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LEEN RITMEYER

TEMPLE SQUARE. Writing in the Hasmonean period (second–first centuries BCE), the author of the Temple Scroll envisioned expansive changes not only to the established political order but also to the Temple and the area surrounding it. Covering about 145 acres, or roughly four times the size of the first-century BCE Herodian Temple Mount, the scroll’s plan revolves around a square Inner Court with a gate on each side, precisely matching the arrangement of the desert camp during the wandering period (see Numbers 3:14–39). The Middle and Outer Courts are successively larger squares, each with 12 gates (three per side) corresponding to the 12 tribes. Shown here is a modern drawing of the Temple Scroll plan.