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Summary
- The Holy of Holies, or Most Holy Place, was the inner room of the tabernacle and the temple, behind the veil, and it held the ark of the covenant.
- In Solomon’s temple it was a cube twenty cubits each way, about 30 feet, overlaid with gold, with two olivewood cherubim ten cubits high.
- Only the high priest entered it for worship, on the Day of Atonement, wearing linen and carrying incense and blood; by the Mishnah’s account he went in four times that day.
- The story that he wore a rope comes from the Zohar, a 13th-century work; the Bible and the Mishnah say nothing of it.
- By the time of the second temple the ark was gone, and Josephus says the room held nothing; Pompey entered it in 63 BC, and the Romans destroyed the temple in AD 70.
- The Gospels record that the temple curtain tore when Jesus died; Hebrews says Christ opened a way “through the curtain” and entered “heaven itself.”
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Exodus 26:31–34, 30:6, 40:21; Leviticus 16; Numbers 4:5; 1 Kings 6:16–32, 8:6–11; 2 Chronicles 3:14; Ezekiel 41:4; Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:37–38; Luke 23:44–46; Hebrews 6:19–20, 9:3–8, 9:24, 10:19–20; Revelation 11:19, 21:16, 21:22), via BibleGateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/
- The Holy Bible, King James Version (Exodus 26:34; 1 Kings 6:16), via BibleGateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/
- Mishnah Yoma, chapters 1–8, translated by Joshua Kulp (Mishnah Yomit), Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Yoma
- Mishnah Yoma 5:2, William Davidson Edition, Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Yoma.5.2
- Mishnah Kelim 1:6–9, translated by Joshua Kulp (Mishnah Yomit), Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Kelim.1.6
- Mishnah Middot 4:5, translated by Joshua Kulp (Mishnah Yomit), Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Middot.4.5
- Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 53b, William Davidson Edition, Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Yoma.53b
- “Mishnah Yoma” (index entry: composed c. 190–230 CE; chapters 1–7 on the high priest’s service), Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Yoma
- Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War, book 5, chapter 5, sections 4 and 5, translated by William Whiston, Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2850
- Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, book 14, chapter 4, section 4, translated by William Whiston, Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2848
- Tacitus, Histories, book 5, chapter 9, translated by Clifford H. Moore, Loeb Classical Library, via LacusCurtius. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Histories/5A*.html
- “Holy of Holies,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Holy-of-Holies
- “Temple of Jerusalem,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Temple-of-Jerusalem
- “Temple Mount,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Temple-Mount
- “Dome of the Rock,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dome-of-the-Rock
- “Cubit,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/cubit
- Wave Nunnally, “The Myth of the High Priest’s Rope,” AG News, 28 October 2015. https://news.ag.org/en/article-repository/news/2015/10/the-myth-of-the-high-priests-rope
