This article builds on Mordechai Aviam’s pioneering interpretation of the Migdal synagogue stone, agreeing with him that all the symbolism refers to the Temple, while differing from him on some specific points of interpretation and developing the overall significance of the symbolism considerably further. It is argued that the four vertical sides of the stone depict the three different spaces of the Temple: the Holy of Holies, the Holy Place, and the courts. The stone as a whole is a representation of the Table of the Shewbread, with the twelve loaves representing the tribes differentiated according to the matriarchs. The stone symbolizes a cultic connexion between the synagogue and the Temple. It is unique evidence of the way Galilean Jews before 70 understood the synagogue and its activities.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
Mordechai Aviam, “The Decorated Stone from the Synagogue at Migdal: A Holistic Interpretation and a Glimpse into the Life of Galilean Jews at the Time of Jesus,” NovT 55 (2013) 205-220. I am grateful to Mordechai Aviam for permission to reprint the drawings of the stone that appeared in his article (see pages 134-135 below).
Leo Mildenberg, The Coins of the Bar Kokhba War (Typos 6; Aarau: Sauerländer, 1984) 33-43 and Plates 1-96.
Dan Barag, “The Table of the Showbread and the Facade of the Temple on the Coins of the Bar-Kokhba Revolt,” in Ancient Jerusalem Revealed, ed. Hillel Geva (expanded edition; Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2000) 272-276, here 276.
Meyers and Meyers, Haggai, 229-238; David L. Petersen, Haggai and Zechariah 1-8 (otl; London: scm Press, 1985) 216-224; Hachlili, The Menorah, 18-22.
Josephus, War 5.200-226; Ant. 11.108; cf. Ant. 9.237; Ezek 40:17-19 lxx; John 10:23.
Fine, “ ‘The Lamps,’ ” 150. There is a depiction of the table of the showbread in the fifth-century synagogue at Sepphoris: see Zeev Weiss, The Sepphoris Synagogue: Deciphering an Ancient Message through Its Archaeological and Socio-Historical Contexts (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society/Hebrew University of Jerusalem Institute of Archaeology, 2005) 95-101 (including also reference to Dura Europos and the Samaritan synagogue at El-Khirbē).
Rachel Hachlili, Ancient Jewish Art and Archaeology in the Land of Israel (Leiden: Brill, 1988) 320. There were evidently rosettes in the First Temple (1 Kgs 6:29-35).
Dan Urman, “Public Structures and Jewish Communities in the Golan Heights,” in Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, ed. Dan Urman and Paul V.M. Flesher (Leiden: Brill, 1995) 2:373-605, here Plate 41a.
Ya‘akov Meshorer, Jewish Coins of the Second Temple Period (tr. I.H. Levine; Tel Aviv: Am Hassefer, 1967) 73, 134-135, and Plate IX; Morten Hørning Jensen, Herod Antipas in Galilee (2nd edition; wunt 2/215; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010) 208-209.
See especially Richard A. Horsley, Archaeology, History, and Society in Galilee: The Social Context of Jesus and the Rabbis (Valley Forge: Trinity Press International, 1996) chapter 6.
Catto, Reconstructing, 110-112, 115-116, 149-150; Binder, Into the Temple Courts, 391-399.
Catto, Reconstructing, 128-129; also Matt 6:5. On Josephus in Tiberias, see Binder, Into the Temple Courts, 409-411.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 5582 | 84 | 11 |
Full Text Views | 321 | 2 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 106 | 8 | 0 |
This article builds on Mordechai Aviam’s pioneering interpretation of the Migdal synagogue stone, agreeing with him that all the symbolism refers to the Temple, while differing from him on some specific points of interpretation and developing the overall significance of the symbolism considerably further. It is argued that the four vertical sides of the stone depict the three different spaces of the Temple: the Holy of Holies, the Holy Place, and the courts. The stone as a whole is a representation of the Table of the Shewbread, with the twelve loaves representing the tribes differentiated according to the matriarchs. The stone symbolizes a cultic connexion between the synagogue and the Temple. It is unique evidence of the way Galilean Jews before 70 understood the synagogue and its activities.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 5582 | 84 | 11 |
Full Text Views | 321 | 2 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 106 | 8 | 0 |