Money in the Old Testament: An Expert's Perspective

The Old Testament provides us with a clear understanding of the purchasing power of money in ancient times. Learn more about money in the Old Testament from an expert's perspective.

Chelsey Renegar03/06/20230 minutes 37, seconds read0 Replies

The Old Testament provides us with a clear understanding of the purchasing power of money in ancient times. According to the book of Jeremiah, Hanameel sold a field for 17 shekels of silver. This practice was continued by the Herodians, who had their own monetary system. This system included the talent, mine, selah, shekel, dinar, prutah and lepton. The talent was worth 60 minae, the mine 50 shekels and the shekel two dinars.

As expected, a dinar had the same value as a denarius. The dina was worth 20 prutahs and the prutah was worth 2 leptas. Theologians have had different views on money. Aquinas taught that money was a post-fall institution, while Calvin viewed it more positively as an institution of creation.

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