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 44:1-8, 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.