NO GENTILES IN THE TEMPLE

Fragment of stone from the 1st century Jerusalem Temple

The Greek inscription on this stone tablet found on the Temple site reads:

'No foreigner shall enter into the balustrade of the Temple, or within the precinct, and whoever is caught doing this will be responsible for his death that will follow as a consequence.'

It seems strange to have such an inscription - why would Gentiles want to visit the Temple in the first place? But Josephus writes in Bellum IV,262, that even Hellenists and barbarians honoured the Temple.

Many Gentiles, he says, made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and brought their sacrifices from foreign lands. The Talmud tells of a Gentile who went up several times from Nisibis for the Passover festival, and similar cases are mentioned in the gospels.

Nevertheless, Gentiles could enter the Temple courts only to a certain point. They were barred from entering the areas closest to the Court of the Priests, where sacrifice and prayers were offered daily.

   Go back to  JERUSALEM RESOURCES