A Treasury in Heaven: The Exegesis of Proverbs 10:2 in the Second Temple Period

The notion of a "treasury in heaven" becomes highly significant in Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. A casual reading of the sources might suggest that it was a free creation of the author of Tobit or Sirach, but closer inspection reveals its origins in an exegesis of Prov 10:2 (cf. 11:4). Not only is the term itself derivable from this verse but its literary and theological function as well. In Sir 29:12 (cf. 5:8), Tob 4:7-10, 1 En 63:10 and Luke 12:16-21 the phrase is used to reveal the fact that all earthly wealth is perishable, only treasuries funded by charity can deliver one from calamity or death.