The Sabbath and the Sanctuary: Access to God in the Letter to the Hebrews and its Priestly Context

273 Pages·2013·12.077 MB·English

by  Jared C. Calaway

Jared G Calaway
The Sabbath and the Sanctuary
Access to God in the Letter to the Hebrews
and its Priestly Context
Mohr Siebeck
Jared C. Calaway, born 1980; 2003 BA from Illinois Wesleyan University; 2005 MA, 2007
M. Phil and 2010 PhD from Columbia University in New York City; since 2010 visiting assi-
stant professor of Religion at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois.
ISBN 978-3-16-152365-6
ISSN 0340-9570 (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe)
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2013 by Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany, www.mohr.de
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by
copyright law) without the publisher’s written permission. This applies particularly to reproduc-
tions, translations, microfilms and storage and processing in electronic systems.
The book was printed by Laupp & Göbel in Nehren on non-aging paper and bound by Buch-
bindere! Nädele in Nehren.
Printed in Germany.
For Stacy
Preface
The following study is a substantially revised version of dissertation research
defended at Columba University in the summer of 2010. I had originally
suggested the ideas of the relationships between sacred space and sacred time,
between the sanctuary and the Sabbath in Hebrews and in other ancient
Jewish and Christian documents in the fall of 2007. It is, however, difficult to
look back at those original shadowy sketches and believe that this monograph
is the same project due to the many transformations it is has undergone.
For such transformations, I have benefited from several conversation
partners at different stages of this project. In the earliest stages at Columbia
University, I had the benefit of input from Adam Gregerman and Asha
Moorthy, as well as several faculty mentors, especially the members of my
dissertation committee: the late Alan Segal, Celia Deutsch, David Carr,
Gareth Williams, and Robert Somerville. Each of these gave valuable input
in their various areas of expertise that have vastly improved this project and
helped me from falling into silly mistakes. Alan, Celia, and David saw
multiple stages of this project. David has been a source of intellectual
encouragement, especially regarding my interpretations of passages in the
Hebrew Bible. Celia has patiently read and offered critical advice on many
drafts of the entire manuscript. Sadly, Alan, who was my dissertation advisor
and with whom I have had so many conversations about this project at many
stages of development, passed away in February 2011, and was unable to see
this project in its current, more mature form. Although this project does not
directly interact with any of his work, his influence can be found diffused
throughout. May he enter his Sabbath rest.
This monograph would not be the same without the institutional support of
my colleagues in the Department of Religion at Illinois Wesleyan University
- Kevin Sullivan, Carol Myscofski, Tao Jin, and Bob Erlewine - and the
office coordinator for Multi-Programs, Regina Linsalata. I have had the
benefit of having a fellow Bible scholar, Kevin, as my chair. He has been
helpful in multiple ways, from bouncing ideas off each other on particular
exegeses and thinking about broad organizational and structural issues of the
book to thinking about strategies for publication. I would also like to thank
the Donald T. Olson Endowment for the Department of Religion Enrichment
Fund helping me find money to help defray publishing costs.
VIII Preface
I would especially like to thank April DeConick of Rice University, who
has been instrumental in getting this monograph to see the light of day. If
Alan Segal is my Doktorvater, then she could claim to be my Doktormutter.
She originally inspired me to decide to become a scholar of ancient religion.
With regard to this project, she has offered several critiques and helpful
suggestions in terms of my argumentation, organization of material, and my
concluding thoughts. I would further like to thank her and Carey Newman of
Baylor University Press, who believed this project was important and placed
my manuscript in the right hands at Mohr Siebeck.
At Mohr Siebeck, I would like to thank Henning Ziebritzki and Jörg Frey
for considering the manuscript and ultimately accepting it for publication in
the WUNT II series. I would also like to thank my anonymous readers for
their careful reading and insightful suggestions, which have greatly improved
this monograph. Several others at Mohr Siebeck, many unknown to me, have
had a hand in making this book. I would especially like to single out
Dominika Zgolik, who has been indispensable in transforming the rough
manuscript into its current, polished formatting. Finally, Kellyann
Falkenberg-Wolfe of Hiraeth Indexing has been an amazing copyeditor and
has compiled for me an admirable index.
I finally would like to thank my family. Firstly, I want to thank my
paternal grandmother, Ethel Corinne Calaway, and my maternal grandfather,
Kenneth Cannon Wallace, who entered their final Sabbath rest before I went
off to graduate school, but who would have been interested in this project.
Their memory and their interest in the Bible and traveling have been sources
of inspiration for me. My grandmother, Gertrude Anne Wallace, my sister
and brother-in-law, Jaynanne and Ron Calaway-Habeck, and my parents, A.
Gerald and R. Jane Calaway, have been continual sources of love and
emotional support. My niece, Rebekah Jean Calaway-Habeck has been a new
source of joy in the family. Finally, I met my wife, Stacy Camacho, just after
I proposed this project in 2007, I married her just after I defended my
dissertation in 2010, and now as I have transformed this project into a book
we are marking a new stage in our life together. To thank her for her love,
patience, understanding, and for the joy that she brings to my life, I have
dedicated this book to her.
All of these dialogues with friends, family, and colleagues have improved
this project through their intellectual, financial, and emotional support. The
errata that remain are my own. For everything else, “what I have written, I
have written.”
Jared C. Calaway
29 May 2013
Bloomington, Illinois
Table of Contents
Preface......................................................................................................VII
Chapter 1 : Introduction: Accessing God through the
Intersections of Sacred Space and Sacred Time in the Letter
to the Hebrews and Its Priestly Context........................ 1
1.1 Introduction....................................................... 1
1.2 Trajectories of Research in Hebrews................................................... 2
1.3 The Place and Time of Hebrews in Current Research............................11
1.4 Seeking the Sabbath and the Sanctuary in Hebrews.................... 16
1.4.1 Studies on Space and Time in Hebrews..............................................16
1.4.2 Approaching (Sacred) Space and (Sacred) Time...............................18
1.4.3 The Sabbath and the Sanctuary in the Hebrew Bible and Second
Temple Judaism............................................................................................21
1.4.4 Finding the Sabbath and the Sanctuary in Hebrews: The Argument
of this Study..................................................................................................25
Chapter 2: The Priestly Inheritance of Hebrews: Aligning the
Sabbath and the Sanctuary in the Hebrew Bible......................... 32
2.1 Introduction.......................................................... 32
2.2 Sabbath and Temple Construction: The Ancient Near Eastern Nexus...35
2.2.1 Emulating and Transforming the Ancient Near Eastern Narrative
Pattern..........................................................................................................35
2.2.2 Transforming Tradition within the Narrative Pattern.......................42
2.3 The Sabbath and the Sanctuary as Equivalent in Holiness.................45
X Table of Contents
2.3.1 The Conjoined Veneration and Profanation of the Sabbath and the
Sanctuary 46
2.3. LI Qualitative Discussion of Profanation in Ezekiel and H 46
2.3.1.2 Quantitative Discussion of Profanation in Ezekiel and H 49
2.3.2 The Punishments for Profanation:תרכ, Death, and Exile 51
2.4 Sabbath Observance and Cultic Inclusion in Trito־Isaiah 54
2.5 Conclusion: Sacred Space, Sacred Time, and the Divine Presence 57
Chapter 3: Entering God’s Sabbath Rest and the Heavenly
Homeland in the Letter to the Hebrews 59
3.1 Introduction 59
3.2 Entering Sabbath Rest in Hebrews...... 63
3.2.1 Requirements for Entrance: The Faithful and the Faithless 63
3.2.2 The Promise Still Remains “Today.................... <י 71
3.2.3 From Space to Time: From Rest in the Land to Sabbath Rest 74
3.3 Sabbath, Land, and Rest in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple
Judaism 80
3.3.1 Κατάπαυσις in Greek Biblical Literature 81
3.3.2 Extending the Sanctuary/Sabbath Correspondence: The Land and
Its Sabbath 84
3.3.2.1 Impurity, Purgation, and the Land 85
3.3.3 The Sabbath as Access to the (Heavenly) Sanctuary 89
3.3.3.1 Philo of Alexandria: The Sabbath as Cosmic Harmony 89
3.3.3.2 Jubilees: The Sabbath as the Alignment between Heaven and
Earth 91
3.3.3.3 The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice: The Sabbath and the
Heavenly Tabernacle 92
3.3.4 Sabbath, Land, and Entering Heavenly Sacred Space. .. 94
3.4 Conclusion: Entering Sabbath Rest in Hebrews and Its Priestly
Predecessors 95
Table of Contents XI
Chapter 4: Resituating Moses’ “Pattern” of the Tabernacle:
God’s House, the Sanctuary, and the Heavenly Tent in the
Letter to the Hebrews...................................................... 98
4.1 Introduction.............................................................................................98
4.2 The Heavenly Sanctuary in Hebrews......................................................99
4.2.1 God's Multivalent House.....................................................................99
4.2.2 The Heavenly Tent and Its “Pattern " in Hebrews..............................104
4.2.3 Two Tents: The Spacetime of the Tabernacle......................................109
4.2.4 Entering the Heavenly Holy of Holies..................................................113
4.2.5 The Altar and Going “Outside the Camp .................... 116
4.3 The Heavenly Tabernacle in Second Temple Judaism and the Songs
of the Sabbath Sacrifice.................................................................................120
4.3.1 The Heavenly Temple in Second Temple Judaism...............................120
4.3.2 The “Pattern " of the Tabernacle in the Hebrew Bible. ..............121
4.3.3 The “Pattern ” of the Tabernacle in the Songs of the Sabbath
Sacrifice............................................... 126
4.3.3.1 Song 7: The Tabernacle's “Structure''...........................................127
4.3.3.2 Song 10: The Tabernacle 's Veil: The Boundary of the Most Holy.. 131
4.3.3.3 Song 12: The Tabernacle and Structure of the Throne-Chariot......135
4.4 Conclusion: The Heavenly Tabernacle and Its “Pattern” in Hebrews
and Its Priestly Predecessors.......................................................... 137
Chapter 5: Rituals of Access: The High Priest(s) of the
Heavenly Day of Atonement in the Letter to the Hebrews........ 139
5.1 Introduction: Jesus as High Priest and Priest-Maker............................139
5.2 The Ritual Event: Coordinating Sacred Spacetime....................... 141
5.3 Ritualizing Divine Access in Hebrews: Making the Heavenly High
Priest(s)............ 144
XII Table of Contents
5.3.1 Originator and Competer: Purifier, Sanctifier, and Perfected
Perfecter................ ................................................. 145
5.3.2 The Merciful and Faithful High Priest after the Order of
Melchizedek.............................................. 148
5.3.3 Spatiotemporal Implications................................................................156
5.3.4 Exhortations to Heavenly Priestly Service..........................................159
5.4 Ritualizing Sacred Access in the Hebrew Bible and the Songs of the
Sabbath Sacrifice........................ 162
5.4.1 The Day ofAtonement as an Extension of the Sabbath/Sanctuary
Equivalence........................ 162
5.4.1.1 Impurity and Purgation: The Holy of Holies Meets the Sabbath
of Sabbaths................ 163
5.4.1.2 The Day of Atonement in Festival Lists (Numbers 28-29 and
Leviticus 23)............... 163
5.4.1.3 The Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16..............................................166
5.4.2 The Ritual Alignment of Sacred Time and Heavenly Space in the
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice........................................................ 168
5.4.2.1 From Creation to Revelation.......................... 169
5.4.2.2 The Culminating Heavenly Sacrifice................................................172
5.5 Conclusion: Ritualizing Divine Access in Hebrews and Its Priestly
Predecessors.................................... 175
Chapter 6: Conclusions: The Intersection of the Sabbath and
the Sanctuary in Hebrews and Its Priestly Social Contexts.........178
6.1 How Hebrews Transforms and Heightens Sacred Spatiotemporality... 178
6.1.1 Priestly Foundations and Adaptations in the Hebrew Bible...............178
6.1.2 Priestly Reorientations in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice...........179
6.1.3 The Transformation of Priestly Patterns in the Letter to the
Hebrews................ 180
6.2 Engaging the Contemporary Priestly Context: Hebrews and the
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice................................................................. 182
6.2.1 Important Differences.............................................. 182
Table of Contents XIII
6.2.2 Striking Similarities.......................................................................... 183
6.2.3 Implications for the Context of Hebrews: Models of Social
Interactions....................................... 184
6.2.3.1 Scenario1: Convulsions of War (c. 60-75 C.E.)...... 189
6.2.3.1 Scenario 2: Aftermath of War (c. 75-100 C.E.)...... 192
6.2.3.3 Scenario 3: Ongoing Priestly Conversation: The Social
Implications of Who Has Access to the Sacred................................ 196
6.3 Trajectories for Future Research..............................................202
6.3.1 Accessing Sacred Spatiotemporality in the New Testament.............202
6.3.2 Intersections of Sacred Space and Sacred Time in Early Christian
Literature........................................................................................ 204
6.3.3 Ongoing Jewish Priestly and Early Christian Interactions...............205
Bibliography........................ 207
Indices 218