The Function of the Biblical ‘Holy Sheqel’ An Essay on Parallel Standards and Their Conversion after the Introduction of Coinage

Abstract

The paper discusses the biblical, epigraphic, and numismatic data on the ‘holy sheqel’ against the background of weight and coinage standards. There is no extra-biblical evidence supporting a 20-gerah standard for the sheqel during both the Monarchic and Babylonian-Persian periods. It is demonstrated that none of the biblical evidence predates the late Persian period. On this basis, it is argued that the ‘holy sheqel’ was a virtual basis for the conversion of different currencies. This then is related to the simultaneous authority of the Torah in Jerusalem and on Mount Gerizim in the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods.