Sheckel is a measure of weight in the bible. it varies a bit but we can assume it to be .58 oz troy or 18 grams.
The gold fix was $790.00 oz today, so a skeckel would be $498.00 of gold at todays price.
The value of a sheckel's weight is from conversion charts.
The Gold price is from the London Exchange.
------------
After coming back and reading the other two answers below mine I felt like doong a quick web search about it, and got;
Shekel
The Shekel was by far the most ordinary unit of weight; hence in stating weights the word "shekel" is often omitted, as in Gen. 20:16, where "a thousand of silver" means a thousand shekels. It cannot be said what the exact weight of the shekel among the Hebrews before the Maccabean period (i.e. the latter half of the second century B.C.), when it amounted to 218 grains. Some people are of the opinion that in earlier times the Hebrews had two distinct shekels, one equal to 129 grains and the other to 258, in accordance with the Babylonian systems of weights; but of this there is no positive proof. It is also not certain that the "sacred shekel" or "shekel of the sanctuary," mentioned in the Pentateuch, was really double the ordinary shekel, as the Rabbis assert. The Gold Shekel is worth about $9.60 while the silver shekel is worth .64 cents Matthew 17:27.
http://www.abu.nb.ca/ecm/topics/custom6.htm
2. Coin:
The shekel was the unit of coinage as well as of weight, and the pieces of metal which served for currency were either fractions or multiples of the standard shekel. As already noted, the struggle of the Egyptian decimal and the Babylonian sexagesimal system for supremacy was especially evident in the gold and silver weights, and the fact that the mina of 50 shekels became the standard was probably due to Phenician influence. The gold shekel was originally 1/60 of the weight of the mina, and the silver shekel, which was intended to correspond in value to the gold one, should consequently have been 40/3 x 1/60 = 2/9 of the weight of the mina, since the ratio between gold and silver had gradually become as 40 to 3. Since this shekel could not have been commonly used as currency, however, a demand arose for a smaller coin of practical size, which might be made either by dividing the silver equivalent of the gold shekel into ten parts, thus giving a silver shekel of 2/90 = 1/45 of the weight of the mina, or by dividing the silver equivalent into fifteen parts, giving a silver shekel of 2/9 x 15 = 2/135 of the weight of the mina. When the decimal system had become established the gold and the silver mina each were reckoned at 50 of these shekels. Hence there were (1) the Babylonian silver mina, equal to 50 x 1/45 = 10/9 of the weight of the mina, and (2) the Phenician silver mina, equal to 50 x 2/135 = 100/135 = 20/27 of the weight of the mina.
In the original Babylonian silver currency the silver shekel was divided into thirds, sixths, and twelfths, while in the Phenician currency it was divided into halves, fourths, and eighths. These Phenician silver shekels were current among the Jews also, as is shown by the fact that the same division is found among them, a quarter of a shekel being mentioned in I Sam. ix. 8, while a half-shekel is mentioned as the Temple tax in the Pentateuch. The extant shekels of the Maccabean period vary between 14.50 and 14.65 grams, and are thus equivalent to 2/135 of the great "common" Babylonian mina—14.55 grams. The mina was equivalent, therefore, to 725.5 grams, and the talent to 43.659 kilograms. The Babylonian shekel, which was equal to 10/9 of the weight of the mina, was introduced in the Persian time, for Nehemiah fixed the Temple tax at a third of a shekel. This Persian monetary system was based on the small mina, its unit being the siglos, which was equal to one-half of the Babylonian shekel, its ratio to the Jewish shekel being 3 to 8. It was considered the hundredth instead of the fiftieth part of the mina, and weighed between 5.61 and 5.73 grams, while the mina weighed between 565 and 573 grams, and the talent between 33,660 and 34,380 kilograms.
In the Maccabean period the Phenician silver shekel was again current, the Temple tax once more being a half-shekel (Matt. xvii. 24-27, R. V.). See Numismatics.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=587&letter=S
The Wealth Of Solomon
Background Information
Ancient Weights, Measures, Prices & Wages
1 silver talent = 3000 silver shekels = 660 000 grains, or 220 grains/shekel.
1 gold talent = 10000 gold shekels = 1 320 000 grains, or 132 grains/shekel.
(See Weights Entry: Smith’s Bible Dictionary, by William Smith, Thomas Nelson Publishing 1986.)
1 silver shekel = 220 grains 1 drachma = 1 denarius
1 gold daric = 129 grains
1 Roman stater = 1 Jewish stater (shekel) = 4 drachmae = 4 denarii
(Money Entry: Smith’s Bible Dictionary.)
As Mr. Smith points out, the Jewish gold shekel of 132 grains was later reduced to match the more international gold daric of 129 grains. On the other hand, the silver shekel, from Old Testament times remained at 220 grains (since God frowned on the debasing or tampering of the common currency).
1 cor = 10 ephah = 220 litres = 6 bushels
1 bath = 1 ephah = 22 litres = ½ bushel
1 mina = 1/60 talent = 50 shekels
(1 quart = 1.136 litres)
(Weights & Measures, Smith’s Bible Dictionary.)
Wages & cost In Ancient Athens**
acropolis labourer 1 drachma/day Athens’s Walls 17,000,000 drachma
architect 2 drachma/day goat 10 drachma
potter 1 drachma/day house 2000 drachma
hoplite at siege 2 drachma/day 1 litre olive oil 3 obols
housemaid 2 obols/day trireme 6,000 drachma
seasonal labourer 2 obols/day 5 litres wine 1drachma
mud carrier 3 obols/day cow 50 drachma
slave miner (+food) 1 obol/day horse 1,200 drachma
temple builder 2.5 drachma/day 25 kg wheat 3 drachma
3 obols = 1 drachma
(Ancient Coin Collecting II, by Wayne G. Sayles, Krause Publications 1997 Iola Wisconsin)
Putting The Information Together
One of the main assumptions of this study is that wages and prices were stable in the ancient world. Inflation is a modern economic invention. Past societies were agricultural and simpler. Had values fluctuated severely and often, not one of the great ancient or classical empires would have been possible. Unless war, famine, plague or some other catastrophe interfered, wages and prices remained flat and manageable.
An extension of this assumption is that the rates of pay were similar over the entire ancient world. In Rome, the common coin was the denarius, while in Greece it was the drachma. Differing in time, region and even weight, they were close enough to be considered equal in value. As time went on and trade increased, they did become equal in weight and value.
Now if we assume coins, or money by weight in different regions were similar, then we must also assume that wheat grown in Spain would sell for the same price as wheat grown in Egypt (under the same conditions without catastrophe). But is this a good guess?
There is a basis for this assumption. The Athenian Empire precedes the Roman Empire by 300 to 400 years and is in a different part of the Mediterranean. An acropolis labourer was paid 1 drachma a day in Athens. A Roman legionnaire was paid 375 denarii a year, or 1.03 denarii a day. The names of the coins may have been different, but the wage was practically the same.
A final proof that wages and cost do not change can be seen comparing the coinage during Roman times in Judea with a piece of money during the time of the Judges (1000 years apart). Saul’s servant was carrying a “fourth part of a shekel” (1 Sam 9:8). This is the same fraction as a denarius compared with a shekel.
The second example supporting this assumption can be seen in the various exchange rates of precious metals. In Lydia (region of Turkey), around the 6th century BCE, the rate of gold to silver was 1:13.3 The Babylonian rate was 1:13.5, while during the age of Greece, it was 1:12. By Roman times, it was 1:11.6. This stability was spread over 600 years. The only reason it changed was because more gold mines had opened.
The third example comes from the Bible. Deuteronomy 15:12-18 sets the cost of a slave in 1400 BC at ½ the cost of a hired servant. The cost of a slave compared to a seasonal labourer in Athens was 1 obol to 2 obols. The proportion is the same, even though a thousand years separates these two sources of information.
Now a hired servant in ancient Israel might not be the same as a seasonal labourer. A hired servant might be more like the acropolis labourer. If we assume this, then we have a difference of 1 drachma for the servant to 1 obol (1/3 drachma) for the slave.
Note that Deuteronomy 15:12-18 only states that the cost of a slave is less than half a hired servant. It does not really say exactly how much less. The Bible could easily have stated the next smaller fraction (1/4, 1/5th), but did not. My next assumption is that God set the cost of a slave generously high to prevent exploitation.
The Athenian slave miner’s cost of 1/3rd an acropolis labourer is the bare minimum. It is even less than the daily wage of early Roman legionnaires (½ denarius per day), a wage meant only to cover the cost of food. This type of slavery reflects our current understanding, where slavery is oppressive and inhumane.
The Mosaic Law’s slave cost set at half a hired servant was done by God to prevent extremes. Slavery was not supposed to be permanent (Deuteronomy 15:12). A slave could save up money and redeem himself (Leviticus 25:49 - a slave could “own property”!). This is only possible if the slave cost was generous. God is generous.
These laws were made by a people who escaped Egyptian slavery. They understood exploitation (Deuteronomy 15:15). Slavery was more a national institution than personal one (Deuteronomy 20:11, 24:7). Special provisions were given for a slave to be released early (Exodus 21:26-27, Deuteronomy 21:10-14). An entire system of tithes was set up to prevent abject poverty, and thus slavery (Deuteronomy 26:12). Escaped slaves from foreign lands were even allowed to become Israeli citizens (Deuteronomy 23:15-16). Most importantly, no law was ever made to prevent the redemption of non-Hebrew slaves.
It should also be noted in the King James Version that the word slave is rarely used. Only later translations used the word slave. The KJV used the word servant, and bond servant. The Bible’s idea of slavery is very different from our modern concept.
(Sources:
Handbook To Life In Ancient Greece, by Lesley Adkins and Roy Adkins, Oxford University Press 1997
Facts On File Encyclopaedia Of Ancient Rome, by Bunsen, Facts On File.)
Cost Conversions
To facilitate our study, several conversion calculations are presented below. The cost of various items have been converted to shekels.
Olive Oil
1 litre cost 3 obols, or 1 drachma.
Since 1 shekel equals 4 drachma, 1 shekel would buy 4 litres of olive oil.
Wine
5 litres of wine cost 1 drachma.
1 shekel would buy four times as much, or 20 litres of wine.
Horse & Ox (Cow)
A cow in ancient Athens cost 50 drachma while a horse cost 1200 drachma. In other words, one horse was equivalent in price to 24 cows. Deuteronomy 17:17 states that Israel’s kings were not to build vast cavalry forces. They were an expensive drain on the country, and until the invention of the horse collar, were useless on the farm, incapable of being yoked to a plough.
Now the Bible sets the cost of a horse at 150 shekels (1 Kings 10:20). According to our conversion chart, this would be 600 drachma (150 shekels x 4 drachma/shekel). But the Athenian cost of a horse is 1200 drachma. Is our conversion wrong? Not at all. It must be remembered that Solomon was acting as a middle man. He took advantage of Israel’s central location, importing and exporting horses and chariots. He paid 150 shekels (or 600 drachma) for a horse, and probably sold it to other nations at 300 shekels (1200 drachma).
If we assume the price of an ox (cow) in Solomon’s time was the same as in Athens, we can use the same 1:24 proportion.
Ox
Horse = 1
24 OR Ox
150 = 1
24
Ox = 150 ÷ 24 = 6.25 (6.25 shekels bought 1 ox or cow. They would be sold at 12.5 shekels.)
Sheep
1 goat cost 10 drachma, or 2.5 shekels (10/4).
Wheat
3 drachma bought 25 kg of wheat.
25kg x 2.2lb/kg ÷ 57.58lbs/bushel = 0.955 bushels of wheat
X bushels
0.955 bushels = 1 shekels
0.75 shekels
X = 0.955 x 1/0.75 = 1.27 bushels for 1 shekel.
Now 1 cor = 6 bushels. (Thus: 6 bushels x 1 shekel/1.27 bushels = 4.72 shekels. 4.72 shekels bought 1 cor of wheat.)
Barley
Revelation 6:6 sets the ratio of wheat to barley at three to one. Now if 1 shekel bought 1.27 bushels of wheat, then 1 shekel would buy 1.27 x 3 bushels of barley, or 3.81 bushels.
Oats
Using the modern proportion of oats being 3 times the price of wheat, 1 shekel would buy 1.27 bushels/3, or .43 bushels of oats.
Horse Upkeep
Around 200 BC, the Roman Republic was just an expanding power. Its military consisted of volunteers. It was not a professional army with regular pay. Pay was meant as compensation to offset cost incurred while in the army. The legionnaire was given .5 denarius a day (1/8th shekel). Centurions received 1 denarius (1/4 shekel), and cavalrymen receive 1.5 denarius (3/8th shekel). If we assume this was all for food, then a full denarius went to feeding the horse.
From the Oats section (see above), 1 shekel bought .43 bushels of oats. 1 denarius would buy a quarter of this, or .1075 bushels. There are 32 quarts per bushel. 0.1075 bushels would be 3.44 quarts. This compares very well with our modern information on horse care. A horse ridden 3 to 5 hours a day requires at least 3/4 to 1 gallon of oats. Thus 1 shekel would feed 4 horses for a day.
Army Pay
By the time of Augustus Caesar (Jesus’ time), Rome had a regular professional army. The legionnaire was paid 225 denarii a year, served 20 years and receive a bonus or pension of 3000 denarii. All told, this would be 7500 denarii (225 x 20 + 3000 = 7500). Averaged over 20 years, this would be 375 denarii/year or roughly 1.03 denarius a day, slightly more than a common labourer. The legionnaire had steady work and pay, and he wasn’t always fighting in a war. The common labourer’s work was seasonal and irregular. Centurions at this time earned 10 times the pay of a legionnaire.
(Source: Handbook To Life In Ancient Rome, by Lesley Adkins and Roy Adkins, Oxford University Press 1994)
Gold, Silver Conversion
Since the exchange rate of gold to silver, and the weights for each are different, conversions are necessary. The Babylonian gold silver ratio is used because Babylon was closer to Israel geographically and chronologically.
1 gold talent = 10,000 gold shekels
10,000 gold shekels = 1,320,000 gold grains
1,320,000 gold grains x 13.5 silver grains/gold grain = 17,832,000 silver grains
17,832,000 silver grains / 220 silver grains per shekel = 81,054 silver shekels
81,054 silver shekels / 3,000 silver shekels per silver talent = 27 silver talents
Thus: 1 gold talent = 27 silver talents = 81000 silver shekels
Typical Calculation
The typical calculation in this study involves various steps. Consider the case of eating a cow per day for 40 years. How much would this cost in gold talents? One cow cost 50 drachma. This would be 50 drachma per day.
50 drachma for 365 days is: 50 x 365 = 18,250 drachma
over 50 years: 18,250 x 50 = 730,000 drachma
Monetary Unit Conversion Calculation & Result
730 000 drachmas 4 drachmas/shekel 730 000 ÷ 4 = 182 500 shekels
182 500 shekels 3000 shekels / silver talent 182 500 ÷ 3000 = 60.833 silver talents
60.833 silver talents 27 silver talents / gold talent 60.833 ÷ 27 = 2.253 gold talents
Total cost would be 2.253 gold talents.
http://www.angelfire.com/journal/bibleissues/solomon/study01.htm
So have fun.
Nobody seems to be able to quite agree on it, and every one who makes a claim about is making quite a few guesses and assumptions.
Darn good question actually.
2007-11-01 18:33:18
·
answer #1
·
answered by Y!A-FOOL 5
·
10⤊
2⤋