Template:Treasury

The temples of ancient cultures were often the treasury of those governments. Even the golden calf of Israel was the reserve fund of the treasury of a government they were trying to create to bind the people together. People fear the unknown and nothing is more unknown than the future.

Israel was not to bind itself together like the governments of other nations nor was the Church to bind the people like the governments of the the Gentiles.

This is why the Church is defined as "one form of government". Centralized governments become governments that exercise the power of choice over the people. Once you create office of power rather than titular offices of responsibility and service people who seek power seek office. Power corrupts and people of power seldom relinquish that power but generally seek more and more power.

All the power of government comes to governments from the people by way of some form of consent. The more the people depend upon the government to use its power to provide the benefits of society the weaker the people become as a community.

The first and most common form of government was voluntary systems of self governance which depended upon the good will of the people. We see such free governments in Republics like Israel which was supported by a tithe which was freely given by ten families. If more funds were needed the individuals chose to freely give through the same network of ministers to support local or even national projects from emergency relief to military defense.

Government forms where that right to choose was vested in an elected leaders that could rule over the people was a rejection of God according to 1 Samuel 8 where they will take and take and take etc.. Such leaders almost always fall prey to what might be called the Saul Syndrome and the people become prey to their greed for power.

Real Money is power which is why

"Think of it, the Romans were daring to confiscate the most sacred thing the Jews possessed, the gold piled up in their temples! At that time, as now, money was their god. On the road to Damascus, St. Paul discovered that he could succeed in ruining the Roman State by causing the principle to triumph of the equality of all men before a single God—and by putting beyond the reach of the laws his private notions, which he alleged to be divinely inspired. If, into the bargain, one succeeded in imposing one man as the representative on earth of the only God, that man would possess boundless power." Adolf Hitler

The "Aerarium Stabulum" or treasure-house was the public treasury in Rome.

Jesus watched how the people would put money in the treasury within the stone temple of Herod the Great.

Mark 12:41 ¶ And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

The same word for treasury is seen in Luke and in John:

John 8:20 “These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.”

Jesus had been hailed as King by the people, gave instruction in the royal treasury, issued orders in the government temple, and fired personnel. In 78 BC, the Pharisees had an ordinance passed into law requiring the temple tax be paid, or the matter was handed over to the appointed civil magistrates of Judea for enforcement. The Greek word for “moneychangers” was kollubistes,which was a word for a small coin or “clipped amount”. Kollubistes had to do with the commission charged by the holders of these lucrative offices of the government.

These commissioned moneychangers were likely to bring in an amount in excess of 7,600,000 denarii in that one month. They were allowed to charge a silver meah, or about one-fourth of a denar. Their cut on this one event could be 950,000 denarii, worth more than $9,000,000 today. “Thus the immense offerings … to the Temple passed through the hands of the moneychangers.”

Only the king could fire these gatekeepers of the temple treasury, and that is exactly what Jesus was doing with His string whip, turning over those tables. Understanding who the money-changers were as government officials, and what it meant to be fired from their lucrative commissioned position in the national treasury, brings the motivation of crucifying Jesus into a new and revealing light.

Luke 21:1 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury <1049>.

There is more than one word that is translated treasury in the New Testament. The most common is the word gazophulakion It is composed of two words γάζα gaza treasure which was the "the royal treasury" and φυλακή phulake meaning guard, watch.

The other word translated treasury is ορβᾶν or korban. Corban was around in most all countries of the world and even in history. It was provided in two ways. Corban was a sacrifice or offering used to take care of the needs of the people. It was part of systems of welfare of which there have always been two types.