The Defilement and Desecration of the Temple in Ezekiel 377 “But any person who becomes impure, but fails to purify himself — that person shall be cut off from the midst of the congregation, for it is the Sanctuary of YHWH that he has defiled. Water of lustration was not dashed on him: he remains impure.” (v. 20) (35). Accordingly, the Priestly Sources attribute the defilement of the sanctuary to the three factors of idolatry, bodily emissions and corpse impurity. Ezekiel clearly enlists the concept of Temple defilement in the same manner in which it is used in the Priestly Sources. Ezek 9,7 — as we saw — speaks of the presence of corpses as defiling the Temple, and 5,11 mentions the defilement caused by idolatry. Ezek 23,39 draws an indirect association between the particular phenomenon of child sacrifices and the Temple’s defilement, a link more clearly established in Lev 20,3. And although Ezekiel makes no explicit reference to the impurity caused by bodily discharges, Ezek 23,38 could be understood as a general injunction against introducing any type of ritual impurity into the Temple (36). IV. “Desecration” in the Priestly Sources If regarding the concept of “defilement” Ezekiel closely adheres to the model established in the Priestly Sources, in his usage of the term “desecration” he charts his own path. In Leviticus, desecration results from the disruption of the priestly functions. For example, Leviticus 21 lists the restrictions imposed on the high priest due to his high office, and requires that he remain in the sanctuary even after the death of a family member: “He shall not leave the sacred area so that he not desecrate (lljy alw) the sacred area of his God, for the distinction of the anointing oil of his God is upon him. I (who speak) am YHWH” (v. 12). A high priest who leaves the shrine because of the death of a close relative has caused the desecration of the holy precinct (37). The end of Leviticus 21 addresses the status of a priest with a physical deformity, and mandates that such a priest “shall not enter before the veil or officiate at the altar, for he has a blemish. And he may not desecrate (lljy alw) my sanctums. (Thereby) I am YHWH who sanctifies them” (v. 23). Thus, a priest (presumably referring specifically to a high priest (38) with a deformity (35) For the purposes of this discussion, it is not necessary to establish whether the presence of any impure person in the camp causes, in one way or another, the defilement of the temenos, or if it can be defiled only through the entry of a person contaminated by corpse impurity. (36) …yçdqm ta wamf, yl wç[ taz dw[ (This too they did to me: they defiled my sanctuary…). (37) The syntax of this verse might suggest that the high priest desecrates the sanctuary simply by leaving the holy precinct. See MILGROM, Leviticus 17–22, 1815-1818. (38) Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra (in the Torat Hayim edition of the Bible, Jerusalem, 1990; Lev 21, 23) comments that the prohibition in Lev 21,23 (aby al tkrph la relates to the high priest and apparently refers to his entering the area behind the curtain on the Day of Atonement. See also MILGROM, Leviticus 17–22, 1830-1831, where he interprets the verse as directed entirely to the high priest.