Josephus’s Seven Purities and the Mishnah’s Ten Holinesses

Updated by: 
Shiran Shevah
Research notes: 
SHS/not checked/05/07/2016 MTW/reader checked/13/12/2018
Reference type: 
Journal Article
Author(s): 
Orian, Matan
year: 
2016
Full title: 

Josephus’s Seven Purities and the Mishnah’s Ten Holinesses

Journal / Book Title || Series Title: 
Journal for the Study of Judaism
Volume: 
47
Issue / Series Volume: 
2
Abbreviated Series Name: 
JSJ
Pages: 
183-211
Work type: 
Essay/Monograph
Abstract: 

This paper compares two descriptions of the Jewish hierarchy of holiness in relation to the Jerusalem temple: one from Josephus’s Jewish War, books 1 and 5, where the relevant hierarchy is referred to as the seven purities, and the other, in Mishnah Kelim 1:6-9, titled (the) ten holinesses. After analyzing the guiding principles behind the seven purities, this paper will examine the two hierarchies against the background of the biblical instructions for the exclusion of impure persons from the desert camp, and the interpretation of these instructions according to Josephus, the Temple Scroll from Qumran, and rabbinic literature. It will show that, while the seven purities is a cultic perception coherent to the exclusion of different categories of people from the temple, the ten holinesses follows different guiding principles.

Hebrew bible: 
Book: 
Leviticus
Chapter(s): 
15
Verse(s): 
31
URL: 
http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/15700631-12340457;jsessionid=24pay79091cli.x-brill-live-02
Label: 
25/07/2016
Record number: 
101 878