The use of coins in the Bible lands had become quite common by the Seventh Century B.C.E. Although many purchases during the times of Abraham were paid for either by bartering or through the exchange of gold and jewelry, such as when Abraham purchased Sarah's burial plot, by 700 B.C.E. coins made with furnaces, molds, and stamps, became increasingly common in everyday commerce.
By Jesus time in Palestine four of these had become popular.The least valuable of these was the lepton or mite. The widow likely dropped two of these into the contribution box in the temple mentioned in Mark 12:42. (A worker could earn 2 of these in about 15 minutes.)
A little more valuable was the silver drachma which would have taken about a full day to earn. Two of these had to be paid in the yearly temple tax mentioned in Matthew 17:24
The silver denarius was still more valuable and among other things was used by business owners to pay their workers who earned one of these for every 12 hour shift. (During the Roman occupation Jews had to use part of these earnings to pay the tribute tax mentioned in Romans 13:7.)
Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, was paid off using the third popular type of coin, the silver shekel. These pure silver coins were made in the city of Tyre and circulated in Palestine during Jesus' time.
The use of such coins to conduct commerce was not a Jewish idea however. The earliest use of coins in the Middle was in Lydia (modern day Turkey) sometime before 700 B.C.E. and their use quickly spread throughout the Middle-East in various styles and values as well as the ones Jewish people commonly kept in their money pouches to cover expenses during Jesus' day.
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