The Warning Inscription
The Soreg Inscription
Warning to Trespassers In the Temple.
The Court of the Gentiles was the only part of the sacred precincts
of the Temple in Jerusalem into which foreigners might enter. Slabs
bearing an inscription in Greek and Latin characters-as the one pictured
above, a relic from Herod's Temple - warning Gentiles the death would be
the penalty for breaking the rule, were placed in front of forbidden zones.
Museum Tschinili-Kirschk. Istanbul. View
Interpretation
View Soreg Inscription
Josephus (Jos. War 5, v, 2; cf. Jos. War 6, ii, 4; Jos. Antiq. 15. xi, 5; Philo
Leg. 212) says:
"Proceeding across this [the open court] towards the second court of the temple,
one found it surrounded by a stone balustrade, three cubits high and of
exquisite workmanship; in this at regular intervals stood slabs giving warning,
some in Greek, others in Latin characters, of the law of purification, to wit
that no foreigner was permitted to enter the holy place, for so the second
enclosure of the temple was called."
Clermont-Ganneau discovered one of these warning notices in 1871. It reads:
"No man of another nation to enter within the fence and enclosure round the
temple. And whoever is caught will have himself to blame that his death ensues"
(cf. Acts 21:26-30)
Jesus preached in the Court of the Gentiles, which Herod's builders had doubled
in size and surrounded with an elaborate Hellenistic portico.
The model at the Holy Land Hotel is a Scholar's conception showing how the site
may have looked in Jesus' day.
Josephus the Jewish historian wrote about the warning signs that were on the
barrier that separated the court of the gentiles from the other courts in the
Temple. Not until recent times did archaeologists actually discover one. Its
seven-line inscription read as follows:
NO FOREIGNER
IS TO GO BEYOND THE BALUSTRADE
AND THE PLAZA OF THE TEMPLE ZONE
WHOEVER IS CAUGHT DOING SO
WILL HAVE HIMSELF TO BLAME
FOR HIS DEATH
WHICH WILL FOLLOW
See
Gentiles
The Court of the Gentiles
Archaeology
Caiaphas
Chief Priests
Conclusion
Construction of the Temple
Court of the
Gentiles
Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Edersheim
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Great
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Sources
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Introduction
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Money Changers
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Topical Bible
Overview
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Antonia Fortress
pop Bridge Across
Kidron Valley
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Court of the Gentiles
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Court of the Women
pop East Gate
pop Nicanor
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Solomon's Porch
pop Temple
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The Court of Israel
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Sanctuary
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Wall
Sadducees
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Smith's Bible Dictionary
Soreg
Inscription
Interpreted
Text
The
Columbia Encyclopedia
The Court of the Gentiles
The
Court of the Priests
The Eastern Gate and
Prophecy
The
Fortress of Antonia
The International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia
The Population
The Temple
Warning
Inscription
The Court of the Gentiles
The
Court of the Gentiles
Bible
History Online
The Story of the Bible
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