Search results
In establishing the value of the shekel there is an additional complication in that the Bible mentions at least three kinds of shekels: in Genesis 23:16, a shekel of silver "at the going merchant's rate [over la-socher]; in Exodus 30:13, "shekel by the sanctuary weight [ha-kodesh]"; and in II Samuel 14:26, "shekels by the king's stone [b'even ha-melech]," that is, shekels stamped by the royal ...
- Ashkelon
The city was founded in the twelfth century B.C.; first...
- Genesis
Genesis - Weights, Measures & Coins of the Biblical &...
- Chapter 10
10:1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of...
- Malachim II
Malachim II - Weights, Measures & Coins of the Biblical &...
- Ashkelon
The weights and measures in the Bible are in large part based upon the weights and measures which were accepted by the ancient peoples, the names of the measures also being the same. In Israel, measures of several peoples were used simultaneously: from Mesopotamian measures, the kor, se ʾ ah, shekel, and others; from Egyptian measures, the ...
- 22.0 liters
- 110.0 liters
- 220.0 liters
- 7.3 liters
Weights. These were used to measure precious stones and metals, the basic unit being the shekel, i.e., "weight." The Bible mentions royal weights, sanctuary weights, and merchant's weights. The royal shekel was probably double the ordinary shekel. The value of premonarchical weights and the original sanctuary shekel have not been determined.
The “shekel of the sanctuary” (Exod 30:13, 24; 38:24-26; Lev 5:15; Num 3:47, etc.) is said to be equal to twenty gerahs. The expression is sometimes tr. as “sacred shekel” and is thought by some authorities to be different from the ordinary shekel. It may refer to a standard weight which was kept in the Temple.
Shekel, a word used both in Biblical and modern Hebrew, is etymologically related to the word mishkal, which means weight. R. R. Bachya explains 7 that this alludes to the moral weight we should give to all of our monetary dealings, and that, ideally, we should place equal weight on both our spiritual and material pursuits.
- Mendel Kalmenson
The first specifically Hebrew unit of weight is shekel ha‐kodesh, which the King James version translates as “shekel of the sanctuary” and the New English Bible as “shekel by the sacred standard,” “twenty gerahs to the shekel” (Exodus 30:13). This unit is referred to repeatedly (Exodus 30:24, 38:24–26, Leviticus 5:15, 27:25, etc.).
A "shekel" was a unit of weight, but the actual mass of that measure, and the purity of the metal, varied significantly over time and location. The historical record tells us that during the Roman occupation of the middle east, a common soldier was paid 225 denarii per year, and that 1 denarius would buy 10 days worth of rations for that soldier.
