In the last paragraph of the book of Leviticus, the Lord finally comes to the issue of money. He, who “ordered all things by measure, number, and weight” specifies that “every valuation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall make a shekel” (Lev. 27:25). This standardized weight system enabled people to find a precise and just exchange rate. Like the surrounding temple states, Israel not only weighed precious metals (silver and gold) for temple offerings but also used them as media of exchange and bases of payment.
It was a common occurrence for all legal payments to be given and received in precious metals throughout the Near East, as in the Code of Ur-Nammu, written around 2100 BC, which records penal reparations such as, “If a man knocks out the eye of another man, he shall weigh out 1⁄2 a mina of silver.” State-regulation of a single item ensures that it becomes a common currency. When people need a particular commodity to make transactions within their temple-states (i.e. to pay taxes, tithes, or reparations) they also begin to use the item with more frequency in more mundane exchanges. This occurred in ancient Athens as the market was erected outside of the temple of Athena, in Mesopotamia with their temple-insurance systems that used clay tokens, as well as in more recent history when the Bank of Amsterdam standardized a gold unit of account. Historically speaking, temple states made the use of money more common; their demand for a particular medium of exchange is considered a precursor to minted coinage. But Leviticus did not legislate that people predominantly use money. In fact, it disincentivized making offerings with it: “If a man wishes to redeem any of his tithe…
