Whole Shekel to the left and similar half Shekel to the Right
Shekel means weight and the Tyre coin was a convenient accurate weight of silver and so was accepted by the Priests of the Temple. Sadly it had the image of Melqart on it.( Melqart was a pagan god.) Yet, the Tyre 1/2 Shekel was still used for the Tax even in 1st Century Jerusalem.
Shekel means weight and the Tyre coin was a convenient accurate weight of silver and so was accepted by the Priests of the Temple. Sadly it had the image of Melqart on it.( Melqart was a pagan god.) Yet, the Tyre 1/2 Shekel was still used for the Tax even in 1st Century Jerusalem.
"A rare ancient silver coin, of the type used to pay the half-shekel tax in ancient times, was recently discovered in an archaeological excavation that is being conducted in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park near the City of David, in what was the main drainage channel of Jerusalem during the Second Temple period...The origin of the commandment to pay the half-shekel head tax to the Temple is in the weekly Biblical reading... in the Book of Exodus." The writer also commented that "devout" Jews, in present day, before the reading of the Scroll of Esther during Purim donate a sum of money which is then given to the poor.
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