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Re: orion half-shekel Temple tax
>Stephen Goranson wrote:
>> One possible answer: they held the money, awaiting a renewed
>> Temple. Similarly, the copper scroll, IMO, lists money and objects for
>> the
>> temple (eventually), not from it.
Then Jack Kilmon wrote:
> 22 *TONS* of gold and silver, Stephen? Isn't is more likely, *if*
>the
>Copper Scroll is from the same origin and context as the rest of the
>cache,
>that they were just the caretakers of the scroll? [....]
Thirdly, I, S. Goranson, respond:
No, IMO, it is not likely that those who controlled the temple asked Qumran
Essenes to be caretakers of property of a temple whose administration they
long opposed. And the Essene treasury could well have been large. And
transport to many sites far from Jerusalem during a war would have been
unsafe--not something one would do as a safety measure.
Further, the amounts involved may be better explained after several
publications appear, including:
Judah Lefkovits, whose massive and significant NYU dissertation will be
published by Brill.
Perhaps the late David Wilmot's dissertation which Michael Wise had been
revising for U. Chicago/Oriental Institute, though I know of his work only
via Al Wolters (whose work is important), Lefkovits, an SBL abstract, and
brief (dated) conversation with MW.
The Manchester conference proceedings and E. Puech's edition.
Finally, I have suggested, in a paper sent to the Manchester conference
(ed. Geo. Brooke and Ph. Davies) that the Greek letters may indicate
withdrawals (redeposited in later items), which, if so, reduces the total
amount.
Stephen Goranson goranson@duke.edu