Judas’ “Thirty Coins Of Silver”: Archaeology & History

Atheist charge: According to Matthew 26:15, the chief priests gave “thirty pieces of silver” to Judas. But how is that possible, since there were no silver coins used as currency in Jesus’ time, and there had not been any for about 300 years?

This is untrue. The shekel was made of silver, and was in use in Israel in the first century A.D. The silver shekel (94% or more pure) was first produced in Tyre (present-day Lebanon) in 125 BC and continued up through 66 AD. In the same book of Matthew, “the half-shekel tax” was referred to in 17:24. If atheists won’t accept that because it’s from the Bible (a most irrational attitude, given the Bible’s proven historical accuracy, again and again), then we can submit the Jewish first century historian Josephus, who referred to the half-shekel temple and civil tax or “tribute” (Wars of the Jews, VII, ch. 6. Sec. 6):

Caesar . . . laid a tribute upon the Jews wheresoever they were, and enjoined every one of them to bring two drachmae every year into the Capitol, as they used to pay the same to the temple at Jerusalem. And this was the state of the Jewish affairs at this time.

The drachma (primarily Greek) was made of silver (see also, Robert B. Strassler, The Landmark Thucydides, New York, Free Press [1996]. 620). A half-shekel (biblical Hebrew) was the equivalent of 1.676 drachmae (biblical Greek). New Bible Dictionary (ed. J. D. Douglas, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1962, “Money”) states:

The basic Greek coin was the silver drachme . . .

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The drachme is mentioned only in Lk. 15:8 f. . . . where it is translated ‘pieces of silver'(EVV) [RSV: “ten silver coins”]: . . . It was regarded as approximately equivalent to the Roman denarius . . .

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The didrachmon or 2-drachm piece was used among the Jews for the half-shekel required for the annual Temple tax (Mt. 17:24). . . .

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The stater, tetradrachmon, or 4-drachm piece, is found only in Mt. 17:27 [RSV: “shekel”], where it is the coin which would pay the Temple tax for Jesus and Peter. . . .

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Most numismatists agree that this was the coin in which Judas received his thirty pieces of silver (Mt. 26:15 . . .). (p. 840)

Jesus also referred to the denarius, made of silver (Mt 20:2, 9-10, 13).

Moreover, at Horvat ‘Ethry in Israel (22 miles southwest of Jerusalem), between 1999 and 2001, Boaz Zissu and Amir Ganor of the Israeli Antiquities Authority discovered a half-shekel coin from the 2nd century A.D., with the words “Half-Shekel” in paleo-Hebrew on it. It had a silver content of 6.87 grams. See their article, “Horvat Ethri — A Jewish Village from the Second Temple Period and the Bar Kokhba Revolt in the Judean Foothills,” Journal of Jewish Studies 60 (1), Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, London 2009, 90-136, pp. 96; 118.

But there is more. Smithsonian Magazine, in an article dated September 16, 2022 (“Ancient Coin Made in Defiance of Roman Rule Returns to Israel,” by Ella Feldman), noted that an ancient Jewish silver quarter-shekel, dated 69 A.D., had been found at an auction in Denver.

So much for this atheist objection . . . I feel like I just crushed a grape with a sledgehammer.

“Coins” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

“Coin” (McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia)

Resurrection #19: When Was Judas Paid? [4-30-21]

Resurrection #20: Motivation of Judas’ Betrayal [4-30-21]

Resurrection #21: Chronology of Judas’ Evil Plans [5-1-21]

Resurrection #22: Did Judas Repent Or Not? [5-2-21]

Resurrection #23: How Did Judas Die? [5-3-21]

Resurrection #24: Judas & the Potter’s Field [5-3-21]

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Photo credit: Loren Bider, Judas [public domain / PublicDomainPictures.Net]

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Summary: Atheists and other biblical skeptics object to Judas “thirty coins of silver.” I document how various coins made of silver in 1st century Israel have been established.