The value of the “piece(s) of money” (Hebrew, q^esi·tahʹ) mentioned at Genesis 33:19; Joshua 24:32 and Job 42:11 cannot be definitely established. Likewise the value of the pim is uncertain. It may have been about two-thirds of a shekel.—1 Sam. 13:21; see PIM.

COINS IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES

It is commonly believed that the first coins were struck about 700 B.C.E. So the Israelites probably first used coins in their homeland after returning from exile in Babylon. Postexilic Bible books refer to the Persian daric (1 Chron. 29:7; Ezra 8:27) and the dar·kemohnʹ (drachma), which is generally equated with the daric. (Ezra 2:69; Neh. 7:70-72) The Persian gold daric weighed about .27 ounce troy (8.4 grams) and is therefore presently evaluated at $9.48.—See DARIC; DRACHMA.

MONEY IN THE CHRISTIAN GREEK SCRIPTURE PERIOD

The lepton (Jewish, copper or bronze), quadrans (Roman, copper or bronze), ass or assarion (Greek, copper or bronze), denarius (Roman, silver), drachma (Greek, silver), didrachma (Greek, silver) and the stater (Greek, silver; considered by many to be the tetradrachma of Antioch or Tyre) are coins specifically mentioned in the Christian Greek Scriptures. (Matt. 5:26; 10:29; 17:24, 27; 20:10; Mark 12:42; Luke 12:6, 59; 15:8; 21:2, Kingdom Interlinear Translation; see DENARIUS; STATER.) The much larger monetary values known as minas and talents were weights, not coins. (Matt. 18:24; Luke 19:13-25) The chart that follows shows the relationship between the various monetary units and converts into modern terms the approximate values current in the Christian Greek Scripture period.

Modern Value

1 lepton = ¹⁄₂ quadrans $ .00125

1 quadrans = 2 lepta .0025

1 ass (assarion) = 4 quadrans .01

1 denarius = 16 asses .16

1 drachma = c. 1 denarius .14

1 didrachma = 2 drachmas .28

1 tetradrachma = 4 drachmas .56

(stater, thought to be the same as tetradrachma)

1 mina (silver) = 100 drachmas 14.094

1 talent (silver) = 60 minas 845.64

1 talent (gold) 22,965.21

PURCHASING POWER

Modern values for ancient money do not give a true picture of its worth. The Bible, however, provides some indication of purchasing power and this is helpful in understanding ancient values. In the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry agricultural laborers commonly received a denarius for a twelve-hour workday. (Matt. 20:2) It may be assumed that in the Hebrew Scripture period wages were about the same. If so, a silver shekel would be the equivalent of three days’ wages.

The price of a slave was thirty silver shekels (ninety days’ wages?). (Ex. 21:32; compare Leviticus 27:2-7.) Hosea the prophet purchased a woman for fifteen silver pieces and one and a half homers (15 ephahs) of barley. Likely this payment constituted the full price for a slave. If so, an ephah (.62 bushel; 22 liters) of barley was then worth one shekel.—Hos. 3:2.

In times of scarcity prices rose sharply. The eighty silver pieces (240 days’ wages?) that at one time might have bought eight homers (49.6 bushels; 1,760 liters) of barley would, in time of siege, only procure the thinly fleshed head of an ass, an animal unfit for food according to the terms of the Mosaic law.—2 Ki. 6:25; compare Hosea 3:2.

In the first century C.E. two sparrows cost an assarion (45 minutes’ wages) and five sparrows could be obtained for double this price. (Matt. 10:29; Luke 12:6) The contribution of the needy widow was even less, a mere two lepta (1 quadrans) or a sixty-fourth of a day’s wages. Yet Christ Jesus commended her giving as being greater than that of those who had donated much, as she had contributed, not part of her surplus, but “all of what she had, her whole living.” (Mark 12:42-44; Luke 21:2-4) The annual temple tax paid by the Jews was two drachmas or a didrachma (about two days’ wages). (Matt. 17:24) As a drachma was the equivalent of about a day’s wages, a woman might reasonably sweep her whole house and diligently search for a lost drachma coin.—Luke 15:8, 9.

Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, evidently the price of a slave. (Matt. 26:14-16, 47-50) No doubt these silver pieces were either shekels or other coins similar in value. But the kind of coin is not specified in the account, except for their being silver.

MONEY CAN BE BOTH BENEFICIAL AND HARMFUL

Money provides a defense against poverty and its attendant troubles, enabling persons to procure both necessities and luxuries. (Compare Ecclesiastes 7:12; 10:19.) For this reason the possibility exists of a person’s beginning to trust in money as security and to forget his Creator. (Compare Deuteronomy 8:10-14.) “The love of money [literally^, fondness of silver] is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains” (1 Tim. 6:10) For money, persons have perverted justice, prostituted themselves, committed murder, betrayed others and falsified the truth.—Deut. 16:19; 23:18; 27:25; Ezek. 22:12; Matt. 26:14, 15; 28:11-15.

On the other hand, the proper use of money is approved by God. (Luke 16:1-9) This includes contributing toward the advancement of pure worship and giving material assistance to those in need. (Compare 2 Chronicles 24:4-14; Romans 12:13; 1 John 3:17, 18; see CONTRIBUTION; GIFTS OF MERCY.) Although much good can thus be done with money, the most valuable things, spiritual food and drink, eternal life itself, can be obtained without it.—Isa. 55:1, 2; Rev. 22:17.

MONEY CHANGER

One whose function included the exchange of one currency for that of another and coins of one value for those of another value. For each such transaction the money changer received a certain fee. Other services mentioned in the Jewish Mishnah as being provided by money changers were the safekeeping of money and the payment of wages upon the presentation of drafts.

In the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry the annual temple tax was two drachmas (a didrachma). (Matt. 17:24) As Jews from widely scattered lands came to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover and paid this tax then, the services of money changers may have been needed to exchange foreign currency for money that would be acceptable for payment of the temple tax, if not also the purchase of sacrificial animals and other items. According to the Mishnah, on the fifteenth of Adar or about a month before Passover the money changers set up for business in the provinces. But on the twenty-fifth of Adar, when Jews and proselytes from many other lands would be arriving at Jerusalem, the money changers established themselves in the temple area.

It was at the temple that Jesus Christ on two occasions overturned the tables of the money changers and condemned them for having made the temple into a “house of merchandise” or a “cave of robbers.” (John 2:13-16; Matt. 21:12, 13; Mark 11:15-17) This may imply that Jesus regarded the fees of the money changers as exorbitant. In this regard it is noteworthy that there were times when great profits were made on the sale of sacrificial animals. The Mishnah tells of a time when the price for a pair of doves was a golden denar (or, 25 silver denars). This prompted Simeon the son of Gamaliel to declare: “By this Temple! I will not suffer the night to pass by before they cost but a [silver] denar.” On that very day the price was drastically reduced.

MONTH

See CALENDAR.

MONUMENT

Pillars, plaques, buildings or other markers are often set up as monumental reminders of some person or some special event. A few of such are mentioned in the Bible, though not usually designated as monuments.—Ps. 49:11; Dan. 4:30.

Jehovah appeared to Jacob in a night vision, confirming the Abrahamic covenant toward him. (c. 1781 B.C.E.) In commemoration, Jacob took the stone he had used as a pillow, set it up to resemble a pillar and anointed it with oil. He then called the place Bethel. (Gen. 28:10-19) Some twenty years later Jacob and Laban, upon concluding a covenant of peace between themselves, set up a pillar, also a heap of stones in the mountainous region of Gilead, there to serve as a reminder of their agreement. (Gen. 31:25, 44-52) When Jehovah brought Israel into the Promised Land (1473 B.C.E.), two monuments were set up at the place where they crossed the Jordan River, one in midstream and the other at Gilgal on the W bank of the river, at Gilgal. These were to be memorial signs commemorating that miraculous crossing, and when their sons thereafter asked what these monuments represented, their fathers were to recount what Jehovah had done in behalf of his people.—Josh. 4:4-9, 20-24.

Following his victory over the Amalekites, King Saul erected “a monument [Heb., yadh] for himself.” (1 Sam. 15:12) The Hebrew word yadh, most often translated “hand,” can also mean “monument,” for like an uplifted hand that catches the eye and directs attention in a specific way, so also a monument calls people’s attention to certain things.

Absalom’s Monument (Heb., yadh) was in the form of a pillar like so many others. Absalom erected it on the Low Plain of the King not far from Jerusalem, because, as he said “I have no son in order to keep my name in remembrance.” (2 Sam. 18:18) However, today nothing is known of that monument or its location beyond what the Bible tells us. It should not be confused with the so-called tomb in the Kidron valley that ecclesiastical tradition attributes to Absalom but that belongs to the Graeco-Roman period of architecture.—See ABSALOM’S MONUMENT.

Like Absalom, eunuchs have no hope of a posterity to carry on their names. However, if they are faithful to Jehovah, and not like treasonous Absalom, Jehovah promises to give them “something better than sons and daughters,” namely, to “give to them in my house and within my walls a monument [Heb., yadh] and a name . . . A name to time indefinite I shall give them, one that will not be cut off.” (Isa. 56:4, 5) By contrast “the very name of the wicked ones will rot.”—Prov. 10:7; compare 22:1.

Gravestones were also set up as memory aids, as for example, the one that marked “the burial place of the man of the true God” who foretold what Josiah would do against the altar at Bethel. (2 Ki. 23:16-18; 1 Ki. 13:1, 2) Road markers and signposts are in a sense temporary monuments erected to indicate direction or to remind passersby of certain things of particular interest.—Jer. 31:21; Ezek. 39:15.

MOON

(Heb., ya·reʹahh; Gr., se·leʹne].

The moon, as the “lesser luminary for dominating the night,” was provided by God as a means for marking “appointed times.” (Gen. 1:16; Ps. 104:19; Jer. 31:35; 1 Cor. 15:41) The Hebrew word for “moon” is closely related to the Hebrew word yeʹrahh, meaning “lunar month.” Since the lunar month always began with the appearing of the new moon (Heb., hhoʹdhesh), the term “new moon” also came to mean “month.” (Gen. 7:11; Ex. 12:2; Isa. 66:23) The Greek word men likewise has the basic idea of a lunar period.—Luke 1:24; Gal. 4:10; also Colossians 2:16, where men is prefixed by the Greek word for “new.”

The word leva·nahʹ, meaning “white,” occurs three times in the Hebrew text poetically describing the white brilliance of the full moon that is particularly evident in Bible lands. (Song of Sol. 6:10; Isa. 24:23; 30:26) The word keʹseh or keʹse, meaning “fullness,” also appears twice and is translated “full moon” in some versions.—Ps. 81:3; Prov. 7:20, RS; NW.

Since the average lunation from new moon to new moon is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.78 seconds in length, the ancient lunar months had either twenty-nine or thirty days. This may originally have been determined by simple observation of the appearance of the new moon’s crescent; but in David’s time we find evidence of its being calculated beforehand. (1 Sam. 20:5, 18, 24-29) Nevertheless, in postexilic times Talmudic writings state that the Jewish Sanhedrin met early in the morning on the thirtieth day of each of seven months in the year to determine the time of the new moon. Watchmen were posted on high vantage points around Jerusalem and carried immediate report to the Jewish court after sighting the new moon. Upon receiving sufficient testimony the court pronounced the word “M^equd·dashʹ” (consecrated), officially marking the start of a new month, and the previous month was declared to have had twenty-nine days. If cloudy skies or fog caused poor visibility, then the preceding month was declared to have had thirty days, and the new month began on the day following the court assembly. It is also said that further announcement was made by a signal fire lit on the Mount of Olives, which was then repeated on other high points throughout the country. This method was evidently replaced later by the dispatching of messengers to carry the news.

In the fourth century of our Common Era a standardized or continuous calendar was established so that the Jewish months came to have a fixed number of days, with the exception of Heshvan and Kislev, which still vary between 29 and 30 days according to certain calculations.

NEW MOON OBSERVANCE

Among the Jews each new moon marked the occasion for the blowing of trumpets and the offering up of sacrifices according to the Law covenant. (Num. 10:10; 2 Chron. 2:4; Ps. 81:3; compare Isaiah 1:13, 14.) The offerings prescribed were, in fact, even greater than those normally offered on the regular sabbath days. (Num. 28:9-15) While nothing is stated specifically as to the new moon’s marking a day of rest, the text at Amos 8:5 indicates a cessation of labor. It was apparently a time of feasting (1 Sam. 20:5), and also an opportune time for gathering and instruction in God’s law.—Ezek. 46:1-3; 2 Ki. 4:22, 23; Isa. 66:23.

The seventh new moon of each year (corresponding with the first day of the month of Ethanim or Tishri) was sabbatical, and the Law covenant decreed it to be a time of complete rest. (Lev. 23:24, 25; Num. 29:1-6) It was the “day of the trumpet blast,” but in a greater sense than that of the other new moons. It announced the approach of the atonement day held on the tenth day of the same month.—Lev. 23:27, 28; Num. 29:1, 7-11.

MOON WORSHIP

While guided by the moon as a time indicator in determining their months and festival seasons, the Israelites were to remain free from the practice of moon worship that was prominent in the nations around them. The moon-god Sin was the city god of Ur, the capital of Sumer, from whence Abraham and his family departed for the Promised Land. Though the inhabitants of Ur were polytheistic, the moon-god Sin, a male deity, was the supreme god to whom their temple and altars were primarily devoted. Abraham