Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-11-14
MONEY OF THE BIBLE.
Gold and Silver Treated as Money from the
Earliest Times.

Earliest Times.
Perhaps the oldest reference to
money in the Bible is in Job, where his
friends give him each piece of silver
money and an earring of gold. Then
Jacob purchased a piece of land at
Shechem for hundred pieces OF sill
yer. 1t is well-known fact, says the
Cleveland Plain Dealer. that rings of
gold by the Jews and the Egyptians
were used as money. They probably
had distinctive weight which was
known and stamped upon them. 1T is
said that the servant of Abraham gave
to Rebecca "a golden earring of half a
shekel weight. and two bracelets for
her hands of ten shekels weight of
gold F." Sir Gardner Wilkinson In his
work on the ancient Egyptians, repro
duces pictures of the Egyptians weigh
ing rings of gold, each one evidently
being stamped for use as money. In
the book OF Deuteronomy the 1.-THE is
permitted to be paid in money instead
OF kind and it is said When shalt
thou turn it into money. and bind up
the money in thine hand" and this
implies the use of ring money, or money
in pieces that could be tied or fastened
together. This ring money is still used
the University of Leyden can he seen
Egyptian gold rings which we're used
as money. Caesar tells us that the
Gauls used gold rings for money of GER
tain weight.
From the earliest times the precious
metals, gold and silver, were used as
representatives of wealth Abraham
came up from Egypt very rich IN cat
tie, in silver and in gold, " and ill Gen
esis there is proof that slaves were es
timated in value by money. The pur
chase of Abraham of the Cave of Mach
pelah for 400 shekels of silver weighed
out to Ephron current with the Iner
chant is a very positive statesment
that silver was used as money in those
days. The Philistines paid to DeliIah
!, 100 pieces of silver to induce her to
cut SIMPSONS hair. The Ishmaelites
gave to Joseph's brethren twenty
pieces of silver, and by the laws of
Moses the fines for offenses were regu-
lated and determined by the value of
silver.
1t is altogether probable that all
these references were to silver and gold
by weight and not to coined money.
The very words, shekel or talent refer
to weight. Shekel became subsequent
|
same way the AS. Roman coin, took
its name from weight to coin just as
the English word pound went from
| weight to actual coin. The shekel is
estimated to have weighed about 8
dwt, Troy, which, at IS. OF. in silver,
! would give an approximate value of
about IS. Sd.
| Both gold and silver were used as
money. Naaman took with him on
| his visit to the King of Israel 5000
shekels of gold. and David paid to
Ornan for his thrashing floor, 600
shekels of gold by weight. In Isaiah
| it is said that They lavish gold out of
the bag, and weigh silver in the bal
ance," but all these references are to
gold and silver by weight and not to
coined money.
About five hundred years before
/ Christ. we have references in the Bible
i to the word dram, which probably
meant daric, a Persian coin. The gold
daric was struck with the image of the
king upon it, and the word itself meant
king in the Persian language and
became the name of the coin just as
| the English sovereign takes its name
also from the English ruler, from the
sovereign Or king. These darics were
i in silver as well as in gold Artaxerx
es. about 453 B. c., gave a special
commission to Ezra to recon the gold
and silver of the kingdom, and it is be
| lieved that he struck off shekels weigh
ing 220 grains, and half shekels of ITO
grains, ana these are supposed to be
| the first Jewish coins Ga the one side
| of these coins is the cup and on the
other the rod supposed to be symbol
cal of the cup OF III iunl and the rod Of
! Aaron.
Thus it will be seen that from the
beginning of Jewish history gold and
silver were considered TO be the pre-
cious metals, and both OF them are
treated as money.