Shekel

According to Fry, we should treat the shekel according to three different time periods: (1) through the time of David, it was like the New Testament denarius, which equaled a day’s wage; (2) from the time of Solomon to the captivity, the shekel was 1/10 of the old value; (3) from the captivity onward there was again a devaluation, so a month’s wages was 20 shekels (equaling 1 daric). In the Old Testament where the word “shekel” refers to money, the passages can be divided as follows according to the meaning of “shekel”:

1. One day’s wage equals one shekel: GEN 23:15; GEN 23:16; EXO 21:32; NUM 31:52; JOS 7:21; JOS 7:21; 1SA 9:8; 1SA 17:5; 1SA 17:7; 2SA 14:26; 2SA 24:24; 1CH 21:25

2. One day’s wage equals 10 shekels: 2KI 7:1; 2KI 7:1; 2KI 7:16; 2KI 7:16; 2KI 7:18; 2KI 7:18; 2KI 15:20; 2CH 3:9; AMO 8:5

3. One day’s wage equals 20 shekels: JER 32:9; EZK 4:10; EZK 45:12; EZK 45:12; EZK 45:12; EZK 45:12

The word “shekel” refers to regular weight in GEN 23:15; GEN 23:16; EXO 21:32 and in more than twenty other passages.

The word “shekel” refers to double weight (sheqel haqodesh; literally “the holy shekel,” which is rendered “shekel of the sanctuary” by RSV) in the following Old Testament passages: EXO 30:13; EXO 30:13; EXO 30:13; EXO 30:13; EXO 30:15; EXO 30:24; EXO 38:24; EXO 38:24; EXO 38:25; EXO 38:25; EXO 38:26; EXO 38:26; EXO 38:29; LEV 5:15; LEV 5:15; LEV 27:3; LEV 27:3; LEV 27:4; LEV 27:5; LEV 27:5; LEV 27:6; LEV 27:6; LEV 27:7; LEV 27:7; LEV 27:16; LEV 27:25; LEV 27:25; NUM 3:47; NUM 3:47; NUM 3:50; NUM 7:13; NUM 7:13; NUM 7:19; NUM 7:19; NUM 7:25; NUM 7:25; NUM 7:31; NUM 7:31; NUM 7:37; NUM 7:37; NUM 7:43; NUM 7:43; NUM 7:49; NUM 7:49; NUM 7:55; NUM 7:55; NUM 7:61; NUM 7:61; NUM 7:67; NUM 7:67; NUM 7:73; NUM 7:73; NUM 7:79; NUM 7:79; NUM 7:85; NUM 7:86; NUM 18:16; NUM 18:16. There seems to have been a separate standard of weight used in the service of the Tabernacle. While its exact or even relative value is not given in Scripture, many scholars believe that it was double the weight of the shekel used in ordinary commerce. GNT renders the literal expression “the shekel of the sanctuary” as “according to the official standard.” But it is probably better to add to this “… of the sanctuary” for the sake of clarity. Also, the religious component may have been significant in that some degree of consistency would have been used in such measures. Other ways of expressing the idea of a special weight/value used for religious purposes in a passage like EXO 30:13 are “according to the official standards” (CEV), “using the standard weight of the holy place” (GW), and “according to the unit of weight which is in force in the sanctuary” (ITCL).

For the Aramaic word teqel in DAN 5:25; DAN 5:27, see the discussion under peres above, Peres, Parsin.