Coins mentioned in the Bible, Jewish coinage, Roman civic issues, and other
issues struck in
the Holy Land are all described as
Biblical coins. For everyday business, Jews used small bronze
lepta and prutot. Trade, tribute
and the Temple tax were paid for with the gold and silver coinage of other nations.
powerful neighbors, the devout Jewish
people struggled to preserve their heritage. To acknowledge foreign rule by acts of worship
was forbidden, causing conflicts with Syrian and Roman authority.
Syrian repression led to a revolt,
followed by independence under the Hasmonean and Herodean
dynasties. In 6 ad, Judaea was annexed by the Roman
Empire, whose corrupt prefects and procurators plundered
it relentlessly. In 66 a.d. the
fighting until 70 when their
last stronghold, Masada, fell.
Moses breaking the tablets of the Law
Jews fled to Persia and Egypt, embittered against Rome. In 132
another revolt led to a terrible war
and near extinction
of the Jewish inhabitants of the Holy Land.
In reading the Bible coins you will find
mentioned include the Tribute penny, the Widow's Mite and the Thirty
Pieces of Silver. During the ministry of Jesus, money in the
Holy Land was issued by foreign authorities, the Roman
Empire and autonomous cities such as Tyre. The exception was
bronze coinage, the prutah and the lepton or Widow's Mite, struck by the
Roman administration of Judaea, which were the only contemporary
ancient Jewish coins.
What coins might
Jesus have touched? The Tribute Penny is the only specific reference,
but when the moneychangers' tables were knocked over by Jesus
coins of other types may have been touched.