Before, however, quitting this portion of our subject, I have to call attention to some new theories that have recently been laid before the Biblical student.

There is a monthly publication issued by Messrs. Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, entitled the Bible Educator, and edited by the Rev. E. H. Plumptre, M.A., vicar of Bickley. In this work there has been appearing from time to time a series of papers on "Measures, Weights, and Coins of the Bible," by Mr. F. R. Conder, C.E. 25 On the question of the " measures and weights," as here discussed, I do not propose to enter, feeling that one section-the weights-could be better examined by Mr. R. S. Poole, who has made this question his special study.

The portion of Mr. Conder's paper on which I propose to make a few remarks is that relating to Jewish money.27

As a sort of lever du rideau, Mr. Conder objects to the readings of several of the inscriptions of the coins as they have been usually accepted, considering them to have been "mistranslated by numismatologists."

1. The inscription "Shekel Israel.”

This, Mr. Conder says,28" has been taken to mean that the piece was a shekel. But this legend is also found on small silver coins of about sixty grains' weight, corresponding to the garmes, or sixth part of a shekel, of the Talmud; so that it cannot be taken to be an actual statement of value."

With reference to this point Mr. Conder again writes: 29

26 Vol. ii. pp. 278, 380; vol. iii. pp. 10, 69, 96, 175, 222, 238, 330, 347, 961; vol. iv. p. 27.

27 Vol. iii. pp. 97-100, 175–180. 28Bible Educator," vol. iii. p. 176. 29 Bible Educator," vol. iii. p. 71.

"There exists a Jewish silver coin, specimens of which weigh 54 and 57 grains, which bears on the obverse the words 'Shekel Israel,' although its value cannot have been more than that of the garmes, or sixth part of the shekel, which no doubt it is."

.(Simon שמעון for) שמענו or שמעו The inscription .2

Speaking of this word, Mr. Conder says,30 "Numismatists have taken the word Shemo, which the Tosaphta explains to mean 'coin,' as a 'proper name.' The word, or its derivations, occurs repeatedly in the Pentateuch and in the Prophets, and is explained as referring to money in several places. It is first used in the history of Abraham (Gen. xxiii. 15) where it is translated 'I have heard' by the LXX., and 'hearken unto me' by St. Jerome, and consequently by the authorised version. With this interpretation it becomes necessary to supply a word (in italics) to make sense, while the sentence contains an unnecessary phrase. But the sense of the word Shemo, attributed to it by the custodians of the law, makes a simple sentence, 'My lord, the land is worth to me 400 shekels of silver.'

3. The inscription Lacheruth (deliverance).

Of this word Mr. Conder writes as follows: 31 "Leheruth, another of these words, has been translated 'redemption.' 32 There are no points on the coins. We are

30 Bible Educator," vol. iii. p. 176.

31

Bible Educator," vol. iii. p. 176.

32 The word has not, as far as I am aware, been translated redemption, but deliverance. The term ab signifies redemption. I endeavoured to show (Num. Chron., N.S., 1866, vol. vi. p. 63) that the coins on which the year is written at length, and on which the words and occur, belong to the First Revolt of the Jews, and that coins with no year or with the year in cipher and the word n belong to the

thus reduced to consider the letters alone. The word heruth occurs in Exod. xxxii. 16, where it is translated 'insculpta.' Thus we have three names for money, each conveying a distinct idea-shemo, signum, that of its legality or authorisation; shekel, that of its weight; and heruth, that of its stamp."

4. The inscription Ligullath (redemption).

With respect to this word Mr. Conder writes: 33 The word ligullath has also been translated 'redemption; ' and this is one of the reasons for the attribution of the coins in question to periods of revolt. The word, when it occurs in the Pentateuch (Lev. xxv. 24, 32), relates to the return of alienated property to the owners on the seventh year. An almost identical word, in the Second Book of Kings and in the book of Jeremiah, is translated 'captivity.' The idea common to the two passages is that which is also etymologically correct-namely, cycle. It is on these ligullath coins that dates are found invariably, hitherto, under the number seven. It is our conclusion that the reference is to the cycle of the weeks of years; whether to the year of the week, or to the week of the jubilee, or to the jubilee period itself, in which the coin was struck. When we remember the extremely simple sign by means of which we can identify the year in which any piece of English plate has been 'hall-marked,' it seems more than probable that the date of the ligullath coins was no less intelligible to the Jewish silversmith, than our own stamps are to his successor of the present day."

With respect to the statement in paragraph 1, I can

Second Revolt, but to that question I shall refer in a later portion of this series of papers.

33 Bible Educator," voi. iii. p. 176.

only say that I am not aware of the existence of any genuine coins weighing about 60 grs. or 54 and 57 grs., and bearing the legend "Shekel Israel," nor do I believe that any such exist. 33 a

As regards the theories in the remaining paragraphs, they are so entirely beyond my comprehension, that I must content myself-and I hope my readers, too-by simply leaving them as quoted.

I may now pass on to the "classification" of the coins as proposed by Mr. Conder.

1. The coins of Eleazar the priest (Madden, "Hist. of Jew. Coinage," pp. 162-164), which have been assigned to the Eleazar of the first revolt of the Jews, are considered by Mr. Conder to be the earliest known Jewish coins.

34

On this point Mr. Conder writes: "The earliest known Jewish coins, however, so far tally with the account of the Talmud, as fully to confirm its substantial accuracy. They bear on the obverse the name of a highpriest, and on the reverse a symbol of the temple or of the city. The words Jerusalem, Israel, and Zion occur on other coins, and on one bearing the name of Eleazar the Priest' on the obverse, occurs the word 'Israel' on the reverse. The only sovereign pontiff who bore the name of Eleazar, after the time of the son of Aaron, was the 44th in the series, who was the brother

33 The coin to which Mr. Conder refers, said to weigh 63 grains, is the property of the Rev. Canon Tristram, and is figured on p. 152 of Mr. Conder's little book, "The Child's History of Jerusalem." (Isbister & Co. 1874.) This information is supplied by Mr. Conder himself ("The Academy," Oct. 31, 1874). It however appears from Mr. J. Evans' statement ("The Academy," Nov. 14, 1874) that the coin weighs 45 grains and not 63 grains, and does not read "Shekel Israel," and moreover that it is a forgery.

34 66

Bible Educator," vol. iii. p. 98.

of Simon the Just, and the high priest under whose authority the Septuagint version of the law was made. Eleazar was not, what the Mishna calls the Messiah' or anointed priest, but the priest clad with many garments,' or acting high priest, during the minority of his nephew, or more probably grand-nephew, Onias II. This explains why the word 'high' does not occur on his coins, as it does on those of the Asmonean pontiffs. . . . Thus there seems no reason to doubt the age of the coins of Eleazar, the spelling of which is also of an extremely ancient and obsolete character."

Mr. Conder gives woodcuts of the copper coin of Eleazar (Madden, "Hist. of Jew. Coinage," p. 164, No. 3), and of the silver coin (Madden, p. 162, No. 2), which bears also the name of Simon.

On these figures Mr. Conder remarks: "The upper one is a copper shemun, bearing on the obverse the sevenbranched palm-tree, with the legend 1 (Eleazar

the Priest) inscribed in Phoenician or Old Hebrew letters, but read in the Greek method (from left to right) on the field.35 On the reverse is a cluster of grapes with the legend, in letters of the same type: First year of release, Israel.'"

"The lower one is a silver half righia, or three-eighth part of a shekel. On the obverse is an anochoe, one of the sacred vessels used for libations, with the legend in old Hebrew, Eleazar the Priest.' On the reverse is the word, shemo, 'coin.' The occurrence of this word on an eponymous coin or piece of money, bearing the

35 There is, however, a specimen in the collection of the Rev. H. C. Reichardt, published by him in the Numismatic Chronicle (N.S., vol. iv. 1864, p. 179), on which the legend reads in the usual way.