How Many Silver Pieces Was Jesus Betrayed For

Thirty pieces of silver – Wikipedia

János Pentelei Molnár’s painting of Judas getting thirty pieces of money in exchange for not betraying Jesus was completed in 1909. According to the Gospel of Matthew26:15 in the New Testament, the price for Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus was thirty pieces of silver, which he paid with his life. Judas is claimed to have gone to the chief priests before the Last Supper and promised to deliver over Jesus in exchange for 30 silver pieces, and to have sought to return the money later, overcome with guilt, although this is not supported by the evidence.

The picture has frequently appeared in works of art representing the Passion of Jesus Christ.

Biblical narrative

As recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, Judas Iscariot was a follower of Jesus Christ. Judas went to the chief priests before the Last Supper and promised to deliver away Jesus in return for 30 silver pieces. In Gethsemane, Jesus was captured and Judas disclosed Jesus’ identify to the soldiers by giving him akiss, indicating that he was the Messiah. Chapter 27 of Matthew’s gospel describes Judas as being overcome with guilt and returning the money to the chief priests before committing suicide by hanging.

According to the Book of Acts1:17–20, a separate narrative of Judas’ death is presented; in it, Peteris reported as saying: “With the reward he earned for his immorality, Judas purchased a field; there he fell headfirst, his body burst open, and all his intestines flowed out.” However, although the Gospel of Luke, which is widely believed to have been written by the same author as Acts, indicates in 22:3–6 that Judas and the chief priests and temple guard officers agreed on a price, neither the sum nor the method of payment are stated, unlike Matthew.

Types of coin

There are several possibilities for the identification of the coins that make up the thirty-piece set, one of which being the Antiochan Stater. Another alternative for the sort of currency in question is the Atyrian shekel (). The Greek term for “silver money” in Matthew 26:15 (argyria) simply means “silver coins,” and experts are divided on what kind of coinage would have been used in that situation. Donald Wiseman proposes two different scenarios. EntetradrachmsofTyre, also known as Tyrrian shekels (14 grams of 94 percent silver), orstatersfromAntioch (15 grams of 75 percent silver), which carried the head of Augustus, were two possible options.

A troy ounce weighs 31.1035 grams, which is a fraction of a gram. At a spot price of $28 per ounce of silver in 2021, 30 “pieces of silver” would be worth roughly $91 to $441 in present-day currency (USD), depending on which coin was chosen to represent the silver.

Type Purity Weight (g) Actual Silver Weight (g) ASW of 30 coins (ozt) Silver Value at 2021 prices
Tyrian shekels 94% 14 13.16 12.69 $355.32
Antioch Staters 75% 15 11.25 10.85 $303.80
Ptolemaic tetradrachms 25% 13.5 3.375 3.26 $91.28
Athenian Tetradrachm 95% 17.2 16.34 15.76 $441.28

It weighed four Atheniandrachmas (approximately 14 grams), which was slightly more than the preceding 11-gram Israeli shekel, although it was recognized as the equal for religious responsibilities at the time of its introduction. Because Roman money was only 80 percent silver, the purer (94 percent or more) Tyrian shekels were necessary to pay the temple tax in Jerusalem, despite the fact that Roman coinage was only 80 percent silver. It is likely that the currency exchangers mentioned in the New Testament Gospels (Matt.

  1. Athenian tetradrachm (“four drachmae”) coin from the 5th century BCE was possibly the most frequently used coin in the Greek world prior to the period of Alexander the Great, and it is still in use today (along with theCorinthianstater).
  2. Because they were known as glaukes (owls) in everyday conversation, the adage ‘an owl to Athens,’ or ‘an owl to Newcastle,’ was created to refer to something that was in ample abundance, such as ‘coals to Newcastle’.
  3. Drachmae were coined in different weight standards at different Greek mints, resulting in a variety of denominations.
  4. A drachma was about equivalent to a day’s wages for a competent craftsman.
  5. Many ancient Greek coins from the island of Rhodes were on exhibit at religious institutions during the medieval period, and some were instances of the Thirty Pieces of Silver.
  6. They were taken to depict the Crown of Thorns, which was viewed as a series of rays.

Theological interpretation

InZechariah11:12–13, the compensation that Zechariah receives for his labor is specified as 30 pieces of silver. In his hands, he places the money and tosses them “to the potter”. Klaas Schilder observes that Zechariah’s payout reflects both an appraisal of his merit and his removal from the company. According to Exodus 21:32, the price of a slave was 30 pieces of silver; hence, when Zechariah refers to the sum as a “handsome price” (Zechariah 11:13), he may be referring to sarcasm. Barry Webb, on the other hand, considers it to be a “substantial quantity of money.” Schilder speculates that the Spirit of Prophecy will use these 30 pieces of silver to “battle back and forth” with one another.

Theologian Craig Blomberg contends that Matthew is employing typology in his passage rather than “any type of single or double fulfillment of true prophetic prophesy,” as others have suggested.

The use of the blood money to purchase aburial land for foreigners (Matthew 27:7), according to Blomberg, may allude to the idea that “Jesus’ death is a ransom, the price paid to secure a slave’s freedom,” and that “Jesus’ death makes salvation possible for all the peoples of the world, including the Gentiles,” as well.

  • This term appears in two passages: (A) the tale of our Lord’s betrayal for ‘thirty pieces of silver,’ and (B) the account of our Lord’s resurrection (Matt.
  • 15; xxvii.
  • These have traditionally been regarded as denarii, although this has never been supported by substantial evidence.
  • 12, 13) is rendered “thirty of silver,” but it should most likely be read “thirty shekels of silver,” because it is readily apparent that “thirty shekels of silver” was the price of blood that had to be paid in the instance of a servant who had been inadvertently slain (Exod.
  • 32).
  • These tetradrachms were widespread throughout the time of our Lord, and the stater was an example of one of these coins.” Some consider this to be one of the numerous similarities between Socrates and Jesus, and others do not.

Crito, Critobulus, and Apollodorus, three of Socrates’ friends, urged that he simply pay a fine of thirty minae in lieu of a trial.

Relics and depiction in art

Judas Returning the Thirty Silver Pieces, a painting by Rembrandt from 1629. Judas is frequently depicted in narrative sequences from the Passion with the silver in a bag or pocketbook, which serves as a distinguishing characteristic to distinguish him. While not considered to be ” Instruments of the Passion,” as a collection of instruments, the Thirty Pieces by themselves frequently appear in groups of the Instruments, particularly in the late Middle Ages, despite being one of the least frequently chosen pieces of the group.

  1. Many “Judas-pennies,” antique coins thought to be from the original thirty, were venerated as relics throughout the Middle Ages, and it was believed that they might benefit women who were having difficult pregnancies.
  2. This arose as a result of new kinds of devotion, spearheaded in particular by the Franciscans, which encouraged contemplation of the Passion episode by episode, as in theStations of the Cross, as a result of the Reformation.
  3. The stone is said to have been found in the Lateran Palace.
  4. Inscribed on the mount is “Quia precium sanguinis est” (What is the blood of the lion) (Latin: “This is the price of blood”).

Literary references

This coin is said to be one of the so-called thirty pieces of silver, and it is worth a lot of money (Hunt Museum) The number thirty pieces of silver is used in Christian literature to represent Jesus’ betrayal, as in the poemThirty Pieces of Silverby William Blane: “Thirty pieces of silver” “Thirty pieces of silver! Oh, that’s a horrific gain!” the traitor’s brain screams as it burns. Alternatively, as described in the poemMatthew XXVII:9byJorge Luis Borges: The penny landed on the palm of my hollow hand.

  1. It was all for naught.
  2. The expression “30 pieces of silver” is used more broadly to denote a price at which individuals are willing to sell out their possessions.
  3. No monarch is worth more than Jesus, according to a folk song titled King John and the Bishop.
  4. When Falstaff’s mistress asks him “and didst thou not kiss me, and bid me fetch thee thirty shillings?” in Shakespeare’s playHenry IV, Part 2, the answer is “no.” It is the account of F.

Tennyson Jesse’s “Treasure Trove” that tells of the modern-day recovery of the thirty pieces of silver, and how they lead men to commit murder, manslaughter, homicide and even suicide in order to get their hands on them.

Modern usage

An insult involving the thirty pieces of silver is frequently used in conjunction with religious overtones and is commonly referred to as “the thirty pieces of silver.” During the Reformation, many Christian churches used the phrase to disparage other Christian faiths and to justify their own practices. Towards the end of the Dreyfus Affair, anti-Semitic fervor towards Alfred Dreyfus, who was suspected of selling military secrets to Germany, was accompanied with the expression “thirty pieces.” The term is used to accuse politicians and artists of betraying their values or goals, and it is also employed as a symbol of treachery in literature and other forms of expression.

During the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, a spokeswoman from Tuvalu criticized the final text, stating, “The final document is a sham.” “It appears that we are being paid 30 pieces of silver in exchange for betraying our country and our future.

See also

  • Judas’s bargain
  • Coins in the Bible
  • Judas’s kiss
  • And other topics. The New Testament portrayal of Jesus’ life
  • Jews, money, and myth

References

  1. “Matthew 26:15,” p. 126–128
  2. “Matthew 27 – New International Version (NIV),” p. 384–387
  3. “Matthew 27 – New International Version (NIV),” p. 3 Michael E. Marotta is an American businessman and philanthropist (2001). “The so-called ‘Coins of the Bible,'” says the author. The original version of this article was published on June 18, 2002. ‘Ancient Jewish Coins Related to the Works of Josephus’, citing David Hendin’s Guide to Biblical Coins and Y. Meshorer’s Ancient Jewish Coinage
  4. ‘The Role of Coins in the First Revolt’, citing David Hendin’s Guide to Biblical Coins and Y. Meshorer’s Ancient Jewish Coinage
  5. ‘The Role of Coins in the First Revolt’, citing David Hendin’s Guide to Biblical Accessed on October 29, 2008
  6. “Israel photographs III”
  7. InLiddell and Scott
  8. Thucydides,History of the Peloponnese War3.17.4
  9. Ehrman, Bart
  10. Plese, Zlatko
  11. Archived from the original on October 29, 2008
  12. (2011). In this volume, you will find both the texts of the Apocryphal Gospels and translations into English. In the book of Zechariah, Klaas Schilder (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1938), 74, Barry Webb (Bible Speaks Today
  13. Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2003), 151, Klaas Schilder (Christ in His Suffering), 71
  14. Schilder (Christ in His Suffering), 71
  15. S For example, John Calvin asserts that “the sentence itself obviously demonstrates that the name of Jeremiah has been mistakenly placed down instead of the name of Zechariah, for in Jeremiah we find nothing of the type, nor anything even quite approaching it.” A Commentary on the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke
  16. John Calvin’s Commentary on the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke Craig S. Keener, “The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary,” in G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (eds. ),Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 657
  17. Craig L. Blomberg, “Matthew,” in G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (eds (1984). Four Texts on Socrates include an Apology. In a recent article, I discussed how the Reformation affected the military orders. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, p. 92
  18. Gertrud Schiller’s Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. II (translated by Janet Seligman
  19. London: Lund Humphries, 1972), 190–196
  20. G. F. Hill’s “Coins and Medals (Western),” in James Hastings and John A. Selbie (eds. ), Encyclopedia (1992). A dictionary of biblical tradition as depicted in English literature, with an emphasis on the Old Testament. ISBN 978-0-8028-3634-2
  21. Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (Ware: Wordsworth Classics, 2000), page 766. ISBN 978-0-8028-3634-2
  22. Keith Carabine’s note on page 470
  23. William J. Leatherbarrow’s The Cambridge Companion to Dostoevskii (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 98
  24. The people of the street in Balmain where he was born sent him thirty pieces of silver
  25. “Future not for sale: climate agreement rejected.” ABC News, December 19, 2009. retrieved on September 11, 2010
  26. Carol Kurvilla is a woman who lives in Finland (January 15, 2021). According to the New York Times, “an evangelical pastor compares Republicans who voted for Trump’s impeachment to Judas.” HuffPost
See also:  What Will Happen When Jesus Returns

Professing Faith: What can you buy for the biblical 30 pieces of silver?

The phrase “30 pieces of silver” is a proverb that may be found in many different languages nowadays. When someone betrays another person or a significant cause, they are said to have sold out and accepted money, high office, or personal benefit in return for their actions. The expression derives, of course, from the Bible, because it was for 30 pieces of silver that Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ, and so the phrase is derived. But what was the true value of 30 silver pieces back in the day? The plot of the story is well-known.

  • (Matthew 26:14-16; Mark 10:14-16; Luke 10:14-16) In the end, Judas repents his actions and throws the money back at the priests, who refuse to restore it to the treasury since it has now become “blood money.” Judas is executed as a result of his actions.
  • In Matthew 27:3–10, the Bible says: As a result, it is possible that religious officials of the day considered the money to be ritually filthy, and thus it was used to purchase a lot for deceased gentiles, persons who were outside the covenant and hence spiritually unclean.
  • In such purchase, Christians would discern a deeper metaphor, in that Christ’s blood was used to purchase a place for them in both death and life.
  • The difficulty with the 30 pieces of silver is that we don’t know which coins are being referred to in the text when we say they are.
  • To put it another way, if we were to say, “I spent 30 greenbacks for this and that,” it would signify something entirely different depending on whether we were referring to a $1 bill or a $100,000 note.
  • In antiquity, the weight of the silver currency was all that counted in terms of exchange, and people were not very concerned with whose monarch or empire produced the coin.
  • The stater issued by Antioch, the shekel of Tyre, and the tetradrachem of Ptolemaic Egypt are the most likely possibilities for Judas’ finder’s fee, according to historians.

According to some researchers, one silver piece represented a day’s wages for a working worker.

The pay for thirty days would be $3,600.

The currency minted at Antioch was Roman in origin and depicted the dead of Caesar, but it was only around 80 percent pure when it left the mint there.

The fact that money changers in the Bible were regarded in such low regard by Jesus and others is no surprise; trading coins of comparable weight made it very easy for a cunning banker to sell less silver for more by trading coins of different weights.

A slave was killed by an ox, according to the Torah, and his owner was required to pay him with 30 shekels of silver, after which the animal was put to death.

(See Exodus 21:32 for further information).

No one can argue that the Christian writers of the New Testament saw this amount as foreshadowing the salvation of the faithful at the cost of one innocent man’s life, as they did in the Old Testament.

The fate of the original 30 pieces of silver is unknown, however numerous antique coins purporting to be the originals were preserved as relics in shrines throughout Europe during the Middle Ages.

The recent national political conventions held in this past month, as well as the conventions of both political parties, have supplied several examples of this.

Postal letters should be addressed to: Professing Faith, PO Box 8102, Redlands, CA 92375-1302; email should be addressed to: [email protected]; and Twitter should be addressed to: @Fatherelder

The Surprising Meaning of 30 Pieces of Silver in the Bible

taylorhalverson.com has given permission for the following to be reproduced on their website. Before His death, Jesus gathered with His followers for one more time before departing this world. They ate the customary Jewish Passover meal, which was also known as Jesus’ Last Supper, together. At this lunch, Jesus shared some distressing information with the disciples: “Truly, verily, I say unto you, one of you will betray me. I swear to you by my God. The disciples then glanced at one another, uncertain as to whom he was speaking.

  1. Jesus responded.
  2. And he asked them, “What would you offer me, and I will surrender him to you?” they said.
  3. And from that point on, I was looking for an opportunity to betray.” (Matthew 26:14-16; Mark 10:14-16; Luke 10:14-16) However, the course of events took a very different turn than Judas had anticipated or intended.
  4. As soon as Judas realized that he had been convicted, he repented and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, explaining that he had sinned in that he had betrayed the innocent blood.

Thirty Pieces of Silver as a Tithing

taylorhalverson.com has given permission for the following to be reprinted. Just before His death, Jesus gathered with His disciples for one final time. It was at Jesus’ Last Supper that they had the traditional Jewish Passover meal. At this lunch, Jesus shared some distressing information with the group: “Truly, verily, I say unto you, one of you will betray me. I swear to you, I swear unto you.” Once they realized who he was talking about, they began to stare at one another. Is it not He to whom I will offer a sop once I have dipped it?

  • He then handed the sop to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, after he had dipped it.
  • ) “Then… Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and confessed his sins before them.
  • Then came the opportunity to betray him at the right time.
  • However, events transpired in a manner that was completely different from what Judas had anticipated.
  • As soon as Judas realized that he had been convicted, he repented and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, declaring, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.

” “And he threw the silver pieces on the ground in the temple, withdrew, and proceeded to the place where he was to be hung. The Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 27:1–5) What exactly are the thirty pieces of silver representing?

Thirty Pieces of Silver as the Price of a Slave

If we look to the Law of Moses (Exodus 21:32), we find that if an animal gores a slave to death, the owner of the animal is obligated to pay thirty shekels as compensation for the slave’s death. The slave is worth thirty shekels, which is a lot of money. According to this viewpoint, Jesus is worth the same as a slave. His death is equivalent to the worth of a slave’s death.

Twenty Pieces of Silver: Joseph Being Sold as a Slave into Egypt as Prefiguration of Jesus

Others have seen Joseph’s narrative as a metaphor or prefiguration of the life of Jesus Christ. Joseph, Jacob’s son, is described in Genesis 37 as the chosen son who both dreams and interprets his father’s dreams. Joseph’s elder brothers are resentful of their father’s attention being lavished on the youngest of his sons. They are angered by Joseph’s interpretation of dreams in his own advantage, depicting the brothers as being subservient to Joseph in their dreams. In order to assassinate Joseph, the elder brothers scheme, but Judah persuades them to sell Joseph as a slave.

A caravan of Midianites merchants came by; they took advantage of the opportunity to draw and hoist Joseph out of the hole, selling him to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver, and transporting him to Egypt.” (Genesis 37:28-29; Isaiah 59:1-2) Despite the fact that the actual sale price differs between Joseph and Jesus (twenty shekels against thirty shekels), many have speculated that inflation would cause the twenty pieces of silver in Joseph’s day to be equal to the thirty shekels in Jesus’ time, as in the case of Joseph.

Thirty Pieces of Silver as a Trifling, Meaningless Amount

All of the information presented above is intriguing and instructive. However, it is the ancient Sumerian civilization that provides the most compelling insight for me. From around 4000 BC to 2000 BC, the Sumerians lived in ancient southern Mesopotamia and had a thriving society (southern Iraq). Archaeologists have unearthed and translated hundreds of thousands of Sumerian tablets throughout the years, which include the stories, songs, and sayings of the ancient civilization. What exactly has been found thus far?

  • Given that thirty shekels of silver was a substantial quantity of money in ancient Sumerian civilization, this appears to be an odd and contradictory way to describe something as being worthless.
  • In Sumerian society, the number sixty (60) served as the fundamental, or basic number, in the same way that the number ten (10) serves in our civilization today.
  • In the thoughts of the Sumerians, sixty represented completion, fullness, usefulness, productivity, and necessity, as well as the foundation for measuring and evaluating everything.
  • Thirty percent of sixty equals thirty.
  • As a result, “thirty shekels of silver” refers to a trivially little sum of money with no monetary worth.
  • And as the years passed, this word came to be used more frequently by various cultures in the ancient Middle East, including ancient Israel.

While the meaning of “thirty shekels of silver” varied depending on the culture, the phrase’s underlying meaning remained the same: meaningless, low value, insignificant, unfinished, and unworthy of consideration.

Jesus Who Was Deemed as Worthless Gained All and Invited Us to Share in Everything

What do we place a value on Jesus? What is the significance of the thirty shekels of silver in relation to Jesus? Those who rejected Him did not seem to place any value on his life. In Isaiah 53, the incomparable prophet Isaiah perfectly articulated this sentiment. Yet, what a contrast when we understand that He who had lost everything, had received everything, and had then turned around to give us everything is truly amazing. In the presence of God, the value of everlasting life was acquired for Himself and for everything else by the man who was considered a trifling, a slave, unfinished, useless, and unworthy of value.

Lead image fromChurchofJesusChrist.org

Jesus’ worth is determined by our own. The thirty shekels of silver represent what Jesus represents. Those who rejected Him seemed to place no value on his life. In Isaiah 53, the incomparable prophet Isaiah perfectly articulated his feelings. The contrast is striking when we realize that He who lost everything, gained it all, and then turned around to give us everything is the God of the universe. In the presence of God, the value of eternal life was won for Himself and for everything else by the man who was regarded as a trifle, a slave, incomplete, worthless, and unworthy of praise and glory.

See also:  What Did Jesus Do For Us

How much might Judas’ 30 pieces of silver be worth today?

It is still unclear if Judas betrayed Jesus for the money or for any other reason. Even the Gospels appear to be divided on the subject. The Gospel of Matthew (27:1–10) contrasts with the Gospels of John (13:27) and Luke (22:3) in that it depicts a Judas who, upon discovering that Jesus was to be crucified, attempts to return the money he had been given for his treachery to the chief priests before committing himself by hanging. When it comes to trying to go back in time and find the actual intentions of Judas Iscariot, it is difficult, if not impossible, to say the least.

  1. More information may be found at: What is it about Judas Iscariot that makes him unworthy of being a saint?
  2. “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” he inquired of the chief priests from one of the twelve disciples, who went by the name of Judas Iscariot at the time.
  3. Since then, he has been on the lookout for a chance to betray him.
  4. As described in the book of Zechariah, the prophet gets paid the same amount as a shepherd for his daily wages.
  5. They calculated my pay as thirty shekels of silver, which they paid me.
  6. As a result, I took the thirty shekels of silver and placed them in the treasury of the Lord’s temple.

A slave who was murdered in the book of Exodus was said to have cost thirty pieces of silver, according to the Bible. If an ox gores a slave, whether male or female, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the slave’s master, and the ox must be stoned as punishment. (Exodus21:32)

But what does this all mean in today’s current economy?

There are a number of distinct interpretations available. One idea holds that the pieces of silver used to pay Judas were equal in value to a Roman denarius, which was the currency at the time. According to historical records, a Roman soldier received around 225denarii every year. In comparison, the average annual salary of a modern-day United States military soldier is around $25,000. According to this understanding, Judas would have received almost $3,000 in today’s money. Various biblical scholars, on the other hand, point to the book of Exodus, which defines the price of a slave as thirty pieces of silver (or thirty pounds of silver).

  1. According to these theories, Judas may have been compensated somewhere from $90 and $3,000 in today’s currency.
  2. There’s no way to know for sure, but it’s evident that thirty pieces of silver were inadequate pay for the betrayal of a friend, as Judas himself tragically discovered, at least according to Matthew’s gospel: “.
  3. As a result of betraying innocent blood, he was forced to return the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, confessing his fault.
  4. “Take a look at it yourself.” He fled, throwing the money into the shrine before going off and hanging himself in the nearby forest.
  5. Visit the slideshow below to learn more about the famous tapestries of the Apostles by Raphael Sanzio, which were recently returned to the Sistine Chapel after a long period of absence.

How Much Were Judas Iscariot’s 30 Pieces of Silver Worth?

A common euphemism for treachery in Western culture is Judas Iscariot’s 30 pieces of silver, which is so widely known and infamous in history that it has become synonymous with betrayal. Have you ever pondered just what those 30 pieces of silver were, or how much they were worth in the first place? Scholars have been debating these issues for many years. Now let’s go through some of their suggestions. The facts of this incident may be found in Matthew chapters 26 and 27, which are written in the Bible.

As a result of his treachery, Judas was overcome with sorrow and he threw the money back at the priests in the Temple before he left and hung himself.

The term wasargyria, which literally translates as “silver coins,” was used by the gospel writer Matthew in Matthew 26:15.

This, of course, isn’t clear enough in terms of the kind of currencies that were involved. There were a variety of coins that might have been in circulation in Jerusalem during the year 33 A.D., including the following:

  • Tetradrachms of Tyre, also known as Tyrian shekels
  • Tetradrachms or Staters of Antioch
  • Ptolemaic tetradrachms
  • Roman denarii
  • Ptolemaic t

Tyrian shekels were the most valuable of them due to their high silver content (94 percent), and it was these that the priests demanded as payment for the temple tax. The silver content of this coin was 14 grams. Silver is now trading at $.47 per gram on the spot market. The silver content of these 30 coins is worth $197.40 in today’s money. Of course, the coins themselves are precious due to their age and historical significance, but at the time they were just typical silver coins that were utilized as trading tools in the marketplace.

  • You can’t just state that Judas betrayed Jesus for 200 dollars and be done with it.
  • What’s more interesting is the intention of Matthew, the author of the gospels.
  • This term is used in Zechariah 11 to refer to the monetary value of a slave, and it is based on Jewish Law.
  • It was supposed to be an insult, implying that they did not place any significance on his forecast.

So when Matthew says 30 pieces of silver and Judas throws it back into the treasury, it’s an allusion to this story in Zechariah in which unfaithful Jews undervalued a prophet of the Lord with an insulting amount of money – what a slave is worth – it’s an allusion to this story in Zechariah in which unfaithful Jews undervalued a prophet of the Lord with an insulting amount of money – what a slave Essentially, Matthew is arguing that the priests were ready to pay nearly nothing for Jesus’ body.

They were enraged at Jesus for the commotion he had caused in the temple by overturning the moneylenders’ tables and railing against the corrupt priests who were profiting from the sacrifices people had brought to Jerusalem to offer to God out of devotion and obligation to the Father.

Even though silver has been valued as a precious metal for the same period of time or longer, it is fascinating that the term “30 pieces of silver” has been associated with negative connotations such as scorn or treachery for thousands of years.

To learn more about any of the silver coins mentioned above, please contact Grand Rapids Coins. We would be happy to assist you. We would be delighted to assist you in obtaining any of these coins for your collection. Coins from the past bring history to life!

What is the significance of thirty pieces of silver?

QuestionAnswer Thirty pieces of silver were not a large sum of money in ancient Hebrew society. As a matter of fact, it was the precise amount that was paid to the slave’s master if and when his slave was gored by an ox (Exodus 21:32). The thirty pieces of silver were given as compensation for the slave’s death. It is worth noting that there are two other instances in the Bible where the quantity of thirty pieces of silver is precisely mentioned, and they are both tied together. The first passage is found in the book of Zechariah, and it contains a prophesy that is subsequently realized in the book of Matthew, which is the second passage.

Zechariah 11:4–14 describes how God assigned the prophet Zechariah to the role of a shepherd, caring for a flock that was “destined for slaughter.” That is how God used it to symbolize a prophetic judgment on Israel for crucifying Christ, which foretold the collapse of Israel in AD 70 and the dispersal of the Jewish people that followed.

  • First and foremost, Zechariah claims to have “gotten rid of the three shepherds” of the doomed sheep herd (verse 8).
  • Second, Zechariah loses both of his shepherding staffs in the process.
  • The other is named Justice, and it is broken to represent the bringing of justice upon the disobedient people (Zechariah 11:10).
  • Another prophetic allusion may be seen in the thirty pieces of silver that were presented to Zechariah when he completed his shepherding duties.
  • In exchange for the slave’s accidental death, they handed him thirty pieces of silver, which he sarcastically refers to as a “handsome payment” because it was such a tiny sum (Zechariah 11:13).
  • This sum of money was intended to be an insult to Zechariah by his employers.

When Judas Iscariot bargained with the leaders of Israel to betray the Lord Jesus, he asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” These actions are an astonishingly accurate and detailed prophecy, because when Judas Iscariotbargained with the leaders of Israel to betray the Lord Jesus, he asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” The homicidal gang then counted out “thirty pieces of silver” for Judas to betray them (Matthew 26:15).

That was the sum total of what they thought Jesus to be worth.

Following the prophecy of Zechariah (Matthew 27:6–10), the Jewish authorities used the thirty pieces of silver to purchase a field from a potter.

It was in that field that Judas committed suicide by hanging himself. Go back to the page with all of the Bible questions. Is it significant that there are thirty pieces of silver in total?

One of the 30 silver coins that Judas received for betraying Jesus is kept in Nin! – Blog

“What will you offer me if I bring him up to you?” demanded one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, as he approached the chief priests. And they gave him thirty pieces of silver in exchange for his services. Since then, he has been on the lookout for a chance to betray him. In Matthew 26:14, the Bible states that It was in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus was praying with the apostles that he betrayed him, with a kiss on the lips. He was apprehended, brought before Pilate, condemned, horribly tortured, and eventually executed as a result of his actions.

  1. They, on the other hand, reject him.
  2. It’s your company’s responsibility!” They informed him.
  3. One of these perilous coins made its way through history to Nin, the oldest Croatian royal town, and is now housed in the treasury of the parish church of St.
  4. Experts say that the Croatian coin is the most beautiful of the Judah coins that have been unearthed and kept in Europe.
  5. Part of the reliquary of Judas’ silver coin from the end of the 15th century, it is a household goldsmith’s creation in the shape of a six-sided prism with forged edges and glass walls, which is closed on three sides by a glass door.
  6. It has a diameter of 18.5 millimeters and is crafted entirely of silver.
  7. It is printed on the back (reverse) with a rose and a stalk, as well as on the right side of the card with a bunch and the letter E below it in the field on the left.
  8. The inscription POION appears at the very top of the design, above the flower.
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She specializes in the study of money and coins in Europe during the Middle Ages, and she would be able to provide additional information about the Nin silver coin, which has been preserved in the valuable collection of Nin church art for more than two and a half millennia and is waiting for the world to discover it.

Every day, it serves as a reminder of betrayal, repentance, Pilate’s hand washing, torture, and the crucifixion of the one who preached love and humility in the first place. The narrative that is the story of all stories. The Tourist Board of the city of Nin is in charge of this project.

Why Jesus Was Betrayed for Thirty Pieces of Silver

Rev. Margaret Minnicks is a Bible teacher who has been ordained. She publishes a lot of articles that are Bible lessons in disguise. Almost everyone in the Christian community is aware that Jesus was betrayed and sold for thirty pieces of silver. However, only a small number of individuals are aware of the importance of that sum. Find out why it was thirty pieces of silver rather than some other quantity of money.

Jesus and the Thirty Pieces of Silver

For the last time, Jesus gathered all of His disciples around Him for the Supper of the Lamb. Judas Iscariot had already gone to the chief priests and inquired as to what they would offer him in exchange for betraying Jesus prior to that event. They presented him with thirty pieces of silver, which Judas gratefully accepted (Matthew 26:15). “Truly, truly, I say unto you, that one of you will betray me,” Jesus declared at the celebration. The disciples then looked at one another, as though they were unsure about whom he was speaking.

  • Jesus responded.
  • Jesus was well aware that His time on this planet was drawing to a close.
  • As soon as Jesus had done praying, Judas came, accompanied by soldiers who had come to capture him.
  • Upon learning that Jesus would be executed by stoning, Judas was overcome with regret and made an unsuccessful attempt to restore the money he had stolen from the temple.
  • He acknowledged that he had committed a sin by betraying the innocent blood of Jesus.
  • The coins were not accepted by the chief priests and elders because they regarded them to be “blood money,” according to them.
  • According to Zechariah 11:12–13, the price for Zechariah’s work was thirty pieces of silver, which he received as payment.
  • Because of this, he took the money and tossed them “down to the potter.”

Joseph Was Sold for Twenty Pieces of Silver

For twenty pieces of silver, long before Jesus was sold for the price of a slave, Joseph was sold for the same amount of money since that was the going rate at the time for the sale of a slave. The cost of a slave had not increased significantly throughout the thousands of years that had elapsed between the time of Joseph and the time of Jesus. Initially, Joseph’s envious brothers sought to assassinate him. It was their intention to inform Jacob that his beloved son had been murdered by an animal after they had dumped him in a pit.

Judah rethought his decision to kill Joseph and offered that he be sold instead.

What was the purpose of the twenty pieces of silver that were given to the brothers? It may have been all of the loose coins that the men had with them. Or was there something particularly remarkable about that sum of money?

Hosea Bought His Wife Back for Fifteen Pieces of Silver

Jesus was bought for thirty pieces of silver and sold to a merchant. Joseph had previously been sold for the sum of twenty pieces of silver. There was another individual who had a price for her value in the period between those two dates and prices, and in the time between those two prices. The truth is that there was a woman whose husband was forced to pay fifteen pieces of silver to reclaim her from prostitution. Hosea is the first of the Bible’s twelve minor prophets, and he is the first to be mentioned.

God told him to marry Gomer, who was a well-known prostitute at the time.

This couple’s marriage served as a representation of how Israel had been unfaithful to God, and how God continued to forgive and love the country despite the fact that it had committed the sin of idol worship.

Hosea repurchases her for fifteen shekels and a quantity of grain he has on hand (Hosea 3:1).

Final Words

  • In exchange for twenty pieces of money, Joseph was sold into slavery
  • Gomer was purchased back for fifteen pieces of silver
  • And Jesus was betrayed in exchange for thirty pieces of silver.

All of the little sums that were heaped upon Joseph and Jesus were equal to the market value of a slave at that specific period. The period between the births of Joseph and Jesus coincided with Gomer’s liberation. Because she was a woman, the price for her was cheaper than for the other men.

Whose Amount?

Choose the most appropriate response for each question. The answer key may be seen below.

  • 15 pieces of silver
  • 20 pieces of silver
  • 30 pieces of silver
  • 15 pieces of silver
  • There are 15 pieces of gold, 20 pieces of gold, and 30 pieced of gold.
  • 15 silver pieces
  • 20 silver pieces
  • 30 silver pieces

Answer Key

  1. 15 pieces of silver
  2. 20 pieces of silver
  3. 30 pieces of silver

What Was The Significance With The 30 (Thirty) Pieces Of Silver In The Bible?

What is the significance of the Bible’s reference to 30 pieces of silver? Is it a large amount of money?

Joseph and Twenty Shekels of Silver

When Joseph was sold into slavery and transported to Egypt, the price was the common price for a slave in that day, which was 20 shekels of silver, which would be approximately the same price as the price of a slave in Jesus’ day, which was thirty pieces of silver, indicating that the price of a slave has not changed significantly in the time that has elapsed between Joseph’s appearance and Jesus’ appearance, which was between 4 and 6 BC.

According to the Scriptures, the value of twenty shekels was considerable in Joseph’s day, as we read that “Midianite traders walked by.they dragged Joseph up and hauled him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver.” “They transported Joseph to Egypt,” they said (Gen 37:28).

When Judas saw that they were about to murder Jesus, he tried all he could to stop them, but it was too late.

Zechariah and Thirty Pieces of Silver

Zechariah the Prophet published a book concerning thirty pieces of silver that had anything to do with God’s wrath. When God turns His attention to Israel, Zechariah writes, “Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter” (Zech 11:4) because “their own shepherds have no pity on them,” and as a result, God says, “I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hands.” (Zechariah 11:6) “At that point I told them, ‘If it seems good to you, give me my earnings; but if it does not, keep them.” They weighed my earnings, and they came up with thirty pieces of silver.

As a result, the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—which was the lordly price at which they had valued me.

Then I dissolved my second staff union, thereby ending the fraternity between Judah and Israel.” (See Zechariah 11:12-14.) Just as they rejected God as their genuine Shepherd, the Jews in Jesus’ day would reject Jesus as the Good Shepherd, just as they did in their own time.

Interesting enough, this location was utilized for the interment of foreigners.

Jesus and Thirty Pieces of Silver

The version in which Judas promised to betray Jesus in exchange for thirty pieces of silver is the most notable instance in which thirty pieces of silver are mentioned. That was extremely near to the price of a slave in that day and age, exactly as it had been in Joseph’s day, when the price of a slave was around twenty shekels of silver. When Judas saw that they were about to murder Jesus, he tried all he could to stop them, but it was too late. He returned before the chief priests and elders and confessed, saying, “I have sinned by betraying the blood of innocents.” “What does that mean to us?” they inquired.

” (See Matthew 27:4-5.) The Jews saw this as blood money, and because they were unable to utilize it in the temple, they ended up purchasing the potter’s field (Matt 27:7), which had been prophesied by Zechariah hundreds of years before.

“Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah,” Matthew wrote.

Formerly Slaves

Don’t forget that we were once slaves, but we were sold in accordance with the law, and it would have cost far more than thirty pieces of silver to buy us. Due to the fact that it would never have been paid (Rev 20:12-15), we can’t expect lost sinners to behave any differently, and it should humble us to recall that we were once bound to our sins. In fact, we were no more capable of dissolving our ties than the Jews were of overthrowing the Roman Empire. God the Father provided us with more than just a little assistance; we required a God, and God the Father provided that by sending us His Son, Jesus Christ, and now, “having been set free from sin, we have become slaves of righteousness” (Rom 6:18), so that “now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you receive leads to sanctification and its ultimate goal, eternal life” (Rom 6:22).

  • Because you can’t serve two masters at the same time, we all serve the same master.
  • Is it the result of sin or the work of God?
  • When Jesus says, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters,” he is demonstrating that there is no third alternative (Matt 12:30).
  • That is not the case with me.

Conclusion

Last but not least, the number thirty is important because it is connected with sadness or adversity. In the same way that Aaron was mourned for thirty days after his death (Num 20:29), so did Moses (Deut 34:8), but Jesus was betrayed for our benefit. God was able to utilize Judas’ wickedness to accomplish a great deal of good (John 3:16). People continue to place their faith in Jesus Christ today, and no amount of persecution appears to be able to persuade Christians to abandon their faith, even when they are betrayed by their own family, and certainly not for thirty pieces of silver or more.

Scripture quotes are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ® (ESV ®), which was published by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, in 2001 and is protected by copyright.

Permission has been granted to use. All intellectual property rights are retained. Tags: thirty pieces of silver, thirty silver coins, shekels of silver, thirty pieces of silver, thirty silver coins

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