Fifty Shekels or Six Hundred Shekels?

From: Collected Writings

Narrator: Ivona Gentwo

• 1 min. read • grade level: 8

Q. In 2 Samuel David is said to have given fifty shekels of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen, but 1 Chron. records that he paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight.

A. The word “silver” in 2 Samuel (in the Hebrew, Kehseph) is constantly used in the Old Testament for “money,” just as the French use the word “argent” (silver), technically for “money.” In 2 Samuel you probably have the value of what David gave; in 1 Chron. the “weight,” as it states. The weight of the six hundred shekels of gold being in value equal to fifty shekels of money.

There is, it is said, a good deal of difficulty in settling numbers in the Hebrew, owing to marks and figures. But the use of “silver” for “money” makes the matter simple. See Genesis 44:1-8¹And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth. ²And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. ³As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses. ⁴And when they were gone out of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? ⁵Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing. ⁶And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words. ⁷And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing: ⁸Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan: how then should we steal out of thy lord's house silver or gold? (Genesis 44:1‑8), where you have, in verse 1, money, in verse 2, “silver,” in verse 8 “money” and “silver,” in same verse all the same word (Kehseph) throughout. This will show its general usage.

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