To: Antonio Garcia <garcia.secretariagh.antonio1 AT gmail.com>
Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] nifty little tricks
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:09:14 -0600
Hello Antonio;
I agree that the shekel originally represented a weight to be placed on
scales, a simple standard of measuring a specific quantity of grain, etc.
Over time however, the "dead" shekel "weight" evolved into a "living" object
possessing inherent value. And so money was born and created from nothing;
shekel weight, arbitrarily became shekel money, in the wisdom of the people.
The rarity of gold encouraged its use as money shekels, but I agree with
you; the people selected all manner of valueless metal and paper to
represent money.
And the evolution of the hebrew word shekel mirrors the
corresponding evolution of the hebrew language. Witness the inscription on
the 70 a.d., coin. How it differs dramatically from the language of the
masoretic text some 1,000 years later.