10 (1) 1Now there was a council of the priests saying, “We should make a curtain for the temple of the Lord.” (Lily C. Vyong, The Protoevangelium of James [Early Christian Apocrypha 7; Eugene, Oreg.: Cascade Books, 2019], 74)
curtain: the commissioning of a new temple curtain is often cited as evidence for the author’s lack of familiarity with temple practices. The text, however, does not explicitly state that the call is for the creation of the first temple curtain. The Mishnah and Talmud attest to the creation of replacement veils in which 82 virgins participate in its making. During times in which the temple was plundered and looted and the veil removed, a replacement veil would be commissioned at the rededication of the temple. Antiochus Epiphanes IV, for instance, is said to have specifically removed the temple curtain alongside other temple valuables including the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils (i.e., 1 Macc 1:20-23). However, a replacement veil was rehung once the temple was taken back by the Maccabees (1 Macc 4:51). Josephus provides a similar account of the pillaging of the temple with specific reference to the removal of the veil, noting both Antiochus Epiphanes (A.J. 12.5.4 [250]) as well as the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE (B.J. 6.8.3 [389]). (Ibid., 74 n. E)
