The Taking Down of the Wall (Ephesians 2:1-14)
they instigated a riot under the pretense that he had brought Trophimus, the Gentile representative from Ephesus, beyond the barrier (the Soreg) that separated the Court of the Gentiles from the temple courts reserved for Jews alone.
Josephus described the wall separating the Court of the Gentiles from the Holy Place, or inner courts reserved for Jews alone, as “a stone balustrade, three cubits high [c.41/2 feet high; though M Middoth 2:3 says it was ‘ten hand-breadths high,’ c.21/2 feet high] and of excellent workmanship” (Jos. War V, 193 [v.2]). “In this at regular intervals,” he said, “stood slabs giving warning, some in Greek, others in Latin characters, of the law of purification, to wit that no foreigner was permitted to enter the Holy Place, for so the second enclosure of the temple was called” (ibid., V, 194 [v.2]; cf. VI, 124–26 [ii.4]; Antiq. XV, 417 [xi.5]). One of these Greek notices was found by C.S. Clermont-Gannau in 1871 and two Greek fragments of another were found in 1935. The complete notice reads: “No foreigner is to enter within the balustrade and embankment around the sanctuary. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his death which follows” (cf. “New Discoveries,” PEQ, 3 [1871], 132). Roman authorities were so conciliatory of Jewish scruples about this matter that they ratified the death penalty for any Gentile—even a Roman citizen—caught going beyond the balustrade (Soreg) (cf. Jos. War VI, 126 [ii.4]).