Sanctuary schematics and temple ideology in the Hebrew Bible and Dead Sea Scrolls: The import of Numbers

and Numbers 2 in different ways, purporting the sect(s)’s theologies and ideologies which accords, further, with the life setting of the Qumran communities; the influence of Numbers in the DSS is underscored. These aspects include (1) the eastern orientation of sacred structures and the compound at Khirbet Qumran, (2) the precise locale of the communities at the Dead Sea vis-à-vis Ezekiel 47 and (3) the desert encampment configuration together with its militaristic overtones in Numbers, which corresponds to the DSS sect(s)’s apocalyptic expectations as indicated in the War Scroll . Consequently, the Qumran sect(s) truly saw itself as an alternative priesthood of the forthcoming restored temple of God, even as in the interim they functioned as an alternative sanctuary (4QFlor; 4QMMT; 1QS). The import of Numbers upon the DSS sect(s)’s temple ideologies and priestly theologies is, therefore, equivalent to that of Ezekiel. Contribution: This article traces theological themes of temple and priestly ideologies between and among the Qumran literature and Hebrew Scriptures; both the respective library or canon and methodological approach are core to the historical thought’s aim and scope of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies .


Introduction
The Hebrew Bible (HB) and Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) share distinctive texts related to sanctuary schematics and temple ideology. Based on the essentially analogous form and genre, the Vorlage of the DSS's literary temples, both New Jerusalem (4Q554-555) and Temple Scroll (11QT), 1 is ostensibly Ezekiel 40-48 because Ezekiel's vision of a divinely blueprinted temple complex is unique in the HB (Angel 2018:354-357;Langlois 2018:332;cf. Hals 1989:285-287). Nevertheless, the Israelite tribal encampment schema around the tent of meeting, in Numbers 2:1-34 and 10:11-28, 2 is also germane -the tabernacle complex is, after all, divinely blueprinted architecture (Ex 25-31). Whereas it is routine to include Numbers 2 in such a comparative analysis (Puech 2009:92-93), the author maintains that the wilderness sanctuary, with its organisational arrangement and rationale thereof, had a greater value and import to the Qumran sect(s) 3 than has previously been appreciated by scholars.
In this article, the author argues that the DSS sect(s), influenced and inspired evenly by Numbers 2 and Ezekiel 40-48, crafted their temple schematic documents with multifarious ideologies and theologies (Jobling & Pippin 1992;Schmid 2015;cf. Brooke 2013:211-227;Zahn 2018:330-342) not 1.For concision, New Jerusalem is referred to as 4Q554-555 throughout because it is the longest extant version regarding named gates, although there are multiple manuscripts of the same: 1Q32, 2Q24, 5Q15, and 11Q18. Also, Temple Scroll, 11Q19-20, is herein either abbreviated 11QT or shortened to 11Q19 (again because this is the named gate section).
2.For convenience, Numbers 2 will be referenced alone as representing the conceptual design of the tabernacle complex.
3.There were several yahads both at Qumran and elsewhere (e.g. Collins 2009:351-369) and at Qumran there were at least a couple related yet distinct communities (e.g. Regev 2013:7-40); therefore, the author has used general terms (e.g. Qumran/DSS sect[s], sectarians, communities) interrelatedly for harmonising treatment to identify a constellation of theologies and ideologies related to priesthood and sanctuary. Furthermore, the author maintains that the DSS were produced (at least in large part) at Qumran by the various sectarians (cf. Magness 2002:32-44 (3) the desert encampment configuration together with its militaristic overtones in Numbers, which corresponds to the DSS sect(s)'s apocalyptic expectations as indicated in the War Scroll. Consequently, the Qumran sect(s) truly saw itself as an alternative priesthood of the forthcoming restored temple of God, even as in the interim they functioned as an alternative sanctuary (4QFlor; 4QMMT; 1QS). The import of Numbers upon the DSS sect(s)'s temple ideologies and priestly theologies is, therefore, equivalent to that of Ezekiel.
only registering in New Jerusalem and Temple Scroll but also reverberating palpably in other scrolls. The course of investigation shall proceed from synchronic analysis, which juxtaposes New Jerusalem and Temple Scroll with Ezekiel 40-48 and Numbers 2. Subsequently, a diachronic examination seeks to ascertain the temple ideologies and priestly theologies, which informed the Qumran sect(s)'s communal life and social location, as well as its modus operandi in interacting with their religious milieu and expectations of the future. Ultimately, the author's aim was to underscore why the DSS sect(s), in producing schematics of temple structures both similar and yet quite dissimilar to its biblical parallels, purposefully analogised their existence and writings with the ethos of the Israelites' erstwhile wilderness experience as depicted in the book of Numbers.
Firstly, the sequence of named gates at the perimeter of the sacred structures serve as an entry point into the discussion of key architectural configurations towards diachronic interpretation. The uniform name-gate assignment of New Jerusalem and Temple Scroll is widely divergent from that of Ezekiel 48; nonetheless, all three texts have gates named after the 12 sons of Israel, three per side. Numbers 2, instead, enumerates the 12 tribes of Israel encamped in three divisions adjacent to each of the four sides of the tabernacle. Table 1 tabulates the name-gate sequence in New Jerusalem (4Q554-555), Temple Scroll (11QT) and Ezekiel's temple vision (Ezk 48), as well as the Israelite tribal encampment schema (Num 2).
Secondly, the eastern entrance(s) is underscored. In all four texts, the sanctuary schematics are described by the seer and narrator who surveys the thresholds in a clockwise succession from an aerial perspective, as it were. Typically, the east wall is the starting point, as is the case in 4Q554, 11QT and Numbers 2 (see Antonissen 2010:496). Common to this leading cardinal point is the tribe of Judah, which highlights the monarchy; the tribe of Levi, which represents the priesthood, also features on the east side in 4Q554-555 and 11QT (Noth 1968:24). In the case of Ezekiel 48:30-35, 'the northern side of the "contributed city" is the most important, because it faces the Temple, and consequently the gates of Levi and Judah are placed in this wall' (Chyutin 1997:81;cf. Ezk 42:15-19 (Maier 1989:24-34;cf. Yadin 1985:147-148), the sacred architecture in New Jerusalem (100×150 ris) and Numbers 2 (50×100 cubits) is rectangular (Antonissen 2010:489-494;Chyutin 1997:76-77;Dozeman 2009:608). Therefore, it appears that each scroll tradition draws from both Ezekiel and Numbers, yet appropriates those biblical texts in alternate ways.

Diachronic development
The preceding synchronic evaluation provides the basis for diachronic analysis. In tracing the diachronic developments of temple and priesthood theology within the Qumran sect(s), additional sectarian scrolls shall be considered to map the sect(s)'s ideological constellation of certitudes and practices. Thus, the eastern orientation of biblical sacred structures and the sect(s)'s own social location vis-à-vis  Chyutin (1997:104-106) has observed how, throughout the Israelite and Jewish history, the tabernacle, temple and many synagogues were all positioned so that the (main) entrance faced east. In his biblical analysis and comparison of ancient near Eastern counterparts, the reason for such a pattern of eastern orientation has correspondence with the direction of the sunrise (Num 2:3; 3:38). Intriguingly, the Qumran sect(s), who built a compound at Khirbet Qumran, appear to conform to this design. According to archaeological evidence, the sectarian compound featured 'three major quarters: the eastern [side being its] "main building"' (Regev 2009:88) -just as nearly every sanctum was facing eastwards (cf. Magness 2002:127-129).

Ideological-theological extrapolations of eastern oriented sacred structures
Furthermore, in the context of Ezekiel's vision of the new temple (Ezk 40-48), the seer views a life-giving stream flowing from the threshold of the envisioned temple. As water emanates from the place of God's presence, it flows progressively eastward until it drains into the Dead Sea, transforming its stagnant waters (Ezk 47:1-12). 4 It is 'probabl[e]' that the sect(s) responsible for the DSS intentionally located themselves at Qumran based, at least in part, on this Ezekiel text (Cook 2018:265). Khirbet Qumran is even adjacent to the wadi Qumran, when, in the event of winter rains, waters were diverted from the wadi to resource the sectarian compound, using it for ritual cleansing.
Although it is conjecture, the yaḥad may have patterned their move to the desert after Ezekiel 10-11, where God's glory steadily departs from the temple and Jerusalem on an easterly vector (cf. 1QM 1:2-3). Regardless, it appears the yaḥad believed it must move to the desert to perform its sacrosanct duties, as 1QS 8-9 cites Isa 40:3 (to prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness) in justification (Brooke 2018:121;Hultgren 2007:313-316). Perhaps, the yaḥad even awaited God's coming from the east to enter the new temple (Ezk 43:1-5), as pursuant elements will be argued.

The Yaḥad and alternative temples
It has been shown that New Jerusalem and Temple Scroll has been markedly influenced by Numbers 2; but is not the life of the Qumran sect(s) also affected, even inspired, by the desert sanctuary and encampment schema? Schiffman (2008:228) had questioned why the author of 11QT 'chose to pattern his Temple after the desert camp, and exactly how he saw the structure and function of that camp'. In what follows, the author proposes a particularised interpretation of the 4.Although the Dead Sea is not mentioned by name, it is metonymically so indicated; see, for example, Blenkinsopp (1990:231). Also, the paradisiacal vision of Based on the historical setting, the implicit thrust of these passages indicates that the Qumran sect(s) view themselves as correct in halakha and ritually, cultically pure -in contradistinction to the defiled priesthood in Jerusalem and its polluted temple (Angel 2010:212-242;Regev 2003:243-278). Clearly, the DSS sect(s) had ambitions for and advocated itself as the truest form of the priesthood (Fabry 2010:243-262;Kugler 1999:93-116). It is thus provocative that an alternative priesthood with a functioning cultic system was tabernacling in the wilderness, anticipating the re-establishment of the ideal temple and the pristine priesthood in Jerusalem -just as the sect(s) were conceiving it in their writings and practising it in their order(s).
Moreover, direct quotations from Numbers are found in the chief priest's address (Num 10:9 in 1QM 10:6-8) and prayer (Num 24:17-19 in 1QM 11:6-7) before battle; the former instance cites the biblical command to blow the trumpet to mobilise Israelite troops and the latter quotes Balaam's oracle of a forthcoming Israelite waring ruler (cf. Jassen 2015:194-195). This may refer to the Prince of Light in 1QM 13:10 (Hogeterp 2009:439), or more specifically, the Davidic messiah in 4QpIsa a , the Isaiah pesher (cf. Batsch 2010:175; Elgvin 2015:334-335); irrespective of this, it is evocative that the figure referenced in Numbers 24 -metonymically as star and sceptre -is considered to be an allusion to the messiah (see e.g. Grossfeld 1988:138

Conclusion
A harmonising interpretation has been proposed, herein, along the lines of theology and ideology concerning the temple structures in New Jerusalem and Temple Scroll vis-à-vis Ezekiel 40-48 and Number 2. By comparing the analogous sanctuary schematics in terms of shape (rectangle and square), name-gate or encampment sequence of the sons or tribes of Israel and orientation (eastward), it is evident that the priestly and monarchic tribes (Levi and Judah, respectively) are a priority in the HB and DSS. For the Qumran sect(s), this purported to the shaping of their life setting. The compound at Khirbet Qumran was oriented eastward like that of the sacred structures in 4Q554-555, 11QT and Number 2; the precise locale of the Qumran sect(s) along a wadi at the Dead Sea accords specifically with a paradisiacal vision in Ezekiel 47, a place of a significantly regenerative work of God; the desert encampment configuration together with its militaristic overtones in Numbers corresponds to the Qumran sect(s)'s apocalyptic expectations as indicated in the War Scroll, a document that encapsulated ideologies of priesthood as do scrolls pertaining to temple schematics. Consequently, the Qumran sect(s) crafted texts about temples, physical (4Q554-555; 11QT) and spiritual (4QFlor; 4QMMT; 1QS), while preparing themselves as Sons of Light to fight the Sons of Darkness (1QM). Therefore, the desert sanctuary of Numbers aligns with and approximates the DSS sect(s)'s social location and Manual of Discipline or life setting; possibly, they awaited God's coming or visitation (cf. Ezk 43:1-5; Is 40:3) where God would enter the eschatological temple of their own design(s). The influence of Numbers should, therefore, be appraised as equivalent to Ezekiel in the DSS sect(s)'s temple ideologies and priestly theologies.