Exile and Return of the First Temple Vessels

Biblical texts exhibit varying accounts of the temple vessels’ “fate” during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, whether dismantled or taken away. Altogether, biblical historiography features claims of continuity regarding the vessels despite exhibiting repeated disruption and reformulation of their physical location and material. Cultural memory of postexilic reconstitution of cultus features the motif of the temple vessels returning to Jerusalem as a means to claim continuity with preexilic cultus. The vessels work as “a continuity theme” because they operate synecdochally for temple cultus, the “proper” ritual activity that has been disrupted. With this synecdochal value, the vessels’ physical integrity serves to endorse particular ideologies and social groupings within literary portrayals of postexilic Jerusalem

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Historiography · Ideology · Literature · Political science · Politics · Temple · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Law