*The Rarity of Israelite Temples: A Summary and an Update*

The survey of non-Israelite cultic structures in the Bronze and Iron Age puts the archeological finds in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah in their proper context. The archaeological evidence discussed by previous studies on Israelite religion(s) might indeed relate to cult, but as far as cultic structures

<sup>12</sup> The aim in "counting" the structures is not to arrive at an estimate of the number of Late Bronze Age buildings, nor at the total and exact number of the excavated dwellings. Rather, it is aimed to establish a basis of comparison between periods (below). If a few more houses were excavated after Daviau's book was published (or even if some structures were not discussed by her) is immaterial for our purposes, as this would not change the overall picture, especially as we exaggerate the number of Late Bronze Age structures in order to err on the side of caution.

<sup>13</sup> Faust (2012, pp. 207–12), for example, mentioned some 120 complete houses, but this is only a partial list (originally compiled in 1997, for other purposes) of complete houses, and one could have added, even at the time the list was compiled, many dozens of additional structures at various sites. Thus, for example, Faust discussed only 26 structures at Tell en-Nasbeh (Faust 2012, pp. 72–77) whereas Zorn (1993b, pp. 116–20) analyzed more some 70 structures at this level most of which can be regarded as "complete." At Beth-Shemesh Faust discussed only three (3) structures, while dozens were exposed. A similar situation exists in additional sites, e.g., at Beersheba, Tell Beit Mirsim, and more, and hence 200 is a very conservative figure.

<sup>14</sup> Note that some scholars suggested that a temple was found also at Ashdod and perhaps Yavneh (see above).

(like Arad) are concerned, those are rare exceptions rather than the rule. As a whole, and despite the wide exposure, "real" temples are practically missing in the archaeological record of Iron Age II Israel and Judah. There was no "city temple," "village temple," or "neighborhood temple" in those polities, and there were no regional cultic centers spread across the landscape—at least not identifiable special buildings that were built for this purpose!

Clearly, the lack of cultic buildings is an important feature of Israelite religion. This stands in stark contrast to the way the Canaanite religions were practiced in the Bronze Age, and also to the religious practices in other Iron Age polities (and to some extent even by non-Israelites in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah; cf., Faust 2012, pp. 242–43), but appears to be a key to understanding Israelite religious practices.

I first published this conclusion in 2010, and while the initial publication did not draw much explicit discussion, it appears that the observation that Israelite temples were a rare phenomenon and that Israelite cult was mostly practiced in simpler settings is gradually getting wider attention, and is now accepted by various authorities who study Israelite religion.<sup>15</sup> William Dever (2017, p. 503), for example noted recently that "For the majority of people, even in urban centers, religious beliefs and practices were focused on family rituals" (see also p. 497), and Carol Meyers (2017, p. 11), stated that "[ ... ] it should be emphasized that household rituals were the major and often only kind of ritual activity experienced by most Israelites. Large temple complexes were rare in ancient Israel, in contrast to surrounding areas." Zev Farber (2018, p. 441), in his recent overview of the religion of Judah in the 8th century BCE summarized that "In short, for the most part, Israelites and Judahites did not built temples." And Alpert Nakhai (2015, p. 93) noted that worship "was decentralised and locally-based, in contrast to the better-known components of worship, the formal temples that served the monarchy and other elites" (see also Houston 2013, p. 152; Ortiz 2018, p. 24). Clearly, the lack of built temples is a unique characteristic of Israelite religion, and this must be addressed and analyzed.
