from the earliest times; and it will also be remembered that
at an earlier stage we found that Abraham was able to traverse
all the wide country that lay between Mesopotamia and the
ancient kingdom of the Nile with his flocks and herds, and
that he dwelt in the land of Canaan in close neighbourhood
and on friendly terms with the sons of Heth, or Hittites, who
were then the possessors of that land; and that furthermore
monetary transactions were then carried on by means of certain
small ingots of silver, as we see from the purchase of the Cave
of Machpelah. These ingots, translated shekels in the English
version and called didrachms in the Septuagint, are termed in
Hebrew Keseph ((
Hebrew characters)), simply pieces of silver, or silverlings. In
the old Hebrew literature values in silver and gold are expressed
either in shekels or by a simple numeral with the words "of silver,"
"of gold" added (where the latter method is followed the English
version supplies pieces or substitutes "a thousand silverlings"
for "a thousand of silver" (Isa. vii. 23). The Septuagint renders
the skekel by the Greek didrachm). There are several inferences
to be drawn from this. It is evident that pieces of silver (and
no doubt of gold also) of a certain quality and weight were
employed as currency in Palestine, and we may likewise suppose
with some probability that these pieces of silver were according
to the standard in common use in Egypt and Chaldaea. Again,
since we have already shown that gold in the form of rings and
other articles for personal adornment was exchanged according
to the ox-unit of 130-5 grs., as evidenced by the story of the
ring given to Rebekah, it follows that there was but one and the
same standard for gold from the Euphrates to the Nile. This
is confirmed by the story of the sale of Joseph by his brethren
to the company of Ishmaelites "who came from Gilead with
their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh going to carry
it down to Egypt"; to these Ishmaelites or Midianites Joseph
was sold for twenty pieces of silver[1]. Here we have evidence
that the same silver unit was current from Gilead to Egypt.
There are various other large sums of silver mentioned both
in Genesis and also in the Book of Judges and in Joshua.
Thus Abimelech, King of Gerar, is said to have given Abraham) LXX.]
- ↑ For 20 pieces of gold ([Greek: eikosi chrysôn
