Bible Dictionary
Coin
Before the Exile, Israelites commonly used weighed pieces of silver and other precious metals rather than regularly stamped coins. The shekel served as a standard of weight and value.
Definition
A coin is a unit of money, but before the Exile the Hebrews generally used weighed pieces of silver and other precious metals rather than regularly stamped coins. The shekel served as a common standard of weight and value.
Biblical Usage
Biblical accounts describe silver and gold being weighed, including shekels, talents, and pieces of silver. Some pieces may have been rings or uncoined objects of a fixed weight, and the kesitah may have been a shaped or marked piece of silver.
Historical Background
Regularly stamped money was not commonly used by the Jews before the Exile. The shekel remained the principal standard of weight and value, while silver ingots or pieces could bear an indication of their weight.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Before the Exile the Jews had no regularly stamped money. They made use of uncoined shekels or talents of silver, which they weighed out (Gen. 23:16; Ex. 38:24; 2 Sam. 18:12). Probably the silver ingots used in the time of Abraham may have been of a fixed weight, which was in some way indicated on them. The “pieces of silver” paid by Abimelech to Abraham (Gen. 20:16), and those also for which Joseph was sold (37:28), were proably in the form of rings. The shekel was the common standard of weight and value among the Hebrews down to the time of the Captivity. Only once is a shekel of gold mentioned (1 Chr. 21:25). The “six thousand of gold” mentioned in the transaction between Naaman and Gehazi (2 Kings 5:5) were probably so many shekels of gold. The “piece of money” mentioned in Job 42:11; Gen. 33:19 (marg., “lambs”) was the Hebrew kesitah, probably an uncoined piece of silver of a certain weight in the form of a sheep or lamb, or perhaps having on it such an impression. The same Hebrew word is used in Josh. 24:32, which is rendered by Wickliffe “an hundred yonge scheep.”