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MOST HOLY PLACE

The innermost compartment of the tabernacle and subsequent temple, perhaps reflecting the conception of holiness as fundamentally a matter of separation from that which is common or profane. The designation (Heb. qōḏeš haqqŏḏāšîm) utilizes a common Hebrew idiom for forming the superlative degree and was also used to describe the meat offered in sacrifices that was eaten by the priests (Num. 18:9-10), the supreme holiness of the temple as a whole (Ezek. 45:3), the idealized apportionment of land to the priests (48:12), and possibly a person (Dan. 9:24; cf. NRSV mg).

The limits of “the most holy place” were demarcated in the tabernacle by a hanging veil (Heb. pārōḵeṯ). Although understood by the rabbis to be a vertical partition between “the most holy” and “the holy” places (the latter containing the incense altar, lampstands, and table for the bread of the presence), the veil may have stretched horizontally over the ark of the covenant as a covering (Heb. sukkâ; cf. Num. 4:5). Perhaps the olivewood doors separating the “holy” and “most holy” places of the Solomonic temple (1 Kgs. 6:31-32), which were apparently replaced by curtains in the second temple (cf. 2 Chr. 3:14; Heb. 9:2-3), led to the confusion on this point. The dimensions between the cherubim’s wings in “the most holy place” of Solomon’s temple would have allowed the tabernacle proper to have been erected there (cf. 1 Chr. 6:48[MT 33]; 23:32; 2 Chr. 24:6; Lam. 2:6-7).

The cultic significance of “the most holy place” arises from the regulations concerning access to this most sacred space. Only when the high priest placed blood upon the covering of the ark of the covenant during the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16) was anyone allowed to enter it. This rite was allegorized under the influence of Neo-Platonic philosophy by the author of Hebrews to explain the atoning value of Jesus’ death (Heb. 9:6-28).

Bibliography. R. E. Friedman, “The Tabernacle in the Temple,” BA 43 (1980): 241-48.

Timothy B. Cargal






Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)

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