It's another Baptismizzal!
Well congrats to another one dedicating their life to Jehovah God! Do I hear the makings of another Pioneer??? I think so, homeschool or not hehaha. Anyways, I think Danny summed up the weekend pretty good especially with the pics and all. Check em out on his site.
I think that the only thing not mentioned there though was the awesome bake off over at Sarah Jo's. Danny's got the pics on his site. I for some reason didn't take any. But I had tons of fun there and congrats to Nick for defeating the Iron Chef SJ! That was a really tough call, I think all in all it could have been a tie and a half. Either way we all had a erally good time dancing in the barn afterwards. Look forward to doing it again.
But I'm at work right now so maybe I'll update later with the vid from Ariel's baptism. Sees yous guys tomorrows. Oh yeah, don't forget to do your memorial reading! 30 pieces of silver, does anyone know what that would amount to today?? Winner gets a prized.
UPDATE EDIT!!
I think that the only thing not mentioned there though was the awesome bake off over at Sarah Jo's. Danny's got the pics on his site. I for some reason didn't take any. But I had tons of fun there and congrats to Nick for defeating the Iron Chef SJ! That was a really tough call, I think all in all it could have been a tie and a half. Either way we all had a erally good time dancing in the barn afterwards. Look forward to doing it again.
But I'm at work right now so maybe I'll update later with the vid from Ariel's baptism. Sees yous guys tomorrows. Oh yeah, don't forget to do your memorial reading! 30 pieces of silver, does anyone know what that would amount to today?? Winner gets a prized.
UPDATE EDIT!!
Okay so here's some PICS of Ariels baptism and some other funny stuff. As well as a VID of the special occasion and one of Danny too. CHECK IT OUT! And props to those who responded to the question on the silver pieces. Does anyone else know why that amount was significant, or what was meant by that amount??
posted by APS Jimmy!!! at 9:04 PM
.jpg)
10 Comments:
I'm going to go out on a limb and say max $200.
I belive the answer is $7.50 US...little high there Nick...and if I'm wrong, blame google(the actual site, not Nick)
Here was my methodology..
There's no coin called "piece of silver." So there's not some direct translational value. Silver is valued by its weight. One ounce of silver today is worth $13-14.
The "pieces of silver" in first century Israel were probably silver shekels. Shekels weighed about half an ounce. Thats 15 ounces of silver. That multiplied by current market value for silver and thats where I got $200.
Some people think that a shekel was less than half an ounce, more like a quarter of an ounce of silver. In that case, the value would be closer to $100.
Where did you find $7.50? I seem to remember a really low figure in previous talks but I can't figure out how someone would get to that number.
In the words of...the website I found this on:
"1 piece of silver (shekel) was equivalent to about 4 days' wages during that time. A shekel is equivalent to 25¢ in modern-day United States."
Unfortunately, they were not quite as detailed as your thought process.
Then again, I found this in the Watchtower Library:
"Judas Iscariot received 30 pieces of silver from the priests (if shekels, $66) as “wages” for betraying Jesus Christ. "
Another reference in the WL says $66 too, so I might go with that. Does anyone actually know the answer?!...and what's the prize?
A shekel is WAY more than 25 cents in today's money.
As for the WT article(s), when were they written? The price of silver is a market commodity. It changes every day.
My, my, my... I commend the both of you for such fine research. I was going to perhaps refine my question with "Of what value would that really amount to today?" and then see if you would keep your answers, but that would make it a little more confusing and very much deliberation at hand.
Before I go into what I was really asking, lets start with the answers that people came up with.
Nick came up with 200 USD max. This he devised assuming that the silver piece was a Shekel. According to the Insight book or the chart in the Large print Reference Bible Appx. 8A, a shekel equates to 0.367 oz. Using todays market value of 13 dollars per troy ounce, that would equal to $4.77. Multiply that by 30 and you have $143.13.
On a side note though, the ancient ratio of gold to silver is considered to have been 13 to 1. Since today's market value of gold is roughly 660 dollars, silver would have been around 50 dollars according to that standard. Meaning 30 shekels of silver would equal 1,523 dollars!! But since today's market value of silver and gold do not relate to each other the same as it did in ancient days, that figure really doesn't apply and does not accuratly convey current "value".
JP on the other hand, said that it equaled to $7.50. This she figured because "Google" said that a silver shekel was the equivalent of 4 days wages and that a days wage equaled 25 cents.
That figure though, is left up to some scrutiny. In the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, agricultural laborers commonly received a denarius for a 12-hour workday. A denarius was a Roman silver coin that weighed about 0.124 oz. Which would make it have less of a value when compared to a Shekel that weighs 0.367 oz.
So in todays market value, a days wage, or denarius, of Jesus' time would equal to $1.61.
But according to the website that JP found, a denaruis would only value to just over 6 cents a day(Shekel=.25=4 days wages< 25 cents divided by 4=0.625>= 6 cents). Obviously these figures do not match up right, considering 50 shekels equaled 1 mina, whereas 100 drachmas (about the same value as 100 denaruis< 1 drachma =1.41 todays market value>) equals 1 mina as well.
So anyway you look at it, the figure of $7.50 would not be a very accurate value of the 30 pieces of silver given to Judas Iscariot.
Jessica did however point out that the WT library referenced the 30 silver pieces to around 66 dollars if they were silver shekels. That is because when the book referenced was published (1988) they used a value of 6 dollars to equal one troy ounce of silver. That would make 1 shekel(.367 oz) equal to $2.20. Multiply that times 30 and you get $66.06.
Nicks figure is double that considering the worth of silver has doubled over the last 20 years (6 dollars compared to 13)
It is interesting to note though, that if you look at the value of Silver historically, it has actually been in a steady decline since the 1500's. It's only within the last couple of years, say from maybe 2004 to present, that it's value has been rising. Even in 1996, almost 10 years after the Insight book was published, value of gold went up, while value of Silver actually went down, around $4.30 being it's lowest point.
If you were to give a talk about the 30 silver pieces in 96', then you'd have valued it at $47.34.
So if you said 66 dollars, I'd have given you the credit. And if you did the extra work of figuring out the current dollar amount that works too.
But, whether it was 47, 66, or 143 dollars, what does that really amount to today? In other words, how much value does that amount really mean for us today, is it valued much or not so much? Did it have a lot of value in Judas day?
If you can answer that then you can more fully understand the motives and feelings of both Judas and the religious leaders who wanted to kill Jesus as well as how the prophecy of Jesus betrayal involved more than just a prediction of a sum of money.
Then, you will really "gets a prized"....
30 Shekels was the price of a slave. No 'methodology' required.
Of course the original question wasn't exactly asking what it was worth, but what it would amount to today, so Im gonna go read for a minute.
I guess it is most important for us today to know that that price offered and accepted was low, so for us today we can see the contempt and attitude held toward jesus by all involved in his betrayal.
I guess Danny gets the prize...that's what I get for not thinking out of the box. The question seemed to ask for a dollar amount, but as was stated, the important part is that Judas viewed the life of the greatest man who ever lived as equal to the price of a slave-considered lowly. So the question really is, what is the truth worth to us? Satan's always trying to find our buying price, so we need to keep on guard.
Post a Comment
<< Home