This Coins From The Bible set of 3 Coins has reproduction coins mentioned in the Bible attached to the front of a card. The coins are a Lepton of Caponius, Denarius of Tiberius and a Shekel of Tyre. Each was moulded from an original coin and is made from lead-free pewter, with the Lepton being bronzed. The coins are double-sided and are stuck onto the information card. The coin set has an image of a gold coin on the front and historical information about the coins of the bible on the reverse.

If you’ve read the Bible, you’ve probably come across references to monetary values like the mite, penny, shekel, drachma, and denarius. These coins were all present at the time of Jesus and were used in day to day life.

‘Widow’s Mite’ - The coin referred to in the lesson of the widow’s mite was a lepton, the smallest and least valuable coin in circulation in Judea. In the lesson Jesus sees that the wealthy pay large sums into the treasury from their vast wealth but the widow only pays in 2 Leptons (mites). He points out what he saw to his disciples noting the widow had paid more than the wealthy men as her 2 coins were all she had.

Denarius of Tiberius - ‘The tribute penny’ was the coin that was shown to Jesus when he made his famous speech after seeing the Emperors head on a coin: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”. This was in reference to a question put to him regarding whether the Jews should pay tax to Caesar. It is usually thought that the coin was a Roman denarius with the head of Tiberius.

Tyrian Shekel - ‘The Piece of Silver’ and the ‘Coin in the Fish’s mouth’. According to the Gospel of Matthew 26:15, the price for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus was thirty pieces of silver. They may have been tetradrachms of Tyre, usually referred to as Tyrian shekels. Also in Mathew Jesus asks Peter to cast his fishing line into the Sea of Galilee and look in the mouth of the first fish he catches. He is told inside he will find a 4 drachma coin (Tyrian Shekel) with which to pay their taxes.