Coin @ Before the Exile the Jews had no regularly stamped money. They made use of uncoined shekels or talents of silver, which they weighed out Genesis:23:16; Exodus:38:24; 2Samuel:18:12). Probably the silver ingots used in the time of Abraham may have been of a fixed weight, which was in some way indicated on them. The "pieces of silver" paid by Abimelech to Abraham Genesis:20:16), and those also for which Joseph was sold (37:28), were proably in the form of rings. The shekel was the common standard of weight and value among the Hebrews down to the time of the Captivity. Only once is a shekel of gold mentioned ( 1Chronicles:21:25). The "six thousand of gold" mentioned in the transaction between Naaman and Gehazi ( 2Kings:5:5) were probably so many shekels of gold. The "piece of money" mentioned in Job:42:11; Genesis:33:19 (marg., "lambs") was the Hebrew _kesitah_, probably an uncoined piece of silver of a certain weight in the form of a sheep or lamb, or perhaps having on it such an impression. The same Hebrew word is used in Joshua:24:32, which is rendered by Wickliffe "an hundred yonge scheep."
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