Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PILGRIMAGE

Travel to a holy site to participate in special rites was common in the ancient Mediterranean (Olympus, Epidauros) and Near Eastern (Harran, Teman) worlds. In Israel too pilgrims visited key sites, including Mt. Sinai, Jerusalem, and others (Bethel, Hos. 4:15 [cf. the temple etiology in Gen. 28]; Gilgal, 1 Sam. 10:8; Hos. 4:15; and Shiloh, 1 Sam. 1). From very early times, the primary pilgrimage festivals were Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Exod. 23:14), even if their precise dates varied by region (cf. 1 Kgs. 12:32-33). Pilgrimage was an occasion for dancing and singing (Ps. 42:4[MT 5]).

The Bible indirectly attests a practice of pilgrimage to Sinai. Elijah makes a 40-day trek to Horeb (1 Kgs. 19) in order to receive a revelation. The duration of the journey corresponds to the 40-year sojourn of Israel in the wilderness. The itinerary of Num. 33 probably reflects stops along the pilgrimage route to Sinai. One of these stops may have been the khan at Kuntillet ʿAjrud/µorvat Teman (0940.9560), where the excavator Zeev Meshel has found pots inscribed “to Yahweh and his Asherah” and fabric-blended cloth with possible cultic significance.

Jerusalem’s stature as a pilgrimage site owes much to the royal ideology associated with the Davidide dynasty. The city became the mythical center of the universe and the cosmic mountain (Isa. 2; ; cf. Ps. 2). Pilgrims sang a series of hymns while approaching the city (Pss. 120–134). These picturesque “songs of ascents” capture the religious feelings of the community coming to the Solomonic temple from the surrounding hills (Pss. 121–122). They also celebrate Yahweh’s commitment to Jerusalem (Pss. 126–127, 133) and its rulers (132).

In the Second Temple period the sacred precinct became an important regional banking center while maintaining its ideological significance for the formative Jewish and Christian communities. Pilgrims gathered outside Jerusalem from throughout the Diaspora and traveled via Ashkelon, Gaza, or Jaffa into the city (b. Sanh. 11a; cf. Luke 2:41-52). Numerous burial inscriptions and other memoria of pilgrims survive. Despite Jesus’ ambivalence toward the temple (Mark 13), his disciples continued to visit, and even Paul is reported to have made a pilgrimage in fulfillment of a vow (Acts 21:23-26). While the destruction of the temple in 70 c.e. and expulsion of Jews from the city in 138 altered the rhythms of pilgrimage, the city retained its attractions. Constantine’s legalization of Christianity ushered in a period of imperially sponsored construction of churches (notably the Church of the Holy Sepulchre under St. Helena and later emperors; cf. the Bourdeaux pilgrim). Jerusalem became the magnet for three faiths, which it remains today.

Bibliography. J. D. Levenson, Sinai and Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible (Minneapolis, 1985); Z. Meshel, Kuntillet Ajrud (Jerusalem, 1978).

Mark W. Hamilton

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PILGRIMAGE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)