📖 Biblical Definition
The shekel of the sanctuary was the standardized weight-of-silver used for tabernacle and temple offerings — set apart from the variable common shekel of the marketplace. Half a sanctuary-shekel was the redemption-price required of every Israelite male twenty years and upward in the census: "a half shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary... an offering to the LORD" (Exodus 30:13-16). Rich and poor paid the same — "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less" (30:15) — and the silver went to the service of the tabernacle. The standardization itself was theological: YHWH’s worship is not subject to market fluctuation. He values souls equally; He requires payment evenly; He keeps His own measures.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
The standardized temple-shekel (~11 grams of silver).
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The standardized shekel weight used for tabernacle and temple offerings, distinct from the common shekel which varied with markets. Approximately 11 grams of silver. Half-a-sanctuary-shekel was the redemption price each Israelite male paid in the census (Exod 30:13). The standardization itself was theological: YHWH's worship is fixed, not subject to inflation or local variation.
📖 Key Scripture
Exodus 30:13 — "This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD."
Leviticus 27:25 — "And all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary."
Matthew 17:24-27 — "And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter... [Christ pays the half-shekel temple tax through the fish's mouth.]"
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Largely lost as a category; modern Christians don't know there were two shekel-standards, much less the theological point.
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The two-shekel system tells us something: God's worship economy is separate from the market. The sanctuary-shekel never varied; the common shekel did. Money used for the LORD must be measured by His standard, not by the market's.
Recover the principle: when you give to God, use His scale. The tithe of grain doesn't shrink because the market-grain shrank.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew shekel ha-qodesh.
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['Hebrew', 'H8255', 'shekel', 'shekel (weight unit)']
['Hebrew', 'H6944', 'qodesh', 'holiness, sanctuary']
Usage
"Sanctuary-shekel is fixed; common-shekel varies."
"Half-shekel was the redemption price per male."
"God's worship economy is set apart from market."