Coins In The Bible

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John1

Most of the Bible was either written long before the invention of coinage, or describes events and times occurring long before the invention of coinage. I think the only actual "coin denomination" mentioned in the Old Testament is the Persian gold daric, recorded in Ezra 2:69 and elsewhere in Ezra and Nehemiah (books written while the Jews were living under Persian rule). Other measurements of money in the Old Testament are references to weights, rather than actual coins.

"Biblical coins" can mean more than just "coin types actually mentioned in the Bible", of course. Especially since the list of actual mentioned coin denominations is rather short: the Persian daric, Judaean lepton, Roman quadrans, Roman denarius, Greek drachm, Greek half-shekel/didrachm and Greek shekel/tetradrachm. We don't even know for sure which specific types within those denominations might actually have been the coins in question, though of course there are the traditional definitions. The definition of "biblical coins" is therefore often extended to include any and all "Jewish coins" from the Maccabean, Roman, First Revolt and Second Revolt periods, as well as coins issued by people and cities that were mentioned in the Bible. Or even any coin dating from around 1 to 100 AD, from anywhere.

If you want specific Scriptural references:

Persian daric: Ezra 2:69 etc, as discussed above.

Judaean lepton: Mark 12:42 and parallel passage in Luke 21:2. The "Widow's Mite".

Roman quadrans: also Mark 12:42 - the original Greek text here reads "two lepta, worth a quadrans".

Roman denarius: Matthew 22:19, parallel passages in Mark 12:15 and Luke 20:24; several times in a parable in Matthew 20:1-16. The "Tribute penny".

Greek drachm: Luke 15:8-9, the woman with "10 silver coins", the Greek word for the coin is actually "drachma", the only time this specific word appears in Scripture.

Greek half-shekel/didrachm: In Matthew 17:24, the Jewish Temple tax-collectors are called "those who collect the didrachma". The Temple Tax was half-a-shekel, rated the equivalent of the Greek didrachm.

Greek shekel/tetradrachm: In Matthew 17:27, the coin pulled from the fish is a tetradrachm (Greek "statera"), worth two half-shekels (and therefore worth the Temple Tax payment for two people).

It is debated whether the "pieces of silver" paid to Judas in Matthew 26:15 and nearby and parallel passages refers to the tetradrachm, drachm, shekel, or some other money of account. The Greek word is simply "argyria" (silvers). Given the Temple context, the shekel (tetradrachm) seems logical, and the tetradrachm is the much more commonly encountered coin. We know the Jewish authorities preferred Tyrian tetradrachms to other silver coins, because they were higher-purity silver. Matthew 26:15 specifically says the chief priests "weighed" the money out to him, rather than "counted", meaning it may have actually been a mixture of denominations adding up to thirty argyria, rather than thirty coins. The same unit of money, with similar ambiguity of meaning, is found in Acts 19:19.

The standard reference work for "biblical coins" is David Hendin's book. I've been meaning to get myself a copy of it; thanks for the reminder.

The Lesson of the widow's mite is presented in the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 12:41-44, Luke 21:1-4), in which Jesus is teaching at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Gospel of Mark specifies that two mites (Greek lepta) are together worth a quadrans, the smallest Roman coin. A lepton was the smallest and least valuable coin in circulation in Judea, worth about six minutes of an average daily wage.

In the story, a widow donates two small coins, while wealthy people donate much more. Jesus explains to his disciples that the small sacrifices of the poor mean more to God than the extravagant, but proportionately lesser, donations of the rich.(Reprinted from Wikipaedia)

The most famous "biblical coin" is of course the Tribute penny. It is particularly noteworthy because Jesus specifically draws attention to the design of the coin: he asks whose image and inscription appears on it. The answer is, of course, the Roman emperor. As Tiberius was Roman Emperor at the time Jesus was ministering and as Tiberius only issued two different designs of denarius, the commonest of those two types, the "Livia Seated" denarius, is the one usually marketed as "THE Tribute Penny". Based purely on commonness of supply, they should only be worth $50 to $100 - cheaper than the denarii of most of the other "12 Caesars". However, because of the huge demand for them due to its Biblical connection as the Tribute Penny, these coins usually sell more in the $500 to $1000 range.

Here's mine.



The reference to the "drachm" in Luke 15: 8-10 occurs in Jesus' parable of the Lost Coin: a woman who owns ten coins and loses one, searches for it until she finds it. This of course refers to the Middle Eastern custom, just as popular today as it was 2000 years ago, of women decorating themselves on festive occasions with coins strung on chains; the "lost" coin presumably fell off its chain. So, to be authentic to the story, a "biblical drachm" should have a hole in it.

The drachm is a generally less common denomination than the larger tetradrachm. However, in certain series it's reasonably common. The drachms of Caesarea in Cappadocia are generally fairly easy to come by; they look very similar to denarii, except the legends are usually in Greek rather than Latin and the reverse almost always has the little cult-model of Mount Argaeus on it. Alas, my only Cappadocian drachm comes from much, much later, under Emperor Caracalla And it's a long, windy road from Cappadocia to Judaea; I doubt many Cappadocian coins ever made it that far. Still, I've got a pic of it on file, so here it is:



"Biblical-era" drachms don't look too dissimilar: NumisBids example.