138 The Patriarchs.-'The Book of Job. 



but in some, if not in all, exclusively used for money, and at 

 these periods may be viewed as one of the precious metals ; yet 

 the changes that have since taken place have rendered gold and 

 silver more entitled to that name, and will be so considered in 

 the farther progress of this inquiry. 



Some of the earliest notices which have reached the present 

 day of the estimation of gold and silver, are in the account of 

 the condition of Abraham, the progenitor of the Hebrew peo- 

 ple, supposed to have lived two thousand years before our 

 Christian era. We read, " that he was rich in cattle, and in 

 silver, and in gold*." On the death of his wife, he purchased a 

 field for a burying-place, the payment for which was made with 

 four hundred shekels of silver, which he delivered not in coin, 

 but " by weight, according to the currency of merchants-f-."" 



Joseph, the great grandson of Abraham, was sold by his bre- 

 thren to a caravan of Arabs, travelling towards Egypt with the 

 productions of their country, for twenty pieces of silver J. Af- 

 terwards, when established in Egypt as minister of the king of 

 that country, his brothers brought " silver in their sacks' 

 mouths," to purchase corn during a season of scarcity in their 

 native land. In the interesting sequel of the history of Joseph, 

 when making himself known to his family, he presented to his 

 younger and favourite brother three hundred pieces of silver §. 



Though gold was known at that early period, and its value 

 highly estimated, we find no intimation which can lead to the in- 

 ference, that it performed the function of money, either by be- 

 ing used as the common measure of value for other commodi- 

 ties, or by being employed as the medium for exchanging one 

 kind of goods for another. 



The author of the Book of Job, whether, as some have sup- 

 posed, a cotemporary of Abraham, or, as others have thought, 

 of a date some hundred years later, is one of the oldest writers 

 whose works have been transmitted entire to the present day: 

 He was not only acquainted with gold and silver, but was accu- 

 rately informed of the manner in which they were procured. 

 '' Surely," says he, " there is a vein for the silver, and a place 

 for the gold where they fine it." He farther states, " that the 



• Genesis xli. t. t Genesis xxiii. 14, 15, and 16. 



. + Genesis xxxviii. 2J). § Genesis xlv. 22. 



