376 Biblical Money and Coins of the Holy Land. 



Exhibits. — In addition to the coins shown by Rev. H. A. 

 Whitelaw and referred to in his paper, a collection of German 

 and Hamburg coins, by Miss Cresswell, Nunholm; coins of 

 Charles I. and the Commonwealth, by Mr Jas. Davidson; 

 Scottish and English coins, by Master Wm. Dickie. 



Biblical Money and Coins of the Holy Eand. By Rev. H. A. 

 Whitelaw. 



Ranging over an extensive field and beginning from the 

 earliest ages, the lecturer showed the development of the idea of 

 " purchase ' ' from the principle of " barter ' ' or exchange ; how 

 articles different in kind became related to each other by refer- 

 ence to a common standard of weight ; how definiteness of weight 

 (cf. Job xxviii. 15; Zechariah xi. 12) was quickly followed 

 by definiteness of shape (cf. Genesis xlii. 25; Deuteronomy xiv. 

 25; II. Kings xii. 9; etc.). Not, how^ever, till the seventh 

 century B.C. did the medium of purchase take the form of coin, 

 while the only coined money mentioned in the Old Testament, or 

 connected with the Holy Land in any way during that period, was 

 the Persian Daric or Drachm (b.c. 538-529), in gold and silver. 

 (See I. Chronicles xxix. 7, Ezra ii. 69, viii. 27, and Nehemiah 

 vii. 70-72.) Though commonly supposed to have been first coined 

 by, and named after, Darius Hystaspes, of the Book of Ezra (the 

 father of Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther and grandfather of 

 Artaxerxes of Nehemiah), the lecturer inclined to the view that 

 they were coined first by Cyrus, the conquerer of the fifth and 

 last of the Lydian Kings, Croesus, whose wealth of jewels and 

 money fell into the conqueror's hands, and that the name given 

 was from the Persian word "Dara," meaning "king," or 

 "sovereign," a term analagous to that in use in our own day. 

 The period between the Old and New Testaments occupied a 

 large section of the lecture. In this, the series known as the 

 Maccabaean coins was dealt with, beginning with the Shekels of 

 Simon Maccabseus (b.c. 140-135), and ending with the copper 

 coinage of Antigonus (b.c. 40-37), the last of the line. From 

 the types displayed on these pieces it was interesting to observe 

 the fluctuations and gradual deterioration in the national and 

 religious idea of the Jewish people. Under the New Testament 

 section came the coins of the Idumasans and those of the Roman 



