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A two-shekel weight recently recovered near the temple area in Jerusalem and dated to the period of the First Temple weighs 23 grams, [8] giving a weight of 11.5 grams per shekel in Israel during the monarchy. When used to pay labourers, recorded wages in the ancient world range widely.
The Temple tax (מחצית השקל, lit. ' half shekel ') was a tax paid by Israelites and Levites which went towards the upkeep of the Jewish Temple, as reported in the New Testament. [1] Traditionally, Kohanim (Jewish priests) were exempt from the tax.
The exceptional purity helps explain why the Jerusalem Temple priests specifically required Tyrian shekels for Temple tax payments. The money-changers referenced in the New Testament Gospels (Matt. 21:12 and parallels) provided Tyrian shekels in exchange for Roman currency when this was required. [6] [7]
Driving of the Merchants From the Temple by Scarsellino. In the narrative, Jesus is stated to have visited the Temple in Jerusalem, where the courtyard was described as being filled with livestock, merchants, and the tables of the money changers, who changed the standard Greek and Roman money for Jewish and Tyrian shekels. [6]
The father [8] of the child must "redeem" the child from a known kohen [9] representing the original Temple priesthood, for the sum of five silver shekels, [7] or equivalent in country's currency (if it has silver currency of the correct weight). This redemption ceremony is performed when at least thirty days have passed since the child's birth.
The Tyrian shekel weighed four Athenian drachmas, about 14 grams, more than earlier 11-gram Israeli shekels, but was regarded as the equivalent for religious duties at that time. [13] Because Roman coinage was only 80% silver, the purer (94% or more) Tyrian shekels were required to pay the temple tax in Jerusalem.
The Books of Samuel portray the Temple as having a Phoenician architect, and in Phoenicia it was the Babylonian ell which was used to measure the size of parts of ships. [1] Thus scholars are uncertain whether the standard Biblical ell would have been 49.5 or 52.5 cm (19.49 or 20.67 in), but are fairly certain that it was one of these two ...
Writings from Ugarit give the value of a mina as equivalent to fifty shekels. [10] The prophet Ezekiel refers to a mina (maneh in the King James Version) also as 60 shekels, in the Book of Ezekiel 45:12. Jesus of Nazareth tells the "parable of the minas" in Luke 19:11–27, also told as the "parable of the talents" in Matthew 25:14–30.