Moses and Aaron: Civil and Ecclesiastical Rites, Used by the Ancient Hebrews
Part 23
Κοδράντης _Quadrans_, _a Farthing_. It was a _Roman coyn_, weighing _a grain of barly_; it consisted of _two mites_. The poor Widow threw in _two mites which makes a farthing_, _Mark. 12. 42._ By consequence it valued of ours c. ½.
Ἀσσάριον, _Assarius, vel assarium_. It was a _Roman coyn_, weighing _four grains_. The _Rabbins_ call it איסור _Isor_, and say, that it containeth[783] _eight mites_. Of this we read, _Mat. 10. 29._ Are not two Sparrows sold for (an _Assarium_?) our _English_ readeth it, for a _farthing_? It valueth of ours, in precise speaking, q^{a.}--q.
[783] _Drusius in præter. Luc. 12. 59._
_Their silver Coyns._
גרה _Gerah_. It was the twentieth part of the shekel of the Sanctuary; _A shekel is twenty Gerahs_, _Exod. 30. 13._ It was the least silver coyn among the _Hebrews_; it valued of ours 1 _d. ob._
אגורת _Agorath_: We English it in general, _a piece of silver_, _1 Sa. 2. 36._ But it _appeareth_ by the _Chaldee paraphrase_, that it is of the _same_ value with _Gerah_; that _paraphrase_ renders both מעא _Megna_; by the _Greek_ they are both rendred ὄβολος the value therof therfore is 1 _d. ob._
קשיטה _Keshitah_. The word signifieth a _lamb_, and is used for a certain _coyn_ among the _Hebrews_, on the one side whereof the Image of a _lamb_ was stamped; our _English_ reads it in general, _a piece of mony_. _Jacob_ bought a parcel of a field for an hundred _pieces of mony_, _Gen. 33. 19._ In the original it is, for an hundred _lambs_. But it is apparent, that _Jacob_ paid _mony_; for S. _Stephen_ saith, he bought it for _mony_, _Act. 7. 16._ In the judgment of the _Rabbines_,[784] it was the same that _Obolus_, _twenty of them went to a shekel_;[785] so that the value thereof was 1 _d. ob._
[784] _R. Solom. Gen. 33. 19. It. R. David. in lib. radic. It. Levi ben Gers. Gen. 33. 19._
[785] _Drus. ad diffic. loca, Gen. p. 119._
כסף _Ceseph_, ἀργύριον _Argenteus_, _a piece of silver_: as the _Romans_ numbred their sums by _Sesterces_, insomuch that _Nummus_ is oftentimes put absolutly to signifie the same as _Sestertius_: So the _Hebrews_ counted their sums by _shekels_, and the _Grecians_ by _Drachmæ_: Hence _Argenteus_, _a piece of silver_, being put absolutely in the _Bible_, if mention in that place be of the _Hebrew_ coyns, it standeth for a _shekel_, and valueth 2 _s._ 6 _d._ if it stand for the _shekel of the sanctuary_: if it stand for a _common shekel_, then it valueth 1 _s._ 3 _d._ But if mention be of the _Greek coyns_, as _Acts 19. 19._ then it signifieth the _Attick Drachma_, which valueth of our money 1 _d. ob._
Δραχμὴ, _Luk. 15. 8._ It was a _quarter of a shekel_,[786] and thus by consequence it valued of ours 7 _d. ob._
[786] _Breerwood de nummis._
Δίδραχμον, _Didrachmon_; _Mat. 17. 24._ We _English_ it _tribute money_: The _Syriack_ readeth _Duo Zuzim_;[787] now that coyn which was termed _Zuz_ by the _Hebrews_, was answerable to the _Roman Denair_; whence it appeareth, that it valued of ours 1 _s._ 3 _d._
[787] _תרין זוזין_
Στατὴρ, _Stater_. We English it a _piece of money_ at large, but it contained precisely _two didrachmas_. For the _tribute money_ to be paid for each person, was _Didrachmum_, as is evident, _Mat. 17. 24._ and this _Stater_ was paid for _two_, namely, for _Christ_ and _Peter_, the value of it therefore was, 2 _s._ 6 _d._
Δενάριον, _Denarius_, _a peny_. This was their _tribute money_, _Mat. 22. 19._ There were _two sorts of pence_[788] in use among them: the _common peny_, which valued of ours 7 _d. ob._ And the _peny of the Sanctuary_, which valued 1 _s._ 3 _d._ For it was answerable to their _Didrachmum_; and of this last we must understand S. _Matthew_ in this place, for their _tribute mony_ was _Didrachmum_, as before hath been noted out of _Mat. 17. 24._ This _Didrachmum_ or _half shekel_ was formerly paid by the _Isrælites_ every year after they were 20 years old;[789] towards their _Temple_, _Exod. 30. 13._ _Cæsar_ by taking away this _money_ from the _Temple_, and changing it into a _tribute_ for his _own Coffers_, did in truth take away from _God_ that which was _God_’s. Hence in that question proposed unto _Christ_, _Is it lawful to give tribute unto ~Cæsar~, or not?_ _Christ_ answereth, _Render unto ~Cæsar~ the things that are ~Cæsar’s~, and unto God the things that are God’s_. This very _tribute_ afterward was paid by the _Jews_[790] toward the _Roman capital_, by vertue of a Decree made by _Vespasian_.
[788] _Tremel. Mat. 22. 19._
[789] _Aben Esr. Nehem. 10. 32._
[790] _Joseph. de bello, lib. 7. cap. 26._
זוז _Zuz_, It was the _fourth part of a shekel of silver_:[791] it valued therefore of ours, 7 _d. ob._
[791] _זוז רבע שקל כסף Elias Thisbit._
שקל _Shekel_, _Siclus_, _a shekel_: it was twofold; _Siclus regius_, _the Kings shekel_, of common use in buying and selling, it valued 1 _s._ 3 _d._ And _Siclus Sanctuarii_; _the shekel of the Sanctuary_, it valued 2 _s._ 6 _d._
The _shekels of the Sanctuary_ were of _two stamps_. The one was always in use among the _Jews_: the _thirty pieces of silver which ~Judas~ received, are thought to be 30 shekels of the Sanctuary_. It had stampt on the one side, the _pot of Manna_, or as others think, _Aarons censer_ or _Incense-cup_: the inscription on this side was שקל ישראל _Shekel Israel_, _The shekel of Israel_: on the reverse side was stampt _Aarons Rod budding_, with this inscription about the Coyn ירושלים הקדושה _Jeruschalaiim hakeduscha_. After the coming of our _Saviour_, the _Jews_ which were converted to the _Christian Faith_, changed their _shekel_,[792] and on the first side stampt the _Image of Christ_, with יש at the mouth of the Image, and ו in the pole, which three letters made his name _Jesu_. On the reverse side there was no picture, but the whole rundle was filled with this inscription, משיח מלך בא בשלום ואור מאדם עשוי חי (i.) _Messias rex venit cum pace, & lux de homine facta est vita_. In some Coyns, for the latter clause of that inscription is read אדם עשוי אלהים (i.) _Deus homo est factus_.
[792] _Alsted præcog. Theol. p. 550._
The _King’s shekel_, in _David_ and _Solomon_’s time, had stampt on the one side, a kind of a Tower standing between ירו and שלם, and underneath was עיר הקדש. The whole inscription was, _Jerusalem urbs sanctitatis_: On the reverse side, the rundle was filled with this _Hebrew_, דוד המלך ובנו שלמה המלך (i.) _David rex, & filius ejus Solomon rex_.
The _shekel_ again was divided into lesser Coyns, which had their denomination from the parts thereof. Thus we read of the half _shekels_, _Exod. 30. 13._ The _third part of a shekel_, _Nehem. 10. 32._ The _quarter of a shekel_, _1 Sam. 9. 8._
_Their Gold Coyns._
זהב _Zahab_. The _English_ reads it, _a piece of gold_, _2 Kin. 5. 5._ By it is meant, that which elsewhere is called _Siclus auri_, _a shekel of gold_, _1 Chron. 21. 25._ Hence the one thousand seven hundred _pieces of gold_ mentioned, _Judg. 8. 26._ the _Greek_ renders 1700, _shekels of gold_.[793] The weight of this Coyn was two _attick drams_,[794] the value 15 _s._
[793] _Σίκλοι χίλιοι, &c._
[794] _Breerwood de nummis._
אדרכון _Adarcon_, of this we read, _Esra 8. 27._ It was also called דרכמון _Drachmon_, of which we read _Esra 2. 69._ Both these names seem to denote the same coyn; if not, yet both were of the same weight. The _Greek_ interprets them both by δραχμὴ, and our _English_ accordingly renders both, a _dram_, which must be understood of the _drams_ in use among the _Hebrews_, weighing two _Attick drams_. From the _Greek_ δραχμὴ, _Drachmon_ seemeth to have had its name. He conjectureth not amiss, who thinketh[795] that _Adarcon_ was so called, _quasi Daricon_, which was a certain coyn of gold in use among the _Persians_ and from King _Darius_ (whose Image one side thereof bore) was named _Daricon_, and א amongst the _Chaldæans_, is often prefixed before a word, as ה is amongst the _Hebrews_. The value of this Coyn was of ours 15 _s._
[795] _Breerwood de nummis._
_Their sums._
Their sums were _two_ מנה _Maneh_, μνᾶ _Mina_, a _Pound_. In _gold_ it weighed _one hundred shekels_. This appeareth by comparing these Texts, _1 Kin. 10. 17._ _Tres_ מנים _Manim_ _three pound_ of gold went to one shield. Now we read, _2 Chron. 9. 16._ _Three hundred shekels_ of gold went to one shield. The name _shekels_ is not expressed in the Original, but necessarily understood, as appeareth in that which was spoken of _Zahab_. For it is a received rule, that in Scripture, _Aurum_ being put with a _numeral_ signifieth so many _shekels of gold_; and so _Argentum_ in like manner. The weight thereof then being _100 shekels_, it followeth, that the value was 75 _l._ In _silver_, their _Maneh_ weighed _60 shekels_, _Ezek. 45. 12._ so that it valued 7 _l._ 10 _s._ Note, that _Sheindler_[796] was deceived, in saying, that the price or value of the _Maneh_ was changed in _Ezekiels_ time, because it then valued 60 _shekels_: for the difference is not between the sacred & profane _Maneh_, as _Sheindler_ conceives, but _between_ the _Maneh_ of gold, which was valued at _100 shekels_ always, and the _Maneh_ of silver, which weighed _60 shekels_, according to the forequoted place in _Ezekiel_.
[796] _Sheindler in מנה_
The second sum was ככר _Cicar_, _Talentum_, _A Talent_. This, if it were of _silver_, it contained in weight _3000 shekels_. For, those two verses being compared together, _Exod. 38. 25, 26._ sheweth, that _six hundred thousand_ men paying every man _half a shekel_, the whole sum amounted to an _hundred talents_; whence it followeth, that a _talent of silver_ amongst the _Hebrews_ was 375 _l._ But a _talent of gold_ (the proportion of gold to silver being observed) was twelve times as much, so that it valued of ours 4500 _l._
In this tract of their Coyns we are to know _three things_. First, that as the _Romans_, in the former ages, used _Æs grave_, _Bullion money_, unstampt, which in the _Mass_ or _Billot_ they weighed out in their payments, and afterward _Æs signatum_, _coyned metals_: so the _Hebrews_ though at last they used, _coyned money_, yet at first they _weighed their mony uncoyned_; _Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver_, _Gen. 23. 6._ Hence the _shekel_ had its _name from_ שקל _Shakal_, _ponderare, librare_, _to weigh_, or _put in the ballance_. _Secondly_, as the coyned _shekel was twofold, one_ for the use of the _Sanctuary_; the other for the use of the _Commonwealth_; and that of the _Sanctuary_ was double the price of the _other_; so the _weight of the shekel_ to be distinguisht after the same manner; the _shekel of the Sanctuary weighed half an ounce Troy weight; the common shekel_ weighed _a quarter of an ounce_. For example, _Goliahs spears head weighed 600 shekels of the Sanctuary_ _1 Sam. 17. 7._ that is, _twenty five pound weight_: _~Absalom’s~ hair weighed two hundred shekels after the Kings weight_, _2 Sam. 14. 26._ that is, _four pound weight and two ounces_. Yea, the sums which I have reckoned only _according to the Sanctuary_, in common use, _according to the King’s weight_, they abate half their value.
3. The lesser coyns were in general termed κέρματα or in the singular number κέρμα, _Joh. 2. 15._ The word signifieth properly a small quantity or little piece of metal, such as may be clipt off from coyns. _Upon the first of the mon. ~Adar~, Procla. was made throughout Israel, that the people shold provide their half shekels, w^{ch} were yearly paid toward the service of the Temple_, according to the commandment of _God_, _Ex. 30. 13._[797] On the 25. of _Adar_,[798] then they _brought tables_ into the _Temple_ (that is, into the _outward Court_ where the _people stood_) on these _tables_ lay these κέρματα, or _lesser coyns_, to furnish those _who_ wanted _half shekels_ for their offrings, or that wanted _lesser pieces of mony_ in their payment for _oxen, sheep, or doves_, which likewise stood there in a readiness in the same _court_ to be sold for _sacrifices_: but this _supply of lesser coynes_ was not without an _exchange_ for other _mony or other things_ in lieu _of mony_, and that upon advantage. Hence those that sat at these _tables_, as chief _bankers_ or _masters of the exchange_, they were termed Κερματισταὶ, in respect of the _lesser coyns_ which they exchanged: in respect of the _exchange it self_, they were termed Κολλυβισταὶ, for Κόλλυβος signifieth the same in _Greek_ as _Cambium_ in _Latine_,[799] whence those _Letters of exchange_, which the _Latines_ call _Literas Cambii_, the _Greek_ call σύμβολα κολλυβιστικὰ, _Tickets of exchange_: in respect of the _Tables_ at which they sate, they are termed by the _Talmudists_ שולחנים, _Schulcanim_ from שולחן _Schulchan_ _Mensa_; for the same reason they are sometimes termed by the _Greeks_ τραπεζίται, and by the _Latines Mensarii_. These are those _changers of money_ which our _Saviour_ drove out of the _Temple_.
[797] _Moses Kotsens. de Siclis. fol. 122. col. 2._
[798] _Moses Kotsens. ibid._
[799] _Κόλλυβος, inquit Pollux, est ἀργυρίου ἀλλαγὴ vid. Dru. Annot. in N. T. part. alter._
_FINIS._
.תהלה לאל חי
The Names of Authors cited in this BOOK.
A
_Aben Esra._
_Aboth._ _vid._ _Pirke Aboth._
_Æschines._
_Alexander Neopol._
_Alstedius._
_Ambrosius._
_Aquinas._
_Aristoteles._
_Arias Montanus._
_Aristophanes_, _Aureliæ Allobrogum_, 1607
_Artemidorus._
_Athenæus._
_Augustinus_, _Coloniæ Agrippinæ_, 1616
B
_Baalturim._
_Beda._
_Bellarminus._
_Bertramus._
_Beza._
_Bodinus._
_Breerwood._
_Buxtorfius._
_Budæus._
C
_Caninius._
_Capnio_, _vi._ _Reuchlin._
_Carion._
_Casaubonus._
_Cœlius Rhodiginus._
_Chazkuni._
_Chemnitius._
_Chimchi_, _alias_, _R. David Kimchi._
_Chrysostomus._
_Clem. Alexandrinus._
_Cicero._
_Concilium quintum, sextum._
_Cyrillus._
_Cyprianus._
_Cunæus_, _Lugduni Batavorum_, 1617
D
_Demosthenes_, _Venitiis_, 1554
_Diodorus Siculus._
_Dionysius Halicarnas._
_Drusius_, _de tribus sectis_, _Franekeræ_, 1619.
E
_Elias Thisbites._
_Epiphanius._
_Erasmus._
_Euripides._
_Eustathius._
_Eusebius._
F
_Funccius._
_Fagius._
_Firmicus._
G
_Galatinus_, _Francofurti_, 1612
_Gellius._
_Genebrardus._
_Gorionides._
_Gregor. Nazianzen._
_Gyraldus._
H
_Herodianus._
_Herodotus._
_Hesiodus._
_Hieronymus_, _Basileæ_, 1516
_Homerus._
_Horatius._
_Hospinianus_, _Tiguri_, 1611
I
_Jalcut_, _Cracoviæ_, 1595
_Jansenius._
_Josephus_, _Aureliæ Allobrog._, 1611
_Jonathan._
_Junius._
_Justin Martyr._
_Justin, histor._
_Juvenalis._
_Ilmedenu._
K
_Kimchi._ _vid._ _Chimchi._
L
_Lactantius._
_Laertius._
_Levi ben Gersom._
_Lipsius._
_Livius._
_Lucanus._
_Lucianus._
_Lyranus._
M
_Macrobius._
_Magius._
_Maimonides_, _lib. Jad._ _Venetiis_, 1574
_Masius._
_Maximus Tirius._
_Montacutius._
_Moses Kotsensis._ _Venetiis_, 1557
_Munsterus._
_Musar._
_Modestus._
O
_Oecumenius._
_Onkelos._
_Origines._
_Ovidius._
P
_Philo Judæus_, _Coloniæ Allobrog._, 1613
_Pirke Aboth._
_Plautus._
_Plinius._
_Pierius_, _Basileæ_, 1575
_Plutarchus._
_Procopius._
_Prudentius._
R
_Reuchlinus_ (_pro quo citatur Capnio perperam_) _Francofurti_, 1612
_Rosinus._
_Ruffinus._
S
_Seder-olam minus._
_Septuaginta interpretes._
_Serarius._
_Scaliger_, _De emend. temp. Lutetiæ_, 1583 _Trihæres. Franekeræ_, 1619
_Sheindler._
_Sigonius._
_Scholiastes Aristophanis._
_Solomon Jarchi._
_Solinus._
_Sozomenus._
_Statius._
_Stukius._
_Suetonius._
_Suidas._
_Syrius interpres._
T
_Talmud Babylonicum._
_Talmud Hierosolymitanum._
_Targum Uzielidis sive Jonathanis._
_Targum Onkelos._
_Targum Hierosolymitanum._
_Tertullianus_, 1609
_Theophylactus._
_Theodoretus._
_Theophrastus._
_Tholosanus._
_Thisbites._
_Tiraquellus._
_Toletus._
_Tremelius._
V
_Vatablus._
_Valerius Max._
_Varro._
_Virgilius._
X
_Xenophon_, _Basileæ_, 1569
Z
_Zepperus._
_Zohar._
A TABLE OF THE Several TEXTS of SCRIPTURE Explained in the Six Books.