The existence of a Jewish temple in
Elephantine in the fifth century BCE strikes us today as an anomaly, which
historians have terms “predeuteronomic” or “paradeuteronomic,” since it appears
as an infringement on the Deuteronomic principle of the unity of worship. The
temple at Elephantine was founded either before the reforms of Josiah (622
BCE), which proclaimed this principle, or afterwards, in reaction to it. The
choice depends on the date we accept for its inauguration: either the reign of
Manasseh in the idle of the seventh century BCE, or a period comprising the
reign of Jehoiakim (609-598 BCE) and the fall of the kingdom of Judah (587 BCE)
. . .The leaders of post-exilic Judaism, seeing to unify the communities of
Jerusalem and Babylon under the authority of the high priest, wished to extend
it to the Egyptian colony. This is to be considered either a preparatory or an
executory measure, according to the date assigned to Ezra’s mission, a matter
on which historians differ. (Joseph Méléze Modrzejewski, The Jews of Egypt: From Ramses II to Emperor Hadrian [trans. Robert
Cornman; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995], 36, 39)