4 - The Veil in Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism

Summary

Introduction

Traditions in Second Temple and rabbinic literature pertaining to either of the temple curtains are not as prevalent as one might expect, given the centrality of the temple to Jewish identity. Yet this has not hindered New Testament scholars from looking largely to these sources for their understanding of the rending of the veil in the synoptic passion accounts. To complicate matters, the few relatively early sources that are available and that contain data pertaining to the veil provide confusing and, at times, contradictory historical accounts of the curtains in the Herodian temple. Because many New Testament scholars see the velum scissum as in some sense symbolic, it is important to see whether the veil developed any symbolic qualities during this time. It is also important to attempt to discern what it symbolised and whether those symbols were fixed to any degree by the time of the writing of Matthew's veil account in the latter half of the first century, particularly in sources that may have been accessible to Matthew. To address these, and questions of identity and function, I will here provide a comprehensive treatment of Second Temple and Rabbinic Jewish texts as they pertain to the veils and curtains of the ‘heavenly sanctuary’ and each of Jerusalem's temples. I will approach these issues by considering the veil in both the physical structure of the historical (Herodian) temple in Jerusalem and any ideological, theological or symbolic developments in these various Jewish traditions.