Silver Shekels כֶּֽסֶף־שְׁקָלִ֥ים

We are in chapter five of Leviticus with our word for today which is a phrase. כֶּֽסֶף־שְׁקָלִ֥ים shekels of silver, in silver shekels. It is used 3 times in the Old Testament. Let’s look at our uses starting with our chapter since it is also the first time it is used in the Bible. Leviticus 5:14-15 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “If anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the Lord, he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation, a ram without blemish out of the flock, valued כֶּֽסֶף־שְׁקָלִ֥ים in silver shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. This was the cost of the sacrifice that was to be given for the guilt offering. Our next use of our phrase we also see a defined cost associated with a sacrifice to God for sin. After David sinned by counting the fighting men we find our phrase used while David is purchasing the land for a sacrifice to God. 2 Samuel 24:21-22, 24-25 “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him … But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty בְּכֶ֖סֶף שְׁקָלִ֥ים shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Our last use is in reference to taxes again like all the uses mentioning a specific cost. Nehemiah 5:14-15 Neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty כֶּֽסֶף־שְׁקָלִ֣ים shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God. These passages that use our phrase to communicate a specific amount or cost of silver remind us of another exact payment. That would be what Judas was willing to take in order to give the authorities information about where Jesus would be so he could be arrested. Before we look at this account let’s look at a close variation on our phrase. Zechariah 11:12-13 “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” וַיִּשְׁקְל֥וּ [the word for shekel means a weight] And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of כָּֽסֶף [so we have both our words in our phrase in a different order] silver. Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of הַכֶּ֔סֶף silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. Now let’s look at how the Holy Spirit ties this together in the New Testament account which I will close with. Matthew 26:14-16, 47-50; 27:3-10 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him … Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him ... They came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him …  Judas ... changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” ... And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed ... The chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers ... Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet ... they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field.”