Jewish Money. With Its Value In English And American Money
Description
This section is from the book "Scientific American Reference Book. A Manual for the Office, Household and Shop", by Albert A. Hopkins, A. Russell Bond. Also available from Amazon: Scientific American Reference Book.
Jewish Money. With Its Value In English And American Money
The American Dollar Being Taken As Equal To 4s. 2d
Jewish. | English. | American. | |||||||||
£ | s. | d. | Dols. | Cents. | |||||||
A gerah (Exod. XXX. 13).................................................. | = | 0 | 0 | 1.36 | = | 0 | 2.73 | ||||
10 | gerahs | = | 1 | bekah (Exod. XXXVIII. 26).................. | = | 0 | 1 | 1.68 | = | 0 | 27.37 |
2 | bekahs | = | 1 | shekel (Exod. XXX. 13; Isa. vii. 23).......................... | = | 0 | 2 | 3.37 | = | 0 | 54.74 |
50 | shekels | = | 1 | maneh................................................ | = | 5 | 14 | 0.75 | = | 27 | 37.50 |
60 | manehs | = | 1 | kikkar (talent)........................... | = | 342 | 3 | 9 | = | 1,642 | 50 |
A gold shekel........................................... | = | 1 | 16 | 6 | = | 8 | 76 | ||||
A kikkar of gold..................................... | = | 5,475 | 0 | 0 | = | 26,280 | 0 | ||||
N.B. - A shekel would probably purchase nearly ten times as much as the same nominal amount will now. Remember that one Roman penny (8½d.) was a good day's wages for a laborer.
The Hebrew maneh, according to 1 Kings x. 17, compared with 2 Chron. ix. 16, contained 100 shekels; though according to one interpretation of Ezek. xlv. 12, it contained 60, but more probably 50. The passage reads thus: - "Twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels fifteen shekels shall be your maneh." This is variously interpreted, (1) 20 + 25+15
= 60. (2) 20, 25, 15 are different coins in gold, silver, and copper, bearing the same name. It is well to remark the meaning of these names: Shekel = simply weight: Bekah = split, i.e., the shekel divided into two: Gerah = a grain, as in our weights, a grain and a barley-corn, the original standard weight: Maneh = appointed, equivalent to sterling, a specific sum: Kikkar = a round mass of metal, i.e., a weight or coin. Hebrew names of weights and coins are not found in the New Testament: mna in Luke xix. 13 is Greek, though possibly identical with the Hebrew maneh.
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