

And if there truly is such interest—and there is no reason to deny it—then, it seems, its elements include, among other things, an instinctive attraction to the lost relics of the Old Testament, which, in the idea of ​​Old Testament sacrifice, provided a kind of foundation for Christianity and its symbol—the Cross of Christ. This instinct tells us that Palestine is truly a “holy land,” and every treasure within it, even the traces of these treasures, are treasured by religious faith, and the latter more than by scientific thought.

And if, at the memory of Palestine, society truly awakens within itself this religious faith, which welcomes scientific research, then it was not of our time that Cyril of Jerusalem34 spoke: “When the Antichrist comes to the Jews, like Christ, and demands worship from them, then, in order to further seduce them, he will display great zeal for the temple, suggesting that he is of the line of David and that he must restore the temple once built by Solomon.”

Dmitry Vvedensky

* * *

Notes

1. Regarding press speculation about the Anglo-American expedition’s search for treasure in the dungeons of the Mosque of Omar.

2. Cf. Professor Soden, “Palestine and its History.” Translated from the original. V. Lind Moscow 1909 Page 1.

3. Ibid. Page 93.

4. Ibid. Page 110.

5. See, for example, the already not new, but still interesting work of Professor A.A. Olesnitsky, “The Holy Land.” Kyiv. 1875. Page 101.

6 Bibles Places or the Topography of the Holy Lang By H. B. Tristram, D.D., L.L.D., F.R.S., Canon of Durham. London 1897 Page 183. Incidentally, there is a suggestion that the underground aqueduct system of Mount Moriah was connected to the Kidron Stream via a tunnel, although there is disagreement on this issue.

7. Professor A.A. Olesnitsky. Cit. Works. Pages 125–126.

8. Ibid. Page 134–135

9. The extent of the literature on the question of Jerusalem and the Old Testament temple can be judged by the list of specialized studies pertaining to this question, for example, in the Handbook of the Bible by Altert Dr. E. C. Aug Riehm (Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1894), and by Herzog in his well-known Realencyklop. fur protest Theol. und Kirchbe Leipzig, 1901), especially by Vigouroux in the Dictionnaire de la Bible (Paris, see, for example, in 3 vol. 1903). The question of the Old Testament temple was touched upon, among other things, by Prof. M.D. Muretov (The Old Testament Temple, Part I. Moscow 1890) and Prof. L. A. Olesnitsky (The Old Testament Temple in Jerusalem, Pravoslavie Palestine Collection, 1889) However, more recent works focus more on the external appearance of the Old Testament temple.

10. Electron (εξ ἠλέκτpω) – a mixture of metal (according to Pliny, See Jude Antiquities, translated by Henkel, T. I, 1900, St. Petersburg. Note to the Russian translation on p. 453) consisting of four parts gold and one part silver.

11. Flavii Iosephi Opera, ed. Niese, Berolini, MDCCCLXXXV. and subsequent years. Nol II Antiqu. Jude VIII, 3, 7, 8. We will further cite Josephus from the Niese edition.

12. Antiqu Vol III XIV, 4, 4.

13. Antiqu Vol III XIV, 7, 1.

14. Antiqu Vol III XIV, 7, 2

15. Antiqu Vol IV, XVII, 10, 2 Cf. also Josephus’s mention of the treasures of the Jerusalem Temple during the time of Pilate and Florus Antiqu Vol. XVIII, 3, 2 De bello Judaico Vol. VI. Berolini. MDCCCXCIVII, 14, 6

16. D E. Schϋrer ord. prof. der Theol zu Giessen Geschichte des judischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi. Zweite neu beaib Aufl. Th II. Leipzig. 1886. S 214–217

17. Flavii los. Antiqu Vo]. III. XLV, 7, 1 cf. 1 Macch. 1, 23

18 For the mention of the treasures of the Old Testament temple, see, for example, in the 1st book. Ezra 8:29 Neh. 12:44, 13:5, 9, 13; cf. Mark 12:41, 4); Luke 21:1. On the repositories of the temple treasures, see, and a pr , 1 Giaralippus 9:28–29, 26, 20–28.

19. Bd. C. Aitg Riehm, Handworterb des Bibl. Altert B II s, 1672.

20. The Roman victors took many copies of sacred books from the Jerusalem Temple, some of which the Emperor Titus gave to Josephus Flavius, as the latter testifies in his autobiography Josephi vita Vol IV 75) and some he destroyed. The main one of these scrolls remained in the palace library of the Roman emperors from 70 to 220. See a brief historical overview of this by A.A. Olevnitsky, The Old Temple in Jerusalem, p. 533, note I.

21. Kapefik, History of the Jews from the time of the decline of the Maccabees to the sixth century. Translated from French by K. Pugovin, 2nd edition 1846, St. Petersburg, p. 213. Following in most cases Josephus Flavius ​​in his presentation of facts, Kapefik sometimes reports on this issue some information borrowed from Primary sources—both ancient and modern historians, and partly rabbinical literature. While sometimes compromising precision in conveying data from Josephus’s history, Cappefig, as the author of a Jewish history written in a lively language, sometimes provides interesting information that cannot be considered outdated even today. It is worth noting that the citation of Josephus in Cappefig’s Russian translation is not always accurate.

22. A description of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple is given by Josephus in his work De bello iudaico Vol VI, V–VII.

23. Commentary in Esaiam Lugundi – Batovor 1631. Cf. Cappefig, p. 216.

24. In Scaliger, Cappefig, p. 221 Note. Cf. Keith. Proof of the Truth of the Christian Faith. Petersburg, no year of publication, p. 60.

25. Kapefig, p. 228.

26. Kapefig, p. 250.

27. This is evidenced, for example, by Sozomen, Gregory of Nazianzus, Cyril of Jerusalem, and the pagan historian and philosopher Ammianus Marcellinus. See Kapefig, Part II, p. 51 et seq. A brief overview of this is available from Professor Olesnitsky in his “Old Jerusalem Temple,” p. 543. Information about some “accidental” reason for the suspension of work on the restoration of the Old Testament temple under Emperor Julian is also found among the rabbis, who say that Caesar was wounded in the Persian War, which is why he could not, allegedly, carry out his intention to build the Old Testament temple. See, for example, Hamburger’s Real-Encyclopedia fur Bibel und Talmud. Leipzig 1880. II, p. 1203.

28. A brief overview of the history of Jerusalem and the Old Testament temple in particular, in addition to some of the manuals we have mentioned (e.g., Josephus Fl., Schurer), is provided by Biblical-theological and general encyclopedic dictionaries. General Talmudic and rabbinic references on this subject can be found in Hamburger’s, in Real-E. in parts 1 and 2 under the word “Temple.” The most concise list of the historical fates of Jerusalem and the Old Temple is, for example, in a small booklet by Sattler, “The History of Jerusalem and the History of the Old Testament Temple by Flavius ​​Josephus in Munich. I884.”

29. Soden, pp. J 08–109.

30. Ibid, p. 110.

31. M.D. Muretov. The Old Testament Temple

32. Ibid, p. 148.

33. It should be noted that a note appeared very recently in the Russian periodical press, based on an unknown report from the Times newspaper, in which, on behalf of the leader of the Anglo-American expedition, vague, albeit vague, indications were made regarding the general nature of these excavations. But this report contains no Clarifications regarding the contents of the “taken away boxes”

34. Audible. Sermon XV, 15.

Source in Russian: Vvedensky, D.I. “Treasures of the Old Testament Temple: (Biblical and Historical Information)” // Theological Herald. 1911. Vol. 3. No. 11. pp. 462–477.