Pieces of Gold or of Silver
Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(part). In O. T., “pieces of gold,’” pieces of silver,” may well be read shekels’ weight, or shekels, of gold or silver (Gen. 20:16; 2 Kings 5:5). In N. T., “pieces” (Matt. 26:15; 27:3-9), are unknown. In Luke 15:8, for “pieces” read drachmas.
Concise Bible Dictionary:
See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Matthew 26:15. They covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
It is difficult to ascertain what coins are here meant. Mr. Poole, of the British Museum, one of the best authorities on numismatics, suggests (see Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, s. v. Piece of Silver) that the thirty arguria, mentioned here and in Matthew 27:3,5-6,9 were not denarii, as many commentators suppose, but shekels, and that shekels must also be understood in the parallel passage of Zechariah 11:12-13. Thirty shekels of silver was the price of blood when a slave was accidentally killed. See Exodus 21:32. As there were probably no current shekels during our Lord’s time, Mr. Poole supposes that the tetradrachms of the Greek cities of Syria were the coins which composed the thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas. These tetradrachms have the same weight as the shekels of Simon Maccabius, and the stater found by Peter in the fish was a specimen of them. See note on Matthew 17:27 (#675). This would make the sum which Judas received equivalent to about eighteen dollars, United States coin, or a little over three pounds ten shillings, English.
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