Temple treasury
The temple treasury was a storehouse (Hebrew אוצר 'otsar) first of the
Jerusalem Temples mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The term "storehouse" is generic, and also occurs later in accounts of life in Roman Palestine where the otzar was a tax-collector's grainhouse.[1]
The first mention of the "treasury of the LORD" occurs in
Nebuchadnezzar's army.[2]
In the
deutero-canonical 2 Maccabees 3:6
, reference is made to "untold sums of money" held at the treasury in Jerusalem.
A related term, the korbanas, is found in the
War of the Jews 2.9.4; #175).[3] Josephus says that Pontius Pilate used the korbanas to fund the construction of an aqueduct of about 400 stade, or 75 kilometers, and that this action incited the population to a riot.[4]
The treasury storehouse is to be distinguished from the hanuyot or "shops" near the Temple into which the Sanhedrin relocated from 30 to 70 CE.
References
- ^ Zeev Safrai The economy of Roman Palestine - Page 67 1994 "Thus, for instance, the wheat bought at Javneh, mentioned above, was purchased at a storehouse (“otzar”), which was an official government storehouse used to store taxes .."
- ^ Roland De Vaux Ancient Israel: its life and institutions 1997 Page 322 "This, too, was how Solomon's Temple came to an end. After the first invasion of Nabuchodonosor, in 597, the Temple treasury was pillaged along with the royal exchequer (2 K 24: 13)."
- ^ Raymond E. Brown The death of the Messiah: from Gethsemane to the grave Page 645 - 1994 "The two ideas are joined in a Josephus reference (War 2.9.4; #175) that calls the contents of the sacred treasury (hieros thesauros) korbanas.20 Presumably the money to pay Judas came from the Temple treasury, and that is why Judas threw .."
- ^ Josephus, The Jewish War 2.175