King Herod's Temple Tax

From the Gospel of John, the 2nd Chapter: 

13 ¶ And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,

14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:

15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;

16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.

In the days of King Herod's Temple all adult Jewish males were required to pay an annual tax of one silver coin called a shekel, or more accurately in value a half shekel. The equivalent of the coin in today's monetary value is uncertain. Silver in that time period was valued approximately the same as gold due to its scarcity before the influx of New World silver. Much of it from the Inca here in Peru that would come some 15 centuries later.

The Silver Shekel mounted to a tie bar. 

Today, 20 centuries later, I am returning this temple tax or silver shekel to a temple and will do so every day. Gone are the days when the peace of the temple was disturbed by those exchanging Roman and Greek coins for the only approved coin in its day - the Tyrian Shekel. The irony of this is the image on the coin is the chief god of the Phoenicians, known as Baal. Having coins with Caesar's image was deemed to be blasphemous or sacrilegious and rejected by the scribes and priests. The Jews did not mint their own coins until the revolt of 66 CE. Having a coin with Baal's image somehow was less offensive to the Jews. Perhaps the answer lies in the fact Roman silver coins were both inflated and diluted containing only 70% silver while those from their neighbors in Tyre were 90% pure.

Money-changing in the temple for paying the annual tax according to Brother McConkie “involved weighing the coins, taking deductions for loss of weight, arguing, debating, disputing, bargaining, oftentimes using scales of questionable accuracy. Tables piled high with coins of all denominations and nations were the stock in trade of those who charged a fixed fee, and more, in the lucrative enterprise.” In addition to the lucrative business of monetary exchange, animals, birds and other goods and commodities necessary for offering sacrifices were for sale and kept within the outer courts of the temple grounds. The chief high priest Annas arranged to have his sons hold this lucrative franchise. When Jesus upset the tables and drove the animals out he struck at the bulging pockets of the profiteers and ultimately at the chief priest. In three years hence he would appear before Annas with a far different outcome and one very pleasing to the high priest we are certain.

The significance of the the silver shekel, also according to historians, likely this denomination of coin, (actually thirty of them), was paid to Judas for betraying the Lord. The coin I carry was minted in 125 BCE and one can only imagine the numbers of hands it changed and the stories it could tell through the millennia. Now it is here in Lima Peru with me each day. As a high priest I carry it once again to the Temple. Gone are the money changers and merchandisers who profited and gained their lucre by desecrating the Lord's House. This Temple is a place of peace, solitude, and joy for the restoration of that which was destroyed and lost so many years ago.