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Bible Dictionaries
Treasure, Treasury, Treasurer
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or TREASURE, TREASURY, TREASURER
1. In OT ‘treasure’ and ‘treasury’ stand for various Heb. terms, but both words usually render ’ôtsâr . This shows that ‘treasure’ and ‘treasury’ are not carefully distinguished in EV [Note: English Version.] , or else that ’ôtsâr itself may stand for either. As a matter of fact the truth lies with both alternatives. Strictly, a treasure is a store of wealth, while a treasury is a storehouse, a place where treasure is kept. Sometimes, however, ‘treasure’ occurs in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] where ‘treasury’ is meant, as Job 38:22 ‘Hast thou entered into the treasures (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘treasuries’) of the snow?’; and, on the other hand, ‘treasury’ is sometimes found where ‘treasure’ would be the more correct rendering, as Joshua 6:19; Joshua 6:24 and RV [Note: Revised Version.] of Ezra 2:69 . The indeterminateness of ’ôtsâr is shown by its constant employment for ‘treasure’ and ‘treasury’ alike. The ‘treasure (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘store’) cities’ of Exodus 1:11 (cf. 1 Kings 9:19 , 2 Chronicles 8:4 ) are cities in which provisions were stored up (cf. Genesis 41:48; Genesis 41:56 ).
2. In NT we find a like ambiguousness in the use of ‘treasure,’ and also of the Gr. thçsauros for which it stands. The treasures of the Magi ( Matthew 2:11 ) and the treasure in heaven ( Matthew 19:21 ) refer to precious stores; but it is out of his treasury rather than his treasure that the good man brings forth good things ( Matthew 12:35 ), and the householder things new and old ( Matthew 13:52 ). In Acts 8:27 ‘treasure’ renders gaza , a word of Persian origin. In Matthew 27:6 ‘treasury’ represents korbanâs (the depository of the ‘corban,’ see Sacrifice and Offering, § 1 ( a )), the sacred treasury into which the chief priests would not put Judas’ 30 pieces of silver. For the treasury of the Temple ( gazophylakion ) into which Jewish worshippers cast their offerings ( Mark 12:41; Mark 12:43 , Luke 21:1 ) see Temple, § 11 ( b ). When Jesus is said to have spoken ‘in the treasury’ ( John 8:20 ), the meaning probably is that He was teaching in the colonnade of the Temple where stood the treasure-boxes into which the offerings were cast.
Treasurer occurs in OT in Nehemiah 12:13 , Ezra 1:8; Ezra 7:21 , Isaiah 22:15 , Daniel 3:2-3 , representing a different term in each writer. The word is found in NT only in RV [Note: Revised Version.] of Romans 16:23 as substitute for AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘chamberlain’ (Gr. oikonomos ), but the Ethiopian eunuch is said to have had charge of all the treasure of queen Candace.
J. C. Lambert.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Treasure, Treasury, Treasurer'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/t/treasure-treasury-treasurer.html. 1909.
