3
Worship
Interpretation of biblical injunctions had spawned by the first century
ce two different but complementary forms of worship, both of them
unique to Judaism in the ancient world. The sacrificial cult in the Jeru-
salem Temple was one of the wonders of the Roman empire, attracting
non- Jewish tourists as well as masses of Jewish worshippers and boast-
ing distinctive practices which elicited admiration from some and scorn
from others. The institution of the synagogue as a place for prayer as
well as for teaching the law and reading the biblical texts to a congreg-
ation was one of the most striking religious innovations in antiquity. In
principle, Temple worship could exist without synagogues, and syna-
gogues without a Temple, but in practice these two forms of worship
coexisted comfortably for at least 300 years before the destruction of
the Second Temple in 70 ce.
Temple
The Torah stated with great clarity that the Lord wished to be wor-
shipped with sacrifices of animals, and with drink and meal offerings
and incense, laying out with some precision the procedure to be fol-
lowed: ‘If the offering is a burnt- offering from the herd, you shall offer
a male without blemish ... the priests shall arrange the parts, with the
head and the suet, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; but its
entrails and its legs shall be washed with water. Then the priest shall
turn the whole into smoke on the altar .. .’ Such offerings might be
brought either by individuals – usually to give thanks for good fortune
or to seek pardon for wrongdoing – or by priests on behalf of the com-
munity. These physical acts, with the emotions and prayers that
accompanied them, constituted the primary link between Israel and
God as envisaged in most of the biblical books.^1