MONEY

In Talue equal to a franc or 9id., it was the day's wage ol a Jewish labourer (Mt 202). a typical denarius of our Lord's day, with which the Roman dues were paid (22"), would haveonits obverse the head of the Emperor Tiberius, and for 'superscription' the following legend in Latin- ' Tiberius Cajsar, the son of the deified Augustus, (himself) Augustus' (illust. No. 13 of plate in 'Money,' DB iii.). (c) The drachm on the Attic standard (§ 5) is named only Lis; 15*: 'what woman haying ten drachms (EV 'pieces o£ silver'), if she lose one drachm,' etc. In ordinary usage, as we have seen, it was the equivalent of the denarius, but for Government purposes it was tariffed at only f of the denarius. The 50,000 ' pieces of silver' (Ut. 'silverlings') of Ac 19" were denarius-drachms, (d) Once there is mention of a didrachm (Mt 172^ AV 'tribute money,' RV 'the half-shekel'), but this was a two-drachm piece on the Phoenician standard, and was now very rare. Accordingly it was usual for two persons to join forces in pajdng the Temple tax of a half-shekel by presenting a Phoenician tetra- drachm. This is (e) the 'piece of money' of v.", which RV has properly rendered by 'shekel,' with the word of the original, stater, in the margin. The thirty 'pieces of silver' for which Judas betrayed his Lord were also most probably Tyrian tetradrachms. Although these by Government tariff would be equal to only 90 denarii, their ordinary purchasing power was then equal to 120 denarii or francs, say £4, 16s. of our money.

Passing to the copper coins of the Gospels, we find three denominations in the original, the lepton, the kodrantes, and tlie assarion, rendered in Amer. RV by 'mite,' 'farthing,' and 'penny' respectively. Our EV, unfortunately, renders both the two last by 'farthing,' having used 'penny' for the denarius. There are great difficulties in the way of identifying these among the copper coins that have come down to us (for details see Hastings' DB iii. 428 f., EBi iii. 3647). (0 The Upton, the widow's mite (Mk 12<2, Lk 212), viras the smallest coin in circulation, probably one of the minute Maccabtean bronzes. Its value was between i and § of an EngUsh farthing, (g) Two mites made a kodrantes (Lat. quadrans), the 'uttermost farthing ' of Mt 5™, which was either the actual Roman quadrans or Its equivalent among the local bronze coins. As A of the denarius, it was worth a trifle more than half a farthing, (h) The assarion is the 'farthing' (Amer. RV 'penny') associated with the price of sparrows (Mt lO^", Lk 12'), and was a copper coin on the Greek system, probably the dichalkus, of which in ordinary business 24 went to the denarius-drachm. Its value would thus be about I of a penny. The relative values of the three coins may be represented by A, i, and i of a penny respectively.

There remain the two larger denominations, the talent and the pound or mina, neither of which was any longer, as in the earher period, a specific weight of bullion, but a definite sum of money, (i) The talent now contained 6000 denarius-drachms, which made 240 aurei or £240 (so Mt 18^* RVm). It is not always realized, perhaps, how vast was the difference in the amounts owing in this parable (IS^'b-). The one servant owed 100 denarii, the other 10,000 talents or sixty milhon denarii. The one debt, occupying little more space than 100 sixpences, could be carried in the pocket; for the payment of the other, an army of nearly 8600 carriers, each with a sack 60 lbs. in weight, would be required. If these were placed in single file, a yard apart, the train would be almost five miles in length! (j) The pound, finally, of another parable (Lk 19'™-) was a mina, the sixtieth part of a talent, in other words 100 denarius-drachms or £4 sterling.

For the later coinage of the Jews, which was confined to the two periods of revolt against the Roman power, in A.D. 66-70 and 132-135, in addition to what has been said above (§ 5) regarding the shekels and half-shekels

MOON

here assumed to belong to the first revolt, see Madden and Reinach, opp. citt.; SchOrer, OJV^ i. 761 «.; and Hastings' DB iii. 429-431. A. R. S. Kennedy.

MONEY-CHANGERS.— How indispensable were the services of the 'money-changers' (Mt 21", Mk H"). 'changers of money' (Jn 2"), 'changers' (v."), and 'excnangers' (Mt 25" AV, RV 'bankers') in the first century of our era in Palestine may be seen from the summary of the varied currencies of the period in the preceding article (§§ 6. 7). The Jewish money-changer, UKe his modern counterpart the sarraf (for whom see PEFSt, 1904, p. 49 ff., wnere the complexity of excnange in the Palestine of to-day is grapnicady set forth) , cnanged the large denominations into the smaller, giinng aenarii, for example, for tetradrachms, and gave silver for gold, copper for silver. An Important department of his business was the exchange of foreign money and even money of the country ol a non-Phcenician standard for shekels and half-shekels on this standard, the latter alone being accepted in payment of the Temple dues (cf . money, §§4.6.7). It was mainly for the convenience of the Jews of the Dispersion that the changers were allowed to set up their tables in the outer court of the Temple (Mt 21"®). The wealthier members of the profession, the 'exchangers' (RV 'bankers') of Mt 25" (cf. Lk 19='), received money on deposit for purposes of investment, on which interest was paid (see TJstjky).

The money-changers had constantly to be on their guard against false money. This gives point to the frequently quoted unwritten saying (.affraphon) of our Lord to His disciples: 'Be ye expert money-changer^ ' — be skilful in distinguishing true doctrine from false.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

MONTH.— See Time.

MONUMENT. — Is 65*, 'which remain among the graves and lodge in the monuments,' that is, among the tombs. In the Rhemish Version ' monument ' is the usual word for tomb or sepulchre, after Vulg. monumentum. The reference in Is. is to the custom of obtaining oracles by incubation, that is, spending the night in subter-ranean sacred places.

MOOLI (1 Es 8") =Mahli, Ezr 8"8.

MOON. — The .moon is 'the lesser light to rule the night' ol the cosmogony of Genesis (1"). Its import-ance was in part due to the recurrence of its phases, which formed a measure for time. Each new moon, as it appeared, marked the commencement of a new period, and so in Hebrew the word for 'moon' and 'month' is the same. Sun and moon occur side by side in passages of Scripture, and to the moon as well as to the sun is ascribed a fertilizing power over and above the gift of light which comes from them to the earth. Just as we have in Dt 33" ' the precious things of the fruits of the sun,' so we have there 'the precious things of the growth of the moons.' As a consequence of this, the re-appearance of the new moon was eagerly looked for, and trumpets were blown and sacrifices offered on the day of the new moon. We gather also from Ps 81' (RV) that something of a similar kind took place at the full moon. The moon took its part -with the sun in one of Joseph's dreams when it 'made obeisance' to him (Gn 37«); and it stood still, 'in the valley of Aijalon,' at the command of Joshua, at the battle of Gibeon (Jos 1012. 13; cf. Hab 3")- Language which must have been derived from the appearance of the moon during eclipses is used by the prophets. The moon is to be darkened or turned into blood (Jl 2"'- ^i) before ' the day of the Lord'; and similar language is used by our Lord (e.g. Mk IS^*). We are told of the redeemed Zion that the fight of the moon is to be as the fight of the sun (Is 302"), and that there is to be no need of the moon, because the glory of God is to be the light of His people (Is 60"; cf. Rev 212'). Cautions against the worship of the moon, and punishment by death for the convicted worshippers, are to be found in Dt 4" 17';

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