Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 2 describes the temple mountain raised above all others, with nations coming to it and the law going out from Jerusalem. The Letter of Aristeas sets the temple on a lofty mountain, and its story sends the law out from Zion to Alexandria.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 2:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalem that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz. 2 In future days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure as the most important of mountains and will be the most prominent of hills. All the nations will stream to it; 3 many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of the God of Jacob, so he can teach us his requirements, and we can follow his standards.” For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; the Lord’s message will issue from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge disputes between nations; he will settle cases for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not take up the sword against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.
Letter of Aristeas 1:84
Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
I have given you this description of the presents because I thought it was necessary. The next point in the narrative is an account of our journey to Eleazar, but I will first of all give you a description of the whole country. When we arrived in the land of the Jews we saw the city situated in the middle of the whole of Judaea on the top of a mountain of considerable altitude. On the summit the temple had been built in all its splendour. It was surrounded by three walls more than seventy cubits high and in length and breadth corresponding to the structure of the edifice. All the buildings
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Notes and References
“... This allusion comes as a fantastic (detached from topographical reality) description of Zion: “When we reached the region we beheld the city situated in the center of all Judaea upon a mountain which rises to a lofty height. Upon its crest stood the Temple in its splendor.” In Isaiah we read: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills.” [...] To understand it properly we should read not only Isaiah 2:2, but Isaiah 2:3 as well: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” That is exactly the message and the plot of the Letter: Ptolemaic envois are coming up to the mountain of the Lord, and the Law (nomos) goes forth to Alexandria out of Zion. ...”
Kovelman, Arkady
Between Alexandria and Jerusalem: The Dynamic of Jewish and Hellenistic Culture
(p. 119) Brill, 2005
* 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.
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