Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

But nothing else in the section is suggestive of a Jewish temple. All the material has to do with the desert tabernacle

In seven circuits I speculated on a possible explanation of the reference to seven coverings in the context of the wilderness tabernacle.

Andrew Criddle

But that interpretation - which makes some sense - still has difficulty with the "ancient temple" reference. So just to recap, the structure of the section looks like this:

1. Egyptian temples have sphinxes which are enigmas
2. It's the same thing in Jewish tradition where the 'ancient temple' is brought up followed by a series of references to the tabernacle including the high priest taking off clothes and putting on clothes after ritual bathing.

Neither of our interpretations really make any sense of the 'ancient temple' reference.