The Temple Service in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 5
CHAP. V. The Sagan, Katholikin, Immarcalin, and Gizbarin.
Sect. 1. SAGAN.
THE word Sagan is rare in the scripture, but both the name and the dignity is very commonly known and used in the Hebrew writers. It is undoubted that he was next to the High-pries…, or Vicegerent to him, but under what notion he came into this deputation is disputable, and[a]Iuchasin fol. 57. Abraham Zaccuth doth purposely dispute it. One conjecture about this matter is from that tradition mentioned in Joma. That against the day of Expiation, when the High-priest was to go into the most holy place: foreign.[b]Ioma per. 1. ab initio. They appointed another Priest in his stead, who might supply the solemn work of that day, if any uncleanness did befal the High-priest himself: And R. Judah also saith, they appointed him another wife left his own wife should have dyed, because he was enjoyned to atone for himself and for his house, that is, for his wife: Now it is conceived by some, that this Priest that was appointed as a reserve, if any thing had befallen the High-priest, to make him unfit for that work, was called the Sagan. [c]Ioseph. Ant. lib. 17. cap. 8.Iosephus giveth one example, when the work of the day of Expiation was carried on by such a substitute; but this opinion maketh the Sagan usefull but for one week in the year, whereas it appeareth by the Jewish records that he was in a continuall office all the year thorough. Some therefore again conjecture, that the Sagan was to be hee that was to be next High-priest, and in his Sagan-ship was as a Candidate for that office.[d]R. Sol. in Num. 19. So R. Solomon calleth Eleazar the son of Aaron the Sagan: And[e]Aruch. in Sagan. & Iuchas. ubi sup. the Jerusalem Talmud observes that none was High-priest unless hee had been Sagan first; but there are two arguments that oppose this opinion; the first is, because the High-priests, after the time of Herod especially, were so made at the arbitrary disposal of the Governour; that it is not imaginable that they ever regarded whether hee had been Sagan before or no. And another is, because in all the Old Testament where the succession of the High-priesthood was fair and legall, and it was still known who should be High-priest next, yet there is never mention of the word or of the thing Sagan, but only in 2 King. 25.18. and Jer. 52.24. where is mention of Zephaniah the second Priest, and the Chaldee Paraphrast calls him Sagan: Now unless he were son to Serajah, which I know not who ever held, he was in no possibility of the High priesthood, had the Temple scaped the Baylonian fire and desolation.
For the discovering therefore what the Sagan was, and under what notion he came into his office, it is observable that hee is most commonly called foreign, The Sagan of the Priests: So the Chaldee in the two places cited, titleth Zephaniah. So the Talmud in two places in the treatise Shekalim speaketh of[f]Shekalim. per. 3. & per. 6. Ananias the Sagan of the Priests: and in divers places both in the Talmud and in other Hebrew writers, the phrase is used in this conjuncture foreign The Sagan of the Priests. By the which it seemeth his office had relation as much, if not more, to Priests below him, as to the High-priest above him: and I know not what fitter conception to have of him then this: that hee was as the High-priests Substitute, in his absence to oversee, or in his presence to assist in the oversight of the affairs of the Temple, and the service of the Priests: For although it is true, that in some particulars his attendance did especially respect the High-priests person, as in three reckoned by[g]Talm. Ierus. Ioma. per. 3. the Talmud of Jerusalem, yet did his office also relate to the Priests below him, and so saith Maymonides foreign [h]Maym. in Kele Mik. per. 4.That all the Priests were under the disposall or command of the Sagan. For the High-priest having the chief charge and care of the holy things, and that burden and incumbency being of so great a weight, he was forced to get an assistant to help him to bear the burden, [nay sometime the silliness and weakness of the High-priest did add to this necessity] and to this his assistant had the inferiour Priests a respect and observance as to the High-priest himself. This was called[i]Id. ibid. especially the Memunuch or President aboveal the fifteen that have been named, because upon him lay the great charge of the looking to the service, as the High-priests Deputy; and of this President wee shall have occasion to make somewhat frequent mention when wee come to speak of the service.
In such a sense it was observed before, that Zadok and Ahimelech are said to be Priests in the dayes of Abiathar the High-priest, he the chief, and they in the chief care and charge and oversight under him: And whether Annas and Cajaphas may not be said to be High-priests together in this sense, Luk. 3.2. namely Cajaphas High-priest, and Annas his Sagan [the Hananiah the Sagan of the Priests mentioned out of the Talmud before] be it referred to the learned to determine: I was*In Harm. of Evang. at the notes on Luk. 32. once of another mind I confess, and supposed Annas to bee called High-priest, because a Priest and head of the Sanhedrin, in which I was too credulous to Baronius a man far better skilled in Christian Antiquity then in Jewish; but now I find that never any such man was head of the Sanhedrin at all; and therefore I am now swayed to beleeve that Annas is called High-priest, as indeed having been so once, but now deposed, and now the Sagan under Cajaphas.
Sect. 2. Katholikin.
EIther Maymony himselfe, or his Transcriber▪, hath put a twofold reading upon this word: For in his[a]Kele Mikd. per. 4. Jad Hazakah he reads it foreign Kathikolin but in his[b]Gloss. in Talm. Shekal. per. 5. comment upon the Talmud text he reads it foreign Kathilokin; and with the latter the[c]Ibid. in Gemara. Jerusalem Talmud, and other Jews agree something neer, and utter it foreign Katholkin Catholici: The Gloss interprets it, foreign, The Presidents or chief Overseers of the treasures: And so might the use of the word be shewed in other Authors, sometime to signifie chief treasurers, and sometime to signifie chief favorites or officers.[d]Ielammedenu. fol. 83. col. 1. Rabbi Tanchuma compares Moses and Aaron in reference to God, to two Kathlikin [for so he writes it foreign] in reference to a King: For speaking of Gods commanding Moses and Aaron to go up into mount Hor & Nebo and there to die, he utters this parable: To what is this matter like? It is like to a King that had two Katholici, who did nothing without the will of the King: one of them had some difference with the King, and the King had need of him; the King saith, although this man is in my power, yet will I not differ with him but he shall know it: So also the holy blessed God saith, these two righteous men never did any thing but according to my mind, and now I will take them away, yet I will let them know it, &c. In this comparison hee takes Katholikin to be chief favourites or officers, without designing any peculiar office that they were in;[e]Vid. Baxt. l…xi…. Tal…n. in voce. but other of the Hebrew writers assign them to the treasuries; as Bamid bar Rabba that saith, Korah was Katholicus to the King of Aegypt, and had the keys of his treasures: nay the same Tanchumah in another parable putteth that sense upon the word also, for hee saith,[f]Aruch. in voce. It is like unto a King that made his friend his Katholicus, and set him over his treasures: Katholiciani in the terms of the law, of old, signified Rationum Praefecti, the Overseers of Accounts, as is observed by the most learned Buxtorfius.
We need not to be curious in determining these men to a peculiar office, they were two men that were in the highest office and employment about the Temple, and but only two men above them, The High-priest and the Sagan: and whereas there were three common treasurers of the temple stock, [as we shal see by and by] these two were Head-treasurers and overseers over them; much like the constitution of the Presidents in the Persian State, where 120 Princes were set over the 120 Provinces, and three Presidents were set over all these to take account of them, Dan. 6.1, 2. Maymony gives this short character of these Katholikin; That foreign [g]Maym. in Kele Mikd. per. 4.They appointed the Kathicolin or Katholikin, to be to the Sagan, as the Sagan was to the High priest: substitutes and assistants, and next in place and in honour. The business of the Temple consisted especially in these two things, its service, and the disposall of its treasury or stock that came by oblations or otherwise: Now as there were inferiour Priests that performed the dayly service, and as there were inferiour treasurers or receivers that received the offerings, and whatsoever was brought in into the common stock, so these four men especially, the High-priest, Sagan and the two Katholikin, were overseers both of the one and the other: that the treasury might be disposed fitly for the Temple service, and that the service might be performed as was fitting.
Sect. 3. Immarcalin foreign.
VVIth these may we joyn the seven Immarcalin [for that was their number[a]Talm. in Shek. per. 5. Maym. ubi sup. and they might not bee lesse] men whose peculiar office is as hard to find out, as was theirs before: but only that it is agreed upon, that they carried the keyes of the seven gates of the Court, and one could not open them without the rest:[b]Vid. Tosaph. ad Shekalim cap. 5. & R. Sol. in 2 King. 12. some add, that there were seven rooms at the seven gates, for the laying up of the holy vessells, and holy vestments, and these seven men kept the keys of them, and looked to their disposall.
The Chaldee Paraphrase upon the law, [that goeth under the name of Jonathan] useth this word foreign in Num. 1. and Num. 7.11. for the Princes or chief heads of the twelve tribes that stood with Moses to number the people, and that offered their gifts at the dedication of the Altar, and in Levit. 4.15. he useth for the Elders of the tribes who laid their hands on the head of the sin-offering of the Congregation: And so whosoever was the Targumist on the Canticles, he useth it in Cant. 4.3. for a Prince or potentate that was neer the King: for that verse [Thy lips are like a thred of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy Temples are like a piece of a pomgranat within thy locks,] …e glosseth thus,[c]Targ. in Cant. 4.3. The lips of the High-priest were earnest in prayer on the day of Expiation before the Lord, and their fullness turned the sins of Israel which were like a scarlet thred, and made them white as pure wool. And the King which was head over them was full of judgment, like a Pomgranat foreign, Besides the Nobles and rulers which were righteous, and there was no evill in them.
And likewise in other places in the Chaldee Paraphrasts, the word is sometimes used to signifie only dignity and high place: but sometime again to denote a function and office; and so the Chaldee of Jonathan upon the Prophets, renders, the Priests the keepers of the dore, in 2 King. 12.10. foreign The Priests, the Amarcalin; whereupon David Kimchi giveth this Comment, foreign [d]Kimch in 2 King. 12.10.The keepers of the threshold, meaneth, the keepers of the vessels of the house: For foreign is a generall name for the vessels of the service: And Jonathan interprets it Amarcalin; now these were chief treasurers, which had others under them: And so Onkeles renders that passage, Eleazar the son of Aaron shall bee chiefe over the chief of the Levites, Num. 3.32. foreign, The Amarcal appointed over the chief of the Levites.
It is not much materiall to look after the various writing and reading of this word; how sometimes it is written Marcol [and that especially by the Jerusalem Talmud, which useth now and then to take away the first א Aleph in certain words, [and so it constantly reads Lazar for Eliazar] and according to this reading Aruch doth Etymologize it to mean foreign Lord over all] sometimes Amarcol, sometimes Immarcol or Immarcall, which by the Gemara of the Talmud is rendered, An appointer of all things, or one by whose apppointment the affairs of the Temple were managed; it is the office of the men wee are looking after, which the writing or notation of the word little helps us in.
It is agreed on all hands that their number was seven, and that they carried seven keyes, according to the seven gates of the Court: But here ariseth a question, were these seven Amarcalin perpetuall officers, or did they change every week, as the courses of the Priests changed? These severall arguments might be used for the severall assertion of either part: if they were not perpetuall officers, why are they reckoned as perpetuall? for in the changing courses the Head of the Course is reckoned as chiefest, and these are reckoned two steps above him: and if they were perpetuall officers, and the unlockers and lockers of the Court-gates continually, what shall we answer to that passage in the treatise Middoth [e]Mid. per. 1.which saith, that the keyes of the gates were in the keeping of the seniors of the house of their fathers in the changed courses?
Therefore for a temper between these two wee are to apprehend that these seven Amarcalin, were perpetuall in their office, as well as were the High-priest, Sagan and Katholikin, and that the keys of the Court were at their disposall; but that they committed the opening and shutting of the dores of the Court to Deputies, namely to some of the seniors of every course as it came in; and that they had not only these keyes at their disposal, but also the keys of the Temple wardrobes, and of the rooms of the severall vessels, and were Overseers about them, and disposed of them for the use of the Temple.
Sect. 4. Gizbarin foreign.
IT was a fixed tradition foreign [a]Maym. in Kele Mikdash. per. 4.That the Gizbarin were not to be lesse then three, and they were as substitutes to the Immarcalin.
The word foreign is used in the Hebrew text, Ezra 1.8. and in the Chaldee text, Ezra 7.21. in both which places our English hath rendred it Treasurers: the scope and sense of the former place doth evidently enough justifie the translation; for, speaking of Cyrus, his restoring the vessels of the Temple, to the Temple again; he saith, He brought them forth by the hand of Mithredath the Gizbar: which the Lxx. hath rendred Gazbarenus, as if it were some proper name, or a name Patronymick: but the very place sheweth that it meaneth that he was the man that kept these vessels, or was Treasurer of them: and so Kimchi expounds it,[b]Kimchi in Michol. in voce. He was overseer and treasurer. In the latter place cited, the Lxx. renders it foreign, not treasurers but treasuries, but the sense of the place sheweth that it meaneth the Kings officers and receivers, and so Rabbi Solomon glosseth it, foreign [c]R. Sol. in Ezra 7.The receivers of his tributes.
Now as for these officers of the Temple that we are speaking of, which were called Gizbarin, Maymony in the place cited a little before, gives them this character,[d]Maym. ubi sup. That they were they that demanded al the hallowed things, and redeemed what was to be redeemed: which in his gloss upon the Talmud treatise, Shekalim he speaketh more at large, and saith,[e]Id. in Gl…ss. in Shek per. 5. that the Gizbarin were those that were appointed over the holy stock, and all consecrate things: And they redeem…d ev…ry sanctified thing, [foreign Levit. 27.14. &c.] And every devoted thing [foreign, Num. 18.14.] And every estimated person or thing, [foreign, Lev. 27.2. &c.] And the second tith.
And the Talmudish text it selfe in that treati…e Shekalim [f]Talm. in Shek. per. 11. & per. 5.speaketh of the Gizbarin receiving the half-shekel poll money: and of the Gizbarin opening the treasury of the dedicate vessels. And in the treatise Megnilah [g]Talm. in Megnilah. per. 3. Aruch. in foreign.it speaketh of the Gizbarin receiving wood, &c. So that these men that we have in discourse, were the first receivers and treasurers of all things due or dedicate to the Temple treasury, as the half shekell money of every Israelite, the vessels that were offered to the service, things that were vowed or devoted, and the thing vowed or devoted, that was to be redeemed with money; these were they that stated the rate of the redemption, and received the money; now these were but as sub-collectors and sub-treasurers, for what they received they were accountable for to the seven Immarcalin, and both these and the Immarcalin, to the Katholikin: and all under the oversight of the High-priest and Sagan.
And this was properly the Beth Din or Consistory of the Priests, of which we spake before, which translated the business of the Sanctuary; not sentencing nor inflicting any penalties, or muicts, corporall or pecuniary, upon their brethren or any other; but they were foreign, The Counsellors for the Temple, that took care of the dues, stock, treasury, vessele, vestments, repair and service of the Temple, and of ordering of all things tending to these ends: and these were they, that kept their fitting to consult of these things in the chamber of Parhedrin or Palhedrin of which we have spoken in the survey of that peece of building: And these in the honester times were called foreign Counsellours, because they consulted and contrived really for the good of the Temple, but when they grew corrupt and minded their own ends, they were called but Parbedroi or sitters: Joseph of Arimathea is said to be foreign, an honourable Counsellour, Mark. 15.43. Probably a Priest of this society, but of more then ordinary integrity and goodnesse. And so the Talmud speaks of R. Simeon foreign the Counsellour. Jerusel. in Taanith. per. 4.