worship 51
their hands, singing songs and praises. And countless Levites [played]
on harps, lyres, cymbals and trumpets and instruments of music .. .’
According to the Mishnah, ‘they have said: “He that has never seen the
joy of the place of water- drawing has never in his life seen joy.” ’^18
Away from the crowds and the excitement in the Temple itself, there
was much to render the whole experience of pilgrimage special, since
the first fruits and the second tithe of agricultural produce from the land
of Israel, or their monetary equivalent, were required to be consumed
within the walls of Jerusalem. It is not surprising that the economy of
Jerusalem was thus geared to exploitation of mass religious tourism,
with numerous animals and birds on sale for private offering in the
precincts surrounding the Temple site, alongside facilities for changing
money into Tyrian shekels, the currency accepted by the Temple auth-
ority for donations. Nor should it surprise that those who provided such
necessary services for a profit might be charged with turning a house of
prayer into ‘a den of robbers’, as Jesus is said to have claimed, or that,
although the religious requirement to attend fell on adult males alone, the
festivals apparently attracted women and children in large numbers.^19
Such mass pilgrimage was unique in the ancient world, and had not
been a feature of the Jewish Temple throughout its history; international
pilgrimage may indeed have become common only after the rebuilding
by Herod. According to Josephus, the Roman governor of Syria in 65
ce estimated the total number of adult male worshippers at 2,700,000,
to which should be added women and children. The figure is not trust-
worthy, but the impression of a vast crowd such as can be seen today in
Mecca is confirmed by numerous stories about the political volatility of
the festivals. The main structure of the festivals was derived from the
explicit stipulations in the Torah, but some at least of the ceremonial
must have been introduced at later periods, such as the ox with gilded
horns and the flute- players in the procession of the first fruits, which
seems to have been borrowed from Greek custom. Nothing in the bib-
lical text hints at the ceremony of the Water- Drawing and it is probable
that hints of opposition to the ritual, as recorded in the Mishnah, reflect
concern that this was an unwarranted innovation: ‘To the priest who
performed the libation they used to say, “Lift up your hand!” for once a
certain one poured the libation over his feet, and all the people threw
their citrons at him.’ One striking element in the ceremony, the use of
ritual dance, is particularly difficult to trace back into earlier Temple
liturgy, despite the tradition that King David had danced ecstatically in
front of the ark of the Lord on its original arrival in Jerusalem.