The Shekel

The shekel, Israel's unit of currency (valued at $0.24 in January 2001) was known as early as the second millennium BCE as a unit of weight for means of payment in gold and silver. It is recorded in the Bible that Abraham negotiated the purchase of a field "and a cave that was therein," at Machpela (in Hebron) saying:

"I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there. Ephron, the land-owner, replied: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver... and Abraham weighed to Ephron… four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant." (Genesis 23:13, 15-17)