Exodus 30:13

passeth over, &c. viz. before the officer who took the census, to those that are numbered, and who stand on the other side. Cf. to -pass over" (of sheep being numbered) Leviticus 27:32; Jeremiah 33:13; and in 2 Samuel 2:15 Heb.

half not the usual Heb. word for -half"; in the Hex, found only in P (11 times), and only 4 times elsewhere. So Exodus 30:15; Exodus 30:23; Exodus 38:26.

the shekel of the sanctuary Exodus 38:24-26; Leviticus 5:15; Leviticus 27:3; Leviticus 27:25; Numbers 3:47; Numbers 3:50; Numbers 3:7 (14 times), Exodus 18:16 † (all P). Some standard (silver) -shekel" is plainly alluded to: it is not known certainly what. A standard (silver) shekel, of full weight (as opposed to worn shekels in common use), preserved in the sanctuary, has been thought of. Or, as the expression may be rendered with equal, not to say, greater propriety, the sacred shekel(LXX. σίκλος ὁ ἅγιος), and as moreover the Mishnah (Bekhôrôthviii. 7) expressly enjoins that -all payments according to the sacred shekel are to be made in Tyrian (i.e. Phoenician) money," in which the silver shekel weighed 224 grs., it may (Kennedy, DB.iv. 422; G. F. Hill, EB.Shekel, § 5) denote the ancient Hebrew silver shekel(which had the same weight as the Phoenician silver shekel), called -sacred" because it was the traditional standard by which sacred dues were paid (see further ll.cc.). A silver shekel of 224 grains would weigh just 6 grains more than an English half-crown: at the presentvalue of silver (2 Samuel 3 d.an oz.) it would be worth about 1 Samuel 1 d.

the shekel is twenty gerahs The same definition recurs Leviticus 27:25; Numbers 3:47; Numbers 18:16; and in Ezekiel 45:12 (of his shekel, though not called -sacred"). The gçrâh(only in these passages) is rendered ὀβολὸς by LXX., and by Onk. mâ-âh, also = an obol, the weight of which in 4 3 cent. b.c. was c.11.21 grs.: this would make the -sacred" shekel (=20 gçrâhs) c.224.2 grs.

The later institution of an annual Temple-tax of a half-shekel (Matthew 17:24 RV.: Gk. τὰ δίδραχμα, -the double drachm") is based ultimately on this passage. The drachm was worth 6 obols: and the double drachm (12 obols) was taken as the equivalent of a half-shekel (10 obols): cf. DB.iii. 422 b, 428 b; EB.iv. 4446, 4786.

an offering a contribution, Heb. terûmâh(see on Exodus 25:2); here of a contribution levied on, or, to preserve the figure of the original, taken off, the whole of a man's property for sacred purposes. So vv.14, 15.