Temple Scroll

[2] The outer part of the scroll sustained considerable damage over the many centuries with the consequence that Columns 2 to 14 have many missing words and phrases.

[4] Some scholars attribute the Temple Scroll to the isolated Qumran community, while others see no connection with the Qumran community; instead they see the work as a priestly (possible Zadokite) document which was hidden in a cave by Zealots during their flight from Jerusalem in 70 CE before the Roman destruction of the Temple.

[6] The scroll describes a Temple compound arranged in three concentric square courts resembling the Israelites camp in the desert during their exodus from Egypt to the promised land.

"[9] The above-mentioned outline of the three courts, beginning with the holiest place and working outward into less and less pure areas highlights the theme of purity in the Scroll, though the writer makes it abundantly clear that an extremely high level of purity is required even to enter the city at all, as can be seen further along on this page.

[citation needed] The call to purity has been a part of Israel's existence from early times, as evidenced in the Pentateuch/Torah and in many of the biblical prophets, both major and minor.

[10] In drawing close to the Temple, to protect the holiness, greater degrees of cleanliness are mandated in the form of purity laws.

[10] The purity laws are more stringent than those of the Pentateuch, which was mainly concerned with keeping the wilderness camp of the sojourning Israelites pure.

[13]Such statements go beyond the requirements of Torah, Mishnah or Talmud, and imply that sexual intercourse is not to be permitted at all inside the city where the new Temple will stand.

[19] In passage after passage the writer of the Scroll reveals a familiarity with countless aspects of temple sacrificial offerings, leading one to the conclusion that he had either actually been present (and perhaps an active participant in) sacrifices in the Second Temple, or at the very least had a very thorough awareness of both written (Pentateuch/Torah) and oral sources of information regarding Jewish sacrificial practice.

[20] In other respects, the Temple Scroll brings down an 'oral tradition' regarding the beautiful captive woman (Deuteronomy 21:10–13) for which there is no parallel in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Sifre, Talmud or other rabbinic writings.