The Biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus and II Kings lay out in great detail the architectural plans and the ritual equipment of the Israelite cult places—first the tabernacle in the Sinai desert and at Shiloh, and Solomon’s temple. In the 17th-19th centuries, artists drew reconstructions of the cultic structures based on the written descriptions. But starting in the 20th century, archaeological research discovered that these detailed descriptions were real: cultic buildings and ritual equipment like those described actually existed in Egypt, Syria and in the Land of Canaan itself. We will look at the Biblical descriptions and identify the sources of these descriptions, which ancient Israelite rituals were performed and their purpose.
This program is a part of The Annual Enid and Irving Kushner Lecture Series: Ancient Civilizations and Biblical Archaeology