Replicas of 30 Silver Shekels

Replicas of 30 Silver Shekels

Most scholars believe these coins were Tyrian shekels. The shekel measures about 1 inch in diameter. 

(These coin replicas are made of tin, not genuine silver.) 

Thirty pieces of silver is the price for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 26:14-15: “14 Then one of the Twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said: What are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you? They paid him thirty pieces of silver.”

The value of the silver in these 30 coins today would be approximately $350 CAD. 

According to Matthew Chapter 27, Judas later felt remorse and returned the money to the chief priests, who used it to purchase the “potter’s field.” 

The Gospel of Matthew asserts that the later purchase of the potter’s field was the fulfillment of a prophecy from Jeremiah and Zechariah. 

This act is an allusion to the corrupt priests devaluing the Lord with an insulting amount of money—the price of a slave. 

For the priests, thirty pieces of silver was the price of disdain. 

This raises the question: “What value do you place on Jesus the Messiah, who gave his life as a ransom to reconcile you with God?”