Ecclesiastes to Malachi: 19 More Clues from the Old Testament

How much is a talent? A mite? A “piece of silver”?

     When we read all these strange units of measurement in the Scriptures, we often don’t know what they are. We miss the real power and dynamics of the story. For instance, I might buy a can of cola in Canada for one dollar but in Mexico I may have to pay 10 pesos—is that a good price or a really bad one? I need to know the conversion factor.

     When we dig into the stories Jesus told, or events in His life, we still need those conversion factors. Look at the shepherd who loses one sheep. (Matthew 18:12). Out of 100, that’s only 1%. But what is the value of a sheep (aside altogether from his duty to keep the flock intact)? I looked up the current selling price of a sheep —about $300. Definitely worth a bit of trudging through the wilderness.

     Then there is the woman with ten silver coins (drachmae or denarii), who lost one of them— how much was that, supposing a salary of $30,000? One denarius was about one day’s wages so calculating 300 working days per year, that is $100. Again, worth sweeping the floor for. (Luke 15:8)

     While the Lord was at the temple, He watched a woman put two mites into the collection box—all she had to live on. (Mark 12:42) We might put $5 or $10 or $20 into the collection and think nothing of it. What did she have? Her two mites (or lepta) were worth only one sixty-fourth of a denarius! She had $1.60, and she gave it all.

     Another example might be the ruler who gave his three assistants five, three, and one talents (i.e., bags of money). The NIV footnotes indicate that a talent was “about 20 years of a day laborer’s wage”, so that means $3,000,000 to the first servant and $600,000 to the third. The first and second servants were committed to their master, worked hard, and doubled their money (to six million, in the first case).

     Finally, look at what Judas got for his treachery—30 pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:15) Sometimes we think it was a pittance—30 quarters or even 30 silver dollars. But this was the value of the life of a slave if someone’s ox gored him to death. (Exodus 21:32) These pieces were possibly staters, so 30 of them would represent four month’s wages. So, in terms of our $30,000 salary, Judas got $10,000.

     We should take it to heart that these stories, whether involving $6,000,000 or $1.60, all seem to have the common threads of personal integrity, and faithfulness to the Master (or lack thereof). “If we are faithless, he remains faithful.”

“In this world we are like Jesus”

     1 John 4:17

     We wish we were. We want to be. John seems to give us the benefit of the doubt that we are. But just how would this show through in practice? Scanning back through John’s letter, here are a few characteristics of Jesus “in this world”:

·    He walks in the light. If we do this, we have fellowship with one another; and we love our sister and brother. 1:7; 2:10.

·    He loves his Father. If we live as Jesus did, we know we are in him. 2:5.

·    He does the will of God. If we do this, we will live forever. 2:17.

·    He is righteous. If we do what is right, we know that we have been born of him. 2:29; 3:7.

·    The world does not know him. So it doesn’t know us either. 3:1.

·    He is pure. We should purify ourselves. 3:3.

·    In him is no sin. We must not keep on sinning. 3:6.

·    He laid down his life for us. We ought to lay ours down for our brothers and sisters. 3:16.

·    He loves us. We must love our brother and sister. 4:19.

     The writer of this letter, the apostle John, seems to have been the sweetest, gentlest of all the apostles. He was very specifically “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, he is the one to whom Jesus entrusted his own mother, he is the only one who lived to a great old age and died a natural death. Somehow advice from a man like this, a “gentle” man, seems easier to take—we really want to be like Jesus out of love.