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Money and measures
Shekel
a weight of about 11.4 g · later a coin · Hebrew sheqel, from “to weigh”
Shekel comes from the Hebrew verb “to weigh”, and at first it was not a coin but a weight — about 11.4 grams, judging by stone weights found in excavations. Silver was weighed out on scales: Abraham paid “four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants” for the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23:16), and Jeremiah weighed out seventeen shekels for a field. Goliath’s coat of mail weighed five thousand shekels — some 57 kilograms.
Coins were invented only in the 7th century BC, in Lydia in today’s Turkey, so most shekels in the Old Testament are weights of metal, not coins. In Jesus’ time the half-shekel temple tax was paid in silver coins of Tyre; the four-drachma coin in the fish’s mouth (Matthew 17:27) covered the tax for two people. Since 1980 the shekel has again been the name of Israel’s currency.
Key verses
“Listen to me, my lord. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.and he had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a bronze coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels,So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out seventeen shekels of silver.“But so that we may not offend them, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish you catch. When you open its mouth, you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for My tax and yours.”Sources
Adapted and shortened from the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers · CC BY-SA 4.0 — Shekel; Weights and Measures: Shekel; Coins
Adapted from Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary: articles chosen, shortened and retold in our own words (history, nature and daily life only) and, in languages other than English, machine-translated. The original work by Tyndale House Publishers is available for free at tyndaleopenresources.com.
