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So what would be the Jewish justification for erecting a sanctuary in Egypt? Hancock suggests the reason was that during the reign of Manasseh, priests from the Jerusalem Temple had brought the Ark with them.

Somewhat disingenuously, Hancock quotes me as follows in support of his view:

“Manasseh’s reign was accompanied by much bloodshed (2 Kings 21:10-16) and it may be surmised that priests as well as prophets opposed his paganization. Some of these priests fled to Egypt, joined the Jewish garrison at Elephantine, and there…erected the Temple to YHW.”

Hancock then notes that “Porten nevertheless remains puzzled by the fact that a Jewish temple could have been built at Elephantine at all.”

Hancock thus indicates that I had simply left open the question as to why the Jews of Elephantine felt free to build a temple.

Hancock is wrong, however. I did explain what I thought the likely justification was. And the reason had nothing to do with speculation that it was to house the Ark. My explanation was in the part of my text that Hancock omitted from the quotation and that he replaced with three dots to indicate the omission. Let me repeat the quotation, replacing the ellipsis with the complete text, putting the part that Hancock omitted in italics:

“Manasseh’s reign was accompanied by much bloodshed (2 Kings 21:10-16) and it may be surmised that priests as well as prophets opposed his paganization. Some of these priests fled to Egypt, joined the Jewish garrison at Elephantine, and there inspired by Isaiah’s prophecy of a pillar to the Lord at the border of Egypt , erected the Temple to YHW.”

Isaiah uttered five eschatological oracles about what will be “on that day” when the “Lord will smite Egypt.” The third oracle states, “On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the Lord at its border” (Isaiah 19:19) Elephantine is on Egypt’s border. Isaiah’s prophecy may well have inspired the Elephantine Jews during the oppressive years of Manasseh’s reign. I conjecture that a scared pillar to the Lord, in fulfillment of this prophecy may have stood in the adytum (innermost sanctuary) of the Elephantine temple, just as a sacred pillar was placed in the adytum of the temple to Yahweh that archaeologists have excavated in Arad.