Texts in Conversation
In 2 Maccabees, Jeremiah hides the tent, ark, and altar in a cave, sealing the entrance so no one could find it. Rabbinic tradition in the Tosefta describes a similar act but credits it to Josiah, who hides the ark.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
2 Maccabees 2:5
Deuterocanon
1 It is also found in the records that Jeremiah the prophet commanded those who were carried away to take some of the fire, as has been mentioned, 2 and how that the prophet charged those who were carried away, having given them the law, that they should not forget the statutes of the Lord or be led astray in their minds when they saw images of gold and silver, and their adornment. 3 With other such words he exhorted them, that the law should not depart from their hearts. 4 It was in the writing that the prophet, being warned by God, commanded that the tabernacle and the ark should follow with him, when he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and saw God’s inheritance. 5 Jeremiah came and found a cave, he brought the tabernacle, the ark, and the altar of incense into it; then he sealed the entrance. 6 Some of those who followed with him came there that they might mark the way, and could not find it.
Date: 100–90 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Tosefta Sotah 13:1
Tosefta
Rabbinic
After the first temple was built, the Tent of Meeting was stored away, along with its boards, hooks, bars, pillars, and sockets. Even so, they used only the table which Moses had made, and the candlestick which Moses had made. The candlestick which Moses made did not require oil of anointing, for the first act of sanctification had sanctified it for its time and for all time. When the Ark was stored away, with it were stored away the bottle of manna, the jar of oil for anointing, the staff of Aaron, its buds and flowers, and the chest in which the Philistines had placed wood for the God of Israel. All of them were in the House of the Holy of Holies. And when the Ark was stored away, the commandments were stored away. Who stored it away? Josiah the King stored it away. Why did he do so? When he saw written in the Torah, The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known, He commanded the Levites and they hid it away, as it is said, And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, put the Holy Ark in the house which Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel, built: You need no longer carry it upon your shoulders.
Date: 190–230 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... A well-defined theme emerges in chapter 13, however, apart from a continuation of the chronological sequence. It is a tractate about the holy spirit. It continues (and amplifies) the appearance of this theme at the end of chapter 12 with regard to Elijah. It narrates a story of continual deterioration of the revelatory mechanisms: the biblical oracular mechanism of ‘urim and Thummim (see Exodus 28:30; Numbers 27:21) ceased immediately at the destruction of the First Temple, and then, after the deaths of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi at the beginning of the Second Temple period, the holy spirit ended. This is also the context of the hiding of the Ark by King Josiah in 13:1, “so it not be exiled to Babylon,” for the ark was the locus of the revelation in the Holy of Holies. (On hiding the ark, compare 2 Maccabees 2:5 where Jeremiah rather than Josiah is the protagonist) ..."
Rosen-Zvi, Ishay
Between Wisdom and Apocalypse: Reading Tosefta Soṭah Chapters 10–15
(pp. 1-23) The Harvard Theological Review, 2022
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,