How Much Is a Human Worth?

Yahweh 2023 05 08

Yahweh, or the god of the Old Testament, assigns some precise values to humans, though in keeping with the misogynistic biases of that god, women are valued far less than men.

Here is Leviticus 27:1-8 in the New International Version (NIV) translation:

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate a person to the Lord by giving the equivalent value, 3 set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels[a] of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel[b]; 4 for a female, set her value at thirty shekels[c]; 5 for a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels[d] and of a female at ten shekels[e]; 6 for a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels[f] of silver and that of a female at three shekels[g] of silver; 7 for a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels[h] and of a female at ten shekels. 8 If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay the specified amount, the person being dedicated is to be presented to the priest, who will set the value according to what the one making the vow can afford.

Footnotes

a Leviticus 27:3 That is, about 1 1/4 pounds or about 575 grams; also in verse 16

b Leviticus 27:3 That is, about 2/5 ounce or about 12 grams; also in verse 25

c Leviticus 27:4 That is, about 12 ounces or about 345 grams

d Leviticus 27:5 That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams

e Leviticus 27:5 That is, about 4 ounces or about 115 grams; also in verse 7

f Leviticus 27:6 That is, about 2 ounces or about 58 grams

g Leviticus 27:6 That is, about 1 1/4 ounces or about 35 grams

h Leviticus 27:7 That is, about 6 ounces or about 175 grams

So a male between the ages of 20 and 60 is worth 50 shekels or about 575 grams of silver. The modern value of a gram of silver is about 82 cents, making a man worth about $471. But a woman is only worth 30 shekels or about $283. I have no way of knowing what the value of a shekel of silver may have been back when Leviticus was written.

Notice that the god of the Old Testament puts no value at all on persons younger than one month or on unborn fetuses.

Food for thought.

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