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Jan 14, 2024 · Though the silver weight is uncertain, biblical texts give us an idea of a shekel’s purchasing power. A shekel was about a month’s wage for a common laborer. The Book of Exodus suggests a shekel was worth about 20 gerahs. It could buy one or two sheep, or purchase about 7 kilograms of flour.
It is impossible to know silver's value in biblical times. At today's rate of approximately 17 US dollars per ounce, 8 grams of silver is around five dollars. 1. Rabbi Eliezer Posner. Footnotes. 1. There is a custom to give a half shekel to charity on the Fast of Esther (click here for more info on this tradition).
Sep 29, 2023 · At today’s silver prices, that means that the conversion rate of a silver shekel to dollar is approximately $6-7. For example, in the book of Exodus, God instructs that a half shekel (around 6 grams of silver) should be donated for a census offering. That amount would be worth around $3-4 today.
Oct 24, 2024 · A biblical shekel of silver was equivalent to around 0.6 troy ounces of silver. As of today, the value of 0.6 troy ounces of silver would be approximately $13-15 USD, depending on current market ...
- History of The Shekel
- The Shekel Coin
- Shekel Metals
- Sources
Hebrew weights were never a precise system of measurement. Weights were used on a balance scale to weigh out silver, gold, and other goods. These weights varied from region to region and often according to the type of goods for sale. Before BC 700, the system of weights in ancient Judea was based on the Egyptian system. Sometime around BC 700, the ...
Eventually, the shekel became a coined piece of money. According to the later Jewish system, six gold shekels were equal in value to 50 silver ones. In Jesus’ day, the mina and the talent were considered huge sums of money. According to New Nave's Topical Bible, one who possessed five talents of gold or silver was a multimillionaire by today's stan...
The Biblementions shekels of various metals: 1. In 1 Chronicles 21:25, shekels of gold: “So David paid Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the site” (ESV). 2. In 1 Samuel9:8, a silver shekel: “The servant answered Saul again, ‘Here, I have with me a quarter of a shekel of silver, and I will give it to the man of God to tell us our way’ ” (ESV)....
“The Enigma of the Shekel Weights of the Judean Kingdom.” Biblical Archaeologist: Volume 59 1-4, (p. 85).“Weights and Measures.” Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (p. 1665).“Weights and Measures.” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Dictionary (Vol. 2, p. 2137).Manners and Customs of the Bible (p. 162).Jan 4, 2022 · The sanctuary shekel would then equal 0.4 of an ounce of gold (20 times 1/50 of an ounce), or 12 grams. Based on a price of 46.43 USD per gram, the approximate value of a sanctuary shekel would be $557.16, in today’s market. An important distinction is that the standard shekel and the sanctuary shekel were two different weights.
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Tim’s Answer. Thank you for your question about the valuation of a shekel. You question how can we value 30 shekels at $12,000 to $15,000 in today’s value when the shekel only weighed approximately 0.5 ounces and silver prices today are around $40 per ounce. This would yield a value of approximately $600 at today’s price of silver.
