Dictionaries :: Shekel, Half Shekel

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Shekel, Half Shekel:

a teradrachmon or four drachmae, originally 224 grains, in Tyrian currency, but reduced in weight somewhat by the time recorded in Mat 17:24; the value was about three shillings, and would pay the Temple tax for two persons, Mat 17:27, RV, "shekel" (AV, "a piece of money"); in some mss., Mat 26:16; see MONEY, Note.

Shekel, Half Shekel:

"a half-shekel" (i.e., dis, "twice," drachme, "a drachma," the coin mentioned in Luk 15:8, 9), was the amount of the tribute in the 1st cent., A.D., due from every adult Jew for the maintenance of the Temple services, Mat 17:24 (twice). This was based on Exd 30:13, 24 (see also Exd 38:24-26; Lev 5:15; 27:3, 25; Num 3:47, 50; 7:13 ff.; Num 18:16).