Ezra's Temple

[Kris]

Hello,

I am revisiting an old topic-- the temple and how it was cited in Tobit. I found a paper a while back that stated:

"Some Jews during the second-Temple period believed that the second Temple would be replaced by a third, eschatological Temple. The author of the Book of Tobit, writing sometime in the second century BCE, states that the Temple rebuilt under Nehemiah will be replaced by a third Temple, built at the final restoration of Israel to the land. (Although this book purports to be a historical record of events in the late 8th and early 7th centuries, it probably dates from the early 2nd century, before the reign of Antiochus IV, and reflects ideas from that period.) In chap. 13, in a hymn to God, Tobit expresses the hope that, after God has afflicted Israel for its iniquities, God would then show it mercy again by gathering the people from all nations and restoring them to the land; Jerusalem will be restored along with the temple and nations shall come to Jerusalem to worship God. But in 14:1-11, part of the testament of Tobit, it is stated that in fact two Temples will be built, one immediately upon returning to the land and the other "when the times of fulfillment shall come" (14:5). The author explains, "After this they will all return from their exile and rebuild Jerusalem in splendor, and in it the Temple of God will be rebuilt, just as the prophets of Israel have said concerning it" (14:5). At that time the nations of the world will be converted, and abandon all their idols, those who go to Jerusalem will live in safety and the wicked will disappear from the earth. In other words, the author distinguishes between the Temple rebuilt by Ezra and the eschatological Temple foretold by the prophets."

I can't get back to this paper for some reason so I can't reference it for you here, but I am interested in the first like, where the author speaks about some of the Jews in the second Temple period believing that the second temple-- the smaller one built by Ezra/Zerrabubbel? would be replaced by a much grander temple. Was there sects or peoples during the second temple era and prior to Herod's temple that found this temple lacking? If so, who were they? That might help explain why this particular verse was in Tobit to begin with.

Any help that anyone can provide is greatly appreciated!

Kris

[StephenGoranson]

As you may know, expressions of hope for a new temple are found, for example, in the Temple Scroll from Qumran Cave 11 and in the Revelation of John.
Also, some Qumran mss express dissatisfaction with the temple when led by one they called "the wicked priest." Some identify him with Alexander Jannaeus, though others have also been proposed.

[Kris]

Hi Stephan, thanks so much for responding— i wasn’t aware of the Temple Scrolls and writings in Qumran suggesting such dissatisfaction with the second temple— would this be the Essences? Do you think they were writing during the 200 bce to 150bce timeframe?

[StephenGoranson]

imo, the people living at the Qumran settlement in the late second temple period (roughly 100 bce to 70 ce) were Essenes, though there are other opinions.

imo they gathered manuscripts, some of which they composed, some of which they copied, and some of which were composed and/or copied by others.
It may be useful to keep in mind different dates of text composition and text copying (and, sometimes, editing or annotating or commenting upon).
Some manuscripts in the eleven Qumran caves in which they were found were likely composed or copied within 200 bce to 150 bce date range, but many others likely were composed or copied before that date range or after that date range.