Amarkol (; plural, , amarkolim), is a title applied to a trustee of the Temple in Jerusalem superintending the cashiers (). While the three – or, according to the Baraita,Tamid 27a. thirteen – cashiers handled all the money that flowed into the Temple treasury, "the amarkolim, seven in number, held the seven keys to the seven gates of the Temple hall (), none opening his gate before all the others had assembled".Tosefta, Shekalim 2:15; Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim Chapter 5 page 49a. Above the seven amarkolim were two catholici, and these again were under the supervision of the high priest.Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim Chapter 5 page 49a.
Abba Saul ben Batnit, in his attack against the priestly house of Ishmael ben Fabus, said: "They themselves are high priests, and their sons gizbarim, and their sons-in-law amarkolim".Tosefta Menachot 13:21; Pesachim 57a. Eleazar, the "chief over the chiefs of the Levites",. is given the title of amarkol.Targum Onkelos Numbers 3:32; Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Numbers 3:32; Numbers Rabbah 3:11. Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, as keeper of the keys of the Temple is also called amarkol,Targum Jonathan Isaiah 22:23. and Jeremiah is represented as a descendant of the amarkolim, who had their inheritance in Anathoth.Targum Jonathan Jeremiah 1:1. In addition, in Zechariah 11:13 (Authorized Version, the potter) is translated in Targum Jonathan, amarkol,Targum Jonathan Zechariah 11:13. meaning treasurer. Adolf Büchler has shownAgainst Emil Schürer, Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes, 1st edition, ii. 216. by referring to Josephus, Against Apion 2:8, that certain Temple officers handed the keys of the Temple to their successors each day, as a symbol of their charge — and these were none others than the amarkolim; who were, however, laymen and not priests. And it was in view of this that the title of amarkol was applied to them.
In Targum Onkelos,Numbers 3:32. Targum Jonathan,2 Kings 22:4. and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan,Numbers 3:32. the title of amarkol is applied to nesiim (princes) and to shomere ha-saf (the doorkeepers), in accordance with Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim Chapter 5, Numbers Rabbah Chapter 3, and Leviticus Rabbah Chapter 5.
Etymology According to The Jewish Encyclopedia, the word is from the Persian amarkir or Armenian hamarakar, meaning "master of finance".
Alternative etymologies are given by Rabbi JudahTosefta, Shekalim 2:15. as a contraction of mar kol ("master over all"), and by Rav ChisdaHorayot 13a. as a contraction of amar kulla ("he who has everything to say").Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography: Schürer, 3d ed., ii. 270 et seq. The first who called attention to the Persian (or Armenian) etymology of the word was Levy, in Geiger's Zeitsch. 1867, pp. 215-218, who referred to Prud'homme in Journal Asiatique, 1866, p. 115. Then followed Perles' Etymologische Studien, 1871; Noeldeke, in Goettinger Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1871; and Lagarde, Armenische Studien, 1877, No. 1216; Semitica, i. 45; see also Kohut, Aruch, i. 129; , xvi. 156; Büchler, Die Priester und der Cultus, p. 94; viii. 673.
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