Archæology and the BibleBarton, George A. (George Aaron)
Religion
Archæology and the Bible
Barton, George A. (George Aaron)
Bible -- Antiquities; Egypt -- Antiquities; Middle East -- Antiquities
(8) _The Castle at Tahpanhes._--We learn from Jer. 43:7, 8 and 44:1 that,
after the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah with many other Jews fled to
Tahpanhes in Egypt and established a Jewish colony there. Jeremiah, as a
symbolical act, was directed to hide some stones in the cement of the
tiled area of the court of Pharaoh’s house there (Jer. 43:8). Tahpanhes
was the Daphne of the Greeks. It was on the site of the modern Tell
Defenneh. This was in ancient times the easternmost city of the northern
Delta. A hundred and fifty miles of desert stretched away to the east of
it, until one came to the gardens of Gaza in Palestine. Petrie excavated
Tell Defenneh in 1883-1884, and discovered the large castle there, which
is probably the building in which Jeremiah buried his stones. This was the
last act of Jeremiah’s life of which we have any record. He was then an
old man and apparently died soon afterward, probably at Tahpanhes,
certainly in Egypt.
(9) _The Jewish Temple at Leontopolis._--Josephus tells us twice, once in
his _Antiquities of the Jews_, Book XIII, Chapter III, and again in his
_Wars of the Jews_, Book VII, Chapter X, that, when Jonathan, the
Maccabee, was made high priest of the Jews, about 153 B. C., Onias, the
son of Onias III, the deposed high priest, went to Egypt and obtained a
grant of land and permission to build a Jewish temple. This land was in
the region of the city of Bubastis, the nome where the cat goddess was
sacred, and was accordingly called by the Greeks Leontopolis. There were
at this time about as many Jews in Egypt as in Palestine, and doubtless
Ptolemy VII thought to keep them more loyal by granting them a temple. He
gave to Onias the revenues of a considerable territory for the support of
the temple. Josephus tells us that Onias urged as a reason for the
construction of this temple that it would be in fulfilment of the prophecy
in Isa. 19:19-22. Josephus goes on to say that this temple was built as an
exact reproduction of the temple at Jerusalem and that it continued to
exist as a place of worship until after the destruction of Jerusalem by
Titus, when troubles caused by Jewish zealots led the Roman government to
close the temple at Leontopolis and discontinue its worship; (see Fig.
12).
The site of this temple was at Tell el-Yehudiyeh, the “Tell of the
Jewess,” about 20 miles north of Cairo. This tell was excavated by Petrie
in 1905-1906. He found there remains of the Jewish temple, which fully
confirm the statements of Josephus. Not only the temple, but the form of
the Jewish settlement, was made as far as possible a replica of the city
of Jerusalem. One of the most interesting discoveries was a series of
ovens for the roasting of Paschal lambs. Others of a similar character
were found higher up in the mound, but this first series was most
numerous. Petrie infers that the temple was dedicated by a great Passover
Feast, to which Jews came in large numbers from throughout Egypt;[8] (see
Fig. 13).
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