THE COINS OF THE BIBLE Based on Mark 12:41-44
Florence Banks in her book Coins Of Bible Days says that the
handling of ancient coins does with time what radio and TV do with
space. There are hundreds of miles between us and California, but
TV eliminates those miles, and puts people there in our presence
here. So Bible days are hundreds of years back, and a great gap
separates us from the people who lived then. But to see and touch
the bits of silver, bronze, and gold that those people used, as we use
dimes and dollars, brings them nearer. She writes, "When we hold
in our palms the one thing we can hold which we have a reasonable
right to believe could have been in the hand of Nicodemus when he
bought the hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes for Jesus's burial;
in the hand of Martha when she went to market; in the hand of
Mary of Bethany when she bought her precious alabaster box of
spikenard, or in the money bag of Judus when he purchased food
for the disciples, we feel a closer acquaintance with those
personages of the Bible than we had ever dreamed we could."
Money in those days was not called in when it got old like it is
today. There were no banks, and so people hoarded money and
hid it in caves and wells, and buried it in the ground. That is why
archaeologists are able to find so much of that ancient money.
When Jesus told the parable of the treasure buried in the field He
was not dreaming up a hypothetical situation. He was speaking of
a common practice of His day. Many coins are also found in
ancient ships that have sunk, and so the result is there are actually
more coins available from the ancient world of Greece and Rome
than there are from the 18th century in the United States. There
are enough of the coins of Bible times available so you can own one
for just a few dollars.
The study of coins can make history come alive. The symbolism
has much meaning, for coins often had the image of some deity on
them. This led to people using them as magic and good luck
charms. Some use to put coins under their pillow to cure
headaches because the god on the coin was a god of healing. Jewish
coins, however, did not follow the imagery of other people, for God
commanded them not to make images. Of great interest to coin
collectors, however, is a coin that was made by the people in Gaza,
the Philistine City in about 400 B.C. It has a helmeted head of an
unknown male god on one side, and on the other is a bearded
figure of man seated in a winged wheel and holding a hawk on his
hand. Three Phoenician letters are also shown which are
transliterated as YHD or YHW. Kenneth Jacob in his book Coins
And Christianity says that this coin may be the only known
example of the God of the Israelites being depicted on a coin. The
Jews did not make the coin, but it was made by the people who
made coins to appeal to a number of different cults by using their
deities. This was their method of trying to open up trade. The
wings and the wheels fit the vision of Ezekiel. This unique coin is in
the British Museum.
The Jews learned the value of coins from others. For centuries
they used precious metals as money according to weight. The first
rich man mentioned in the Bible was Abraham. He lived in the
19th century B.C. Gen. 13:2 says, "Now Abram was very rich in
cattle, in silver, and in gold." In Gen. 23 we have an account of a
real estate transaction. Abraham bought a piece of property from
the Hittites for a burying place. When agreement had been
reached Abraham weighed out, "Four hundred shekels of silver,
according to the weights current among the merchants." This was
equal to about $220.00 in our money in the 1960's. Today we could
hand over $220.00 and a man could slip it into his billfold and go
about his business feeling no burden. In that day you had to have
bags to carry your metal weights to measure, and then a beast of
burden to carry away your profits.
Through most of the Old Testament the weight system was
used. This became so inconvenient that men had to devise an
easier way of transferring wealth. That is why coins became such a
helpful invention. Not all have caught on to this convenient idea
even in modern times. If you go to the small island of Yap in the
Pacific, you will find that they still use for their money huge stones
up to 50 pounds. They have holes in them so a pole can be put
through, and two men can carry it. It is the largest and heaviest
currency in the world. In their primitive society it is no problem,
but you can't even imagine what an intolerable nuisance it would
be in our society. There are also people in the Pacific who use bird
feathers for money, and so the heaviest and the lightest money in
the world is used by primitive peoples in the Pacific.
The Jewish people were more primitive than others peoples
when it came to matter of science, culture, and business. The first
coins were made in about 700 B.C. in Lydia, which is now the coast
of Turkey. Gold was so plentiful there that the river was said to be
flowing with golden sand. Croesus, who reigned from 560 to 546 B.
C. was world famous for his extreme wealth. He was the first to
make coins of pure gold. Some of them have survived to this day.
Deluded by his wealth he believed he was invincible, and decided to
take on Cyrus the king of Persia. In two years he was defeated,
and his fabulous fortune and mint were taken by Cyrus. The
Persians had no coins, but Cyrus liked the idea and made his own
coins.
He then went on to conquer Babylon where the Jews were in
captivity. This is where the Jews first came into contact with the
idea of coins. When Cyrus sent them back to Jerusalem, they took
with them vast quantities of these Persian coins called drachmas.
This is the first coin mentioned in the Bible in Ezra 2:68. In Neh.
7:70-72 we also read of the thousands of drachmas given to help
build up the wall. From this time on gifts to the temple are no
longer in weights of gold and silver, but in gold and silver coins.
Jewish coinage then began after the captivity, and, therefore, at
the end of recorded Old Testament history. This means we must
study the intertestiment period to learn of Jewish coinage. This
is of interest, but of even more interest is the study of coins in the
New Testament. We actually have coins in collections which were
made by Herod the Great, his son Archelaus who is also mentioned
in the New Testament. Also we have them by Herod Antipas who
had John the Baptist beheaded; Herod Agrippa who had Peter
imprisoned, and Pontius Pilate. Collectors are eager to find his
coins marked the 16th year of Tiberius, for that was the year of the
crucifixion. It is a coin with a vessel on one side and three ears of
barley on the other.
The coin most in demand by collectors is that piece of money
Jesus held in His hand called the tribute penny. The Pharisees
tried to trap Jesus in a political blunder by asking Him if it was
lawful to pay taxes to Ceasar or not. Jesus in Matt. 22:19 asked
them to show whose likeness and inscription was on the coin.
When they said Ceasar's, he responded, "Render therefore to
Ceasar the things that are Ceasar's, and to God the things that are
God's." This coin that Jesus looked at was a silver coin with
Tiberius Ceasar on one side and this inscription-Tiberius Ceasar
Augustus, son of the divine Augustus. On the other side is a female
seated with a spear in her right hand, and an olive branch in her
left. She represented Rome, and the inscription Pontifex Maximus
meant chief priests or Pontiff.
It is of interest to note the symbolism of war and peace which
we still use on our coins, but also to note the difference. On this
coin that Jesus held the symbol of war is in the right hand showing
a preference to war. On American coins the eagle holds both the
arrows of war and the olive branch of peace, but it is the peace
symbol that is in the right talon showing a preference for peace.
There can be no doubt that this slight reverse in symbolism is due
to the influence of Christ in our culture and heritage. You could
take a 50 cent piece or dollar bill and ask somebody why the
arrows are in the left talon, and explain that in the time of Christ
they were in the right, but He has made a difference. A coin is a
basis for a witness to Christ. He is the author of peace, and you
can speak of peace that He can give to those who will put their
trust in Him.
The same Roman denarius was the coin that Jesus used in His
story of the Good Samaritan. In Luke 10:35 after he took the
injured man to an inn we read, "And the next day he took out two
denarii and gave them to the inn-keeper, saying, take care of him
and whatever more you spend I will repay you when I come back."
A denarius was equal to about 20 cents, so he gave him an
equivalent of 40 cents. That would not go far in a Holiday Inn, but
it was considerable money in that day. In fact, it was equal to the
average man's wage for two days. In Matt. 20 Jesus tells another
parable of laborers in the vineyard. They agreed to labor for a
denarius a day. This means the Good Samaritan gave the inn
keeper two days of salary.
In Mark 12:41-44 Jesus sits and watches people in their giving.
He sees the widow give her mites. These mites were copper coins
which together equaled the smallest of the Roman coins. In our
day they would be a half a penny each. The RSV says instead of a
farthing, a penny. Here was giving on a level that is the least
possible unless she would give only one mite. Yet Jesus praises her,
for relative to her wealth she gave more than a millionaire who
would give half a million, for he would still have half a million left.
She gave her all, and in so doing she pleased Christ, and made the
little coin called the mite, or lepton, famous for all history. This
provides a real stewardship lesson, and gives even our penny a
place of potential in the service of Christ. Littleness of value can
be multiplied if given to Christ. The poet put it-
Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean,
And the beauteous land.
Little seeds of mercy,
Sown by youthful hands,
Grow to bless the nations
Far in heathen lands.
Never underestimate the power of small giving which is sacrificial
giving.
We don't have time to look at every coin in the Bible, but we
want to look at a few interesting facts about the role of coins
following the New Testament. The Romans made a big thing of
their destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. They minted 15 varieties
of coins to celebrate this event. Vespasian struck one of silver
which can be seen on display in Philadelphia. On one side is
himself, and on the other is a female captive with her hands bound
standing before a palm tree. The words on it are Judea
vanquished.
When Constantine, the Roman Emperor, became a Christian in
312 A.D., he began a process of Christianizing coins. It was slow at
first, and there were just hints of Christian symbolism mixed with
pagan symbols. After a century the cross was a frequently used
symbol on coins. In 450 A.D. the emperor Marcian struck a coin
with he and his wife joining hands in marriage with the figure of
Christ standing between them. This was the beginning of many
coins on which Christ appeared.
In the East in the 6th century some silver coins had the cross
and the inscription-the light of the world. Justinion II had his coins
with himself and the inscription-the servant of Christ. On the
other side was a portrait of Christ and the inscription-Jesus
Christ-King of Kings. Sometimes Jesus was portrayed with a long
beard, and other times with a short beard, but the cross is almost
always present to make clear who it is. In the 10th century a series
of bronze coins had Christ on them, and in the 12th century Christ
is shown crowning the emperor.
In England coins with the cross were common, and also the holy
dove. In France in the 10th century there is coin of a bird with a
twig in its beak representing the dove of Noah. Some coins also
had the Lamb of God. Many Bible characters and scenes were put
on coins, and it became a custom to associate Christianity and coin
symbols. So much was this the case that when a new silver florin
was made in 1849 with reference to God omitted, a cry went up
from the people against what they called the godless florin. The
outcry was so great that the coins were promptly withdrawn, and a
new coin made that had reference to God. The value of knowing
this history is that it gives the Christian another open door to use
a common interest, which is money, to witness for Jesus.
