Second Article: The Temple Treasury as a Political Factor
by Rav Elitzur Segal
(translated by Aharon Halamish, halami@inter.net.il)
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The treasury of the Temple was used not only for the direct purposes
for which it was intended - for current expenses and renovations of
the Temple - but was also indirectly a form of national saving fund
used by the government in times of emergency. The enemies of Israel
attempted to gain control of this treasury, from time to time, as
part of their attempt to gain control of Yehuda.
A. The treasury of the Temple during the period of the first Temple
During the whole period of the first Temple, the Temple treasury and
the royal treasuries appear as one unit. It is always written that in
peaceful periods, the kings deposited money and the equivalent of
money in the Temple treasury and in periods of emergency used it.
Three conquests of Jerusalem took place in the period of the first
Temple and during all three of them the treasuries of the Temple of
G-d and the royal treasuries are referred to as a single unit, as
part of the loot of the conquerors.
During the period of Rechav'am, the son of Solomon, Shishak, the king
of Egypt, conquered Jerusalem for a short period, and amongst the
loot that he took, it is stated that he removed the treasuries of the
Temple of G-d and also the treasuries of the royal house.
Yo'ash, the king of Israel took all the silver and gold and all the
vessels which were found in the Temple and in the royal treasuries.
Nebuchadnezzar took the treasuries of the Temple and the royal
treasuries, both after the first conquest in the period of
Yehoyachin, and also after the destruction in the days of Zidkiyahu.
It is related that four kings used the Temple treasury and the royal
treasuries, in order to bribe foreign kings and to get out of danger.
Assa removed silver and gold from the Temple treasury and from the
royal treasuries and sent them to Ben Hadad from Damascus, in order
that he would fight against Ba'asha, the king of Israel, and would
save him. This bribe succeeded in removing the threat of the king of
Israel from Yehuda.
Yo'ash, the king of Yehuda, used the Temple treasury and the royal
treasuries in order to bribe Haza'el, the king of Aram, who conquered
Gat, in the land of the Philistines, and wanted to also go up to
Jerusalem. Haza'el changed his plans and returned to Aram and left
Jerusalem alone.
Achaz sent the silver and gold in the Temple and the royal treasuries
to Tiglat Pil'eser, the king of Ashur, in order that he would save
him from the siege placed upon him by the king of Aram and the king
of Israel. In this case also, the bribe succeeded and the king of
Ashur went up to Damascus and Shomron and conquered them.
Hizkiyahu took all the silver and gold in the Temple treasury and the
royal treasuries and gave it to Sancheriv, the king of Ashur, in
order that he would not go up to Jerusalem. For this purpose he even
chopped off the doors of the Temple, which were coated with gold, and
sent them to the king of Ashur. We have not found such a thing in the
case of any other king. Before his time, no king dared to make use of
part of the Temple itself. Actually, the sages said that in this
matter the sages did not agree with Hizkiyahu, even though he was a
righteous king. This act, as opposed to what his predecessors had
done, did not succeed. The king of Ashur took the treasures, but
despite this went up to Jerusalem.
Perhaps these things are really interconnected. Since Hizkiyahu
damaged the Temple itself, the Almighty influenced the heart of the
king of Babylon so that he would not accept his present, and would go
up to Jerusalem. This was in order to teach Hizkiyahu that despite
all the importance of political international considerations, the
Almighty is, however, the ruler of them all, and Jerusalem was saved
from the threat of conquest not because of the statesmanship of
Hizkiyahu but through a miracle.
However, we have not found criticism in the Bible or in the words of
the sages regarding the use of the Temple treasures during times of
emergency for the people and the country, or an allegation that this
is embezzlement of holy things of the Temple. Perhaps the explanation
is that the Temple treasury was a kind of national emergency treasury
for use during periods of emergency and the holy treasury was
originally intended for this purpose. This was so, even though parts
of the Temple itself were apparently forbidden to be used.
b) The Temple treasury during the period of the Second Temple
We have no source in the Bible for use made of the Temple treasury
for state purposes during the period of the Second Temple. We have to
rely on evidence appearing in the external books - the books of
Hashmonaim and the books of Josephus Flavius.
At the beginning of the period of the Second Temple, the money was
used for current expenditures for the needs of the Temple and
surpluses had not yet accumulated. Not only this, but the building of
the Temple was only enabled as a result of massive support from the
Persian government, when Coresh and afterwards Daryavesh and
Artachshasta allocated tremendous amounts of money to the
construction of the Temple and the safeguarding of the current work
in it.
However, it appears, that immediately after the beginning of the
period of the Greece government, the situation changed and the kings
of Greece began collecting money from the Temple treasury. During the
period of the rule of Yehonatan, the brother of Yehuda the Maccabi,
one of the pretenders to the throne, Selvacius, attempted to draw the
Hashmonaim to his side. Amongst other promises, he promised Yehonatan
not to make further deductions from the Temple treasury of five
thousand silver shekels, which from the first years had been deducted
from the Temple income every year. (On a rough estimate, with today's
values, we are talking of a sum of about 50,000 NIS). It appears,
that this was a tax that was paid considerably earlier than the
period of the evil Antiochus. However, we do not know when this tax
was first deducted from the money of the Temple treasury. It is
likely, that the tax was applied immediately after the beginning of
the Greek period, and that they found a tax that had already existed
since the end of the Persian period. In any case, we have not found a
source which says that the application of a tax to the Temple
treasury caused bad relations between the Jews and the Greeks.
However, the relations between the Jews and the Greeks became very
bad during the period of the father of the evil Antiochus, Selevcus,
who attempted to confiscate the Temple treasury.
The crisis arose from an internal conflict in the Jewish leadership
and not as a result of external pressure. One of the important
inhabitants of Jerusalem had an argument with the High Priest
regarding the management of the market. It can be assumed that the
subject of the dispute was so marginal that the people who made the
account did not bother to describe it at all, or perhaps they did not
know what it was about. After that particular person did not succeed
in overcoming the High Priest, he applied to King Selevcus, and
informed him that tremendous treasures were found in the Temple
treasury, and it would be advisable that they be confiscated and sent
to the royal treasury. Selevcus sent a representative called
Heliodus, who announced that he had come to pay a routine visit.
After he had examined the Temple treasury, he announced to the High
Priest that he had come for the purpose of confiscating all the money
and transferring it to the king. After tremendous excitement was
caused by this act in Jerusalem, Haliodus in the end left the
treasures and did not take them with him. He informed the king that
if he had an enemy that he wanted to get rid off, it would be a good
idea to send him to Jerusalem.
From this historical event we have learnt two principal things. The
first is the tremendous treasures stored in the Temple treasury, and
the second concerning sources of the treasure:
The Temple treasury at that time amounted to 400 cicars of silver and
200 cicars of gold.
The weight of a cicar is about 30 Kg. Therefore, in the Temple
treasury there was at that time 12 tons of silver and 6 tons of gold.
At today's values, this amounts to about 12 million NIS of silver and
about 100 million NIS of gold. The sources of the silver of the
treasury were generally from deposits, of orphans and widows, and the
rest came from the deposits of a very rich person called Horkanus Ben
Tuvia.
Therefore, it appears, that the Temple treasury acted as a kind of
bank, which provided guarding services to people who deposited money
there, even though it is not related whether this guarding was done
for payment or not.
This conclusion, that internal disputes cause national crisis,
continued throughout the entire period of the second Temple: the
revolt of the Hashmonaim occurred during the period of the son of
Selevcus, who attempted to rob the Temple treasury. This was
Antiochus the fourth, Epiphanes, who is known to us as Antiochus the
Evil. The revolt did not commence at once, but was proceeded by many
provocative acts.
Antiochus appointed a High Priest called Menelaos, because the latter
promised him 300 silver cicars. Menelaos returned his debts by means
of robbery in general, and specifically the robbery of the Temple
vessels. This act caused commotion in Yehuda. An open revolt against
Menelaos took place while Antiochus was fighting in Egypt. After
returning from there, he thought that the revolt was against him, and
therefore put it down with great bloodshed. He conquered the Temple
and robbed all its treasures and vessels, that came to a total of
1800 cicars. At today's values we are talking about 540 million NIS.
This robbery was the catalyst for the revolt of the Hashmonaim, which
occurred a little later.
Here also, we should remember that Antiochus was drawn into an anti-
Jewish policy as a result of the internal disputes amongst the Jews.
It should be assumed that were it not for Menelaos and his Helenized
friends, the Jews could have worshipped the Lord quietly, without
attracting the hostile attention of the evil king.
During the period of the revolt and the reconstruction period which
followed it, the Temple treasury was emptied. According to the sages,
we know that the Hashmonaim did not have the money to make a golden
Menorah, and therefore made it from simple metal. When they became
richer, they made it from silver, and only afterwards, from gold.
However, as was the case before the revolt, after a lot of money had
become accumulated at the Temple, the Temple treasury once again
became a factor in the internal and external policy of the people of
Israel.
After many years, and as a result of an internal dispute, the Temple
treasury was once again damaged.
The sons of the queen Shlomzion, Horkanus and Aristoblus, fought one
another for the kingdom. A war of this type invited a crisis.
However, in this case, in addition to the internal crisis, an
external one occurred. Pompius, the Roman, arrived with his legions
in Asia. When he came to Antiochia (in modern times, Antakia in
Turkey), he informed the two brothers who were fighting one another
that they should come to him and he would decide who would rule over
Yehuda. Pompius decided in favor of Horkanus. The supporters of
Aristoblus did not accept this decision and Pompius conquered
Jerusalem by force. It is clear that Pompius and his legions did not
come to the region in order to take a breath of fresh air, but
without the extreme internal crises, perhaps they would have come to
an arrangement with him, that would have been better for the Jews and
their country.
When Pompius conquered Jerusalem, there were in the Temple treasury
2000 cicars of silver of the holy moneys, apart from the Temple
vessels. At today's prices we are talking of about 600 million NIS.
Pompius, as a careful statesman, avoided touching them, in order not
to arouse unnecessary resistance. Flavius gives this as a fine
example of righteousness, despite the fact that at the time of his
reception, Pompius entered the house of the Holy of Holies.
However, the Temple treasury was not saved for a long time. One of
the Roman leaders, Craseus, wished to go to war with the Partheans.
In order to finance this war, he came to Yehuda and took the Temple
treasury that Pompius had left there, amounting to 2000 cicars, and
also took an ingot of gold of 300 mana (a mana is about half a kg).
That is to say, the ingot weighed 150 Kg of gold, which are
equivalent to about 2,000,000 NIS. In Flavius's words, the value of
the rest of the Temple vessels was then 8000 cicars, which is almost
3 milliard NIS, apart from the treasury(!). They were saved after
giving the gold ingot covered with wood which was used for supporting
the curtains of the Temple. After the robbery of the Temple, Craseus
set off to the war with the Partheans and he and all his army were
destroyed there.
The Temple treasury is mentioned again at the time of the
destruction. Flavius relates, that at the time of the destruction
itself, the Roman set fire to the offices where tremendous sums of
silver, heaps of the Priest's robes, and many other valuables were
deposited. This was a place where, in practice, all the riches of the
Jews were accumulated, because the rich people transferred all their
valuable property there.
One priest, who received from Titus a promise under oath that he
would be saved on condition that he would remove the Holy valuables,
gave two Menorot that were similar to those placed in the Temple,
tables, chalices and bars, all made from pure gold and very heavy,
and also the curtains and the robes of the High Priest, together with
precious stones and many ancillary vessels, which were used for the
work in the Temple. The treasurer of the Temple, Pinchas, was also
taken prisoner and he gave to the Romans the cloths and the robes and
much purple and scarlet cloth that was deposited there for safety for
the purpose of repairing the curtains, together with a tremendous
amount of other forms of incense, that the priests mixed together and
offered as incense every day to the Lord, and many other valuable
articles, including holy decorations. As a result, he was awarded an
amnesty intended for those fleeing, despite the fact that he was
forcibly captured.
It is therefore not surprising, that after the conquest of Jerusalem
and the destruction of the Temple, the value of gold throughout Syria
dropped to half its previous value.
Apparently, even after the destruction of the Temple, the Jews
continued to collect money and valuable materials for the Temple
treasury and hid them in many safe secret places. One of the Roman
Ceasars even made a coin to commemorate his success in uncovering
such hidden treasures, and it appears that their collection continued
until after the period of the revolt of Bar Kochva.
This review of the history of the Temple treasury in the period of
the first and second Temples, teaches us that the Temple treasury was
not only a financial source for the current functioning of the
Temple, but also formed a kind of national saving fund for periods of
emergency for the kings, and also provided protection services for
the general public.
The desire of enemies to rob the Temple treasury performed an
important political function, and was the principle catalyst for the
revolt of the Hashmonaim and the revolt of the destruction.
The conclusion arising from the history of the Temple treasury is,
that it is impossible to be a rich and weak people. Without the
capability of power to defend the treasure, it is impossible to be
rich.
An ultra-orthodox Jewish sect is searching for parents willing to
hand over newborn sons, to be raised in isolation and purity in
preparation for the rebuilding of the Biblical Temple in Jerusalem.
Only members of the Jewish priestly caste (Kohanim) need apply,
according to a report in the Haaretz newspaper, dated March 1st.
The Movement for Establishing the Temple wants to keep the
children in a secluded compound in the hills of Jerusalem.
"The idea is to raise a child, who from the moment of birth will not
touch the dead, not be under the same roof with the dead, and will
not even be in a hospital...where the dead are also found,'' Yosef
Elboim, the rabbi assigned to finding willing parents, told Haaretz.
Once the boys turn 13 they will be able to slaughter and burn a
sacred red heifer, literally a holy cow, and sprinkle its ashes on
people, in a purification ritual last performed in Biblical times.
The ritual is meant to cleanse those who have come into contact
with the dead and prepare them for the reconstruction of the
Temple destroyed in 70 AD.
"Today, when there is no one undefiled who can prepare the ashes
in a state of purity, there is a problem, which we intend to solve
with the help of priestly children," Elboim said.
Even if willing parents step forth, the sect will still face a major
problem -- finding an unblemished red heifer. (Reuters)
Gathering en masse to arouse consciousness among the People,
its rabbis, and its leaders to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash
and return the Kohanim to their Service
P.O. Box 31336, Jerusalem, ISRAEL
Telephone: +972-2-5371904
Email: Yirmiyahu Fischer
HaTenu'ah LeChinun HaMikdash
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