“ Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. It occurred at Herod’s Temple, just after Jesus finished teaching the people and had been confronted by its angry religious leaders who wanted to seize him there and murder him.Īccording to Luke, immediately BEFORE Jesus observed the widow’s donation and called the disciples’ attention to it, He said, This is not a parable it really happened. Was Jesus pleased with what happened here-or was he angered? About the widow’s offering-What was Christ’s main point about what occurred at the Temple? However, it seems fairly obvious that there was desperation involved. Being God, Christ that this was the end of her funds, and He knew WHY she gave her last cent and what would happen to her later, but those details are not recorded. The main point of Scripture’s mention of the 2 lepton is NOT its relative economic value (although clearly very small), but rather that she gave ALL she had. Relative value comparisons to the 21st century are very difficult, considering the great differences in society and economic practices. 1 pound of grapes = 120 lepta / 1 kg of grapes = 256 leptaĪssuming an average of 80 grapes per pound, the widow could buy 3 grapes in the 200s AD.It is said that the lepton had the following relative value in purchasing power in the 200s A.D. “In modern Greece, lepton (modern form: lepto, λεπτό) is the name of the 1/100 denomination of all the official currencies of the Greek state: the phoenix… the drachma… and the euro (2002–current)… the name is the Greek form of ‘euro cent.’ …Since the late 1870s, and until the introduction of the euro in 2001, no Greek coin had been minted with a denomination lower than 5 lepta.” -“Greek lepton,” Wikipedia () The quadrans (meaning quarter) was ¼ of an assarion. Note that the widow’s 2 lepta would not buy a single sparrow.Ģ mites = 1 quadrans (a very low value coin, translated farthing in the KJV). That equals 16 lepta-a little over 3 lepta per bird-and the price was higher for a purchase of just 1 or 2 birds (see: SPARROW). At the time of Christ, 5 sparrows were sold for 2 assaria ( Luke 12:6). In Roman times, 1 mite ( lepton) was worth ⅛ of an assarius coin (aka as-plurals: assaria and asses) / Greek: ἀσσάριον - assarion). In each verse above, the original Greek word is lepton or its plural lepta. KJV: And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. NASB: …two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. KJV: And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. NASB: I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the very last cent. ![]() KJV: I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite. Most modern English translations prefer the word “cent,” which is a more appropriate term for our day. ![]() The word “mite” appears 3 times in the King James Bible and NKJV. ![]() An expert numatist has said that the ancient lepton “is probably the lowest denomination coin ever struck by any nation in all of history.” In Christ’s day, the lepton, which the King James Bible refers to as a “mite,” was a very small coin and the lowest in value. The lepton pictured above was minted by Caponius, the procurator of Judea installed by Rome in 6 AD, about 20 years or so before Pontius Pilate assumed control and handed Jesus over to the Jewish religious leaders. The lepton coin (a “mite”) was about the same diameter as a pencil eraser-about 6mm).
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