Quote:As John V points out the Jews were traveling back to Jerusalem from far off places
Probably an idealistic vision. The largest Jewish communities in the region were Alexandria and Babylon but most people would not have had the resources to make the trip and in fact there is no indication that they did so.
Far too much of what Archaeologist William Dever calls "state religion" is based on ideal behavior which never was attained in reality. Any priest can write a lot of shit in a book. Does not mean that people acted on it.