Key Takeaways
- The silver shekel originated in Sumer as a reserve currency, recorded in ledgers rather than circulating in daily transactions.
- The shekel appears in the Bible as both a weight measure and a means of exchange, from Abraham’s land purchase to the Temple tax.
- Jewish rebels minted their own shekels during the First Jewish Revolt (66-70 AD) as a rejection of Roman rule, showing the link between money and political independence.
- The shekel lost prominence after Roman rule but was revived as Israel’s currency in 1980—though now as fiat money, severed from its silver roots.
- The shekel’s history highlights the importance of trust in money and how control over currency shapes sovereignty—lessons that resonate in the era of Bitcoin.
The silver shekel is the most ancient form of precious metal money in recorded history.
Its origins lie in Ancient Sumer where it was a reserve currency and a standard pricing measure.
The silver shekel is also mentioned in the Book of Genesis as a measure of weight.
So on both accounts it’s pretty old.
After the invention of precious metal coinage, the shekel became a common coin used in the Middle East, most famously in the Second Jewish Revolt.
In modern times the Shekel is the name of the Israeli currency. However this is a fiat currency and the modern Shekel has no tie to silver.
Let’s start with Ancient Sumer and then jump into where we see the shekel in the bible.
The Sumerian Silver Shekel
The Sumerian silver shekel was not a circulating currency.
Rather, it was a reserve currency held in centralised vaults. Prices of everything were recorded in shekels, although shekels themselves would not change hands.
If ownership of shekels needed to be transferred the transaction was recorded on clay tablets.
This essentially made the silver shekel a form of ledger money based on a system of accounting.
David Orrell explains:
“The Sumerian economy was dominated by the day-to-day running of temples and palaces, and everything from wages to rents to taxes was being calculated and paid for in terms of shekels. In this sense silver did conform to our standard picture of money; however, because the economy was centrally planned and controlled (one imagines a version of North Korea without the nukes), the main use of the shekel was as an accounting device for bureaucrats, with transactions recorded as marks in a ledger. The actual metal did not circulate widely but was kept in carefully guarded vaults. If someone had to pay the palace, they weren’t expected to show up with lumps of silver—they were more likely to use barley, wool, or some other commodity, with the value reckoned in shekels.”
This is actually not too dissimilar to Bitcoin.
With Bitcoin, virtual coins do not zoom around cyberspace when a transaction is made.
All that happens is that the ledger is updated to reflect the change in ownership.
The Israelite Shekel
The Israelite’s also used the shekel.
Initially it was also used as a measurement of weight, 11.33 grams, but later it became a circulating currency.
The Book of Genesis records Abraham purchasing the cave of Machpelah for 400 silver shekels.
“Ephron replied to Abraham, “Please, sir, listen to me! A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead!” Abraham accepted Ephron’s terms; he weighed out to him the silver that Ephron had stipulated in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver at the current market value.”
Genesis 23:14-16
The Book of Exodus then records the Israelites being required to pay a half-shekel during the annual census.
The LORD also told Moses: When you take a census of the Israelites who are to be enrolled, each one, as he is enrolled, shall give the LORD a ransom for his life, so that no plague may come upon them for being enrolled. This is what everyone who is enrolled must pay: a half-shekel, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel—twenty gerahs to the shekel—a half-shekel contribution to the LORD. Everyone who is enrolled, of twenty years or more, must give the contribution to the LORD. The rich need not give more, nor shall the poor give less, than a half-shekel in this contribution to the LORD to pay the ransom for their lives. When you receive this ransom money from the Israelites, you shall donate it to the service of the tent of meeting, that there it may be a reminder of the Israelites before the LORD of the ransom paid for their lives.
Exodus 30:11-16
However this silver would not have been minted coins. Rather it would have been pieces of silver.
Precious metal coinage was not developed until around 600BC, first minted in Ancient Lydia in modern day Turkey.
The practice then spread to Greece and Phoenecia.
The Israelites started minting coins around 350BC. The earliest Israelite silver coins were called Yehud. Later they started minting shekels.
The Tyrian Shekel
From 125BC silver shekels minted in the city of Tyre became the dominant currency in the Middle East.
These were 14.2 grams and 94% silver, which was heavier than the earlier 11.33 gram shekel and were required to pay the Jewish half-shekel temple tax.
The Tyrian Shekel continued to be the dominant form of currency until the year 66AD, although it is believed that after the Romans shut the Tyre mint down in 18AD production was moved to Judea.
It is considered likely that when Jesus paid the temple tax in the New Testament Gospels, he paid in Tyrian shekels.
It is also considered likely that Judas was paid in Tyrian shekels when he betrayed Jesus.
In 66AD the First Jewish Revolt against Roman Rule began. The Romans banned the Jews from minting coins and the minting of Tyrian Shekels ceased.
However this did not stop the leaders of the Jewish revolt, who minted their own silver shekels from the temple treasury as a way of asserting independence against Rome.
They continued to mint silver shekels every year of the revolt until the end in 70AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the second temple.
While the Tyrian shekel was inscribed with pagan deities, the silver shekels of the Jewish Revolt had Jewish symbols and inscriptions.
The use of the shekel declined after the Jewish Revolt with the Roman denarius the most widely used silver coin.
The Modern Shekel
The modern state of Israel re-introduced the shekel in 1980, to replace the Israeli pound.
However, this shekel was a fiat currency with no backing by either silver or gold. This shekel, now known as the old shekel, was a short lived currency, hyperinflated into oblivion after only 5 years.
Its replacement, the new shekel, is still a fiat currency but it has been more conservatively managed and is still the currency in circulation in Israel today.
Two Lessons From The History Of The Silver Shekel
1. The Importance of Weight and Purity in Early Money
The silver shekel was originally a unit of weight before becoming a coin. Standardized weight and purity were crucial for trust in money. Ancient economies relied on merchants weighing silver rather than using coins, with money evolved from weight-based systems.
While we no longer weigh our money (unless stacking precious metals of course) what this tells us in the modern day is that trust and soundness are what matters when it comes to money. It was no different back then.
2. Monetary Sovereignty Means Political Power
Issuing silver shekels was a sign of independence. The Jewish rebels against Rome (66-70 AD) minted their own shekels, rejecting Roman coinage. Control over coinage has long been a way for rulers to assert authority, a pattern seen throughout monetary history. That’s why the British never gave up the Pound to adopt the Euro.
For states, issuing their own money might be a sign of sovereignty, but what about individuals?
For the individual it is all about acquiring politically neutral non-state hard money. Historically that meant gold, now it means Bitcoin.
Frequently Asked Questions
The value of a silver shekel today depends on its weight and silver content. As an example, a Tyrian shekel at 14.2g and 94% silver would be worth $13-$14 based on the value of its silver content at the time of writing. However, historical shekels, especially rare ones, can be worth much more to collectors.
A biblical shekel was a unit of weight, approximately 11.33 grams of silver. Its purchasing power varied, but in Old Testament times, 50 shekels was the price of land (Leviticus 27:16), and 30 shekels was the price of a slave (Exodus 21:32).
Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15). These were likely Tyrian shekels, known for their high silver content and used for the Temple tax.
Conclusion
The silver shekel is the oldest currency known to man and one of the oldest forms of money.
The silver shekel began its life as a weight. In Ancient Sumer it was the monetary standard in which all prices were expressed, even though it was not a circulating currency.
Not long after the establishment of precious metal coinage in Ancient Lydia, a silver shekel coin began to be minted in Tyre with production eventually moved to Judea.
While not as dominant in the Ancient world as the denarius, the shekel is a extremely important chapter in monetary history.
To your protection and prosperity,
Thomas
P.S. Have I left out anything important? Please let me know. Or if you found this information to be of high value, drop me a line, too. I love hearing from readers.
Sources
Orrell, David, and Chlupatý Roman. The Evolution of Money. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.
Image Credits
Phoenician Silver Shekel is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5
Silver Shekel of the First Jewish Revolt is in the public domain
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