SECT. III. IMMARCALIN 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
WITH these may we joyn the seven Immarcalin [for that was their a 1.1 number and they might not be less] 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 keys of the seven gates of the Court, and one could not open them without the rest: b 1.2 some add, That there were seven rooms at the seven gates, for the laying up of the holy vessels, and holy ••estments, and these seven men kept the keys of them, and looked to their disposal.
The Chaldce Paraphrase upon the Law, [that goeth under the name of Jonathan] useth this word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in Numb. 1. and Numb. 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 it 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 near 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 Pomgranate within thy locks,] he glos∣seth thus. c 1.3 The lips of the High-priest were earnest in prayer on the day of Expiation be∣fore the Lord, and their fulness 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 judg∣ment, like a Pomgranate 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Besides the Nobles and Rulers which were righteous, and there was no evil 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 Of∣fice; and so the Chaldee of Jonathan upon the Prophets, renders, the Priests the keepers of the door, in 2 King. 12. 10. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Priests, the Amarcalin; whereupon David Kimchi giveth this Comment, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 d 1.4 The keepers of the threshold, meaneth, the keepers of the vessels of the house: For 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is a general name for the vessels of the service: And Jonathan interprets it Amarcalin; now these were chief Treasurers, which had others un∣der them: And so Onkelos renders that passage, Eleazar the son of Aaron shall be chief over the chief of the Levites, Numb. 3. 32. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Amarcal appointed over the chief of the Levites.
It is not much material to look after the various writing and reading of this word; ••ow sometimes it is written Marcol [and that especially by the Jerusalem Talmud, which useth now and then to take away the first 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Aleph in certain words, and so it constantly reads Lazar for Eliazar] and according to this reading Aruch doth Etymologize it to mean 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Lord over all] sometimes Amarcol, sometimes Immarcol or Immarcal, which by the Gemara of the Talmud is rendered, An appointer of all things, or one by whose appointment the affairs of the Temple were managed; it is the office of the men we are looking after, which the writing or notation of the word little helps us in.