Drachma

Biblical Text

In the New Testament, the word drachma occurs only in Luke 15:8-9. When the Pharisees and scribes criticized Jesus for receiving tax collectors and sinners and eating with them (Luke 15:1-2), Jesus answered with three parables. The second of these is the parable of the lost coin. A woman who has ten drachmas and loses one lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches until she finds it. Once she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together to rejoice with her. Jesus concludes, "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth" (Luke 15:10). The parable is preceded by the parable of the lost sheep and followed by the parable of the prodigal son.

Background

The drachma was a silver coin widely used throughout the Greek world. In the New Testament period it is understood to have been roughly equal in value to the Roman denarius. Because Matthew 20:2 presents one denarius as a day's wage, one drachma is likewise taken to correspond roughly to a laborer's daily pay. In the Greek system of measures, 100 drachmas made one mina, and 60 minas made one talent. For this reason, explanations of the parable of the minas (Luke 19:11-27) often express the value of a mina in drachmas.

Significance in the Wider Bible

In the original text of Matthew 17:24, the temple tax is called the didrachma (two drachmas). This amount corresponds to the half-shekel requirement of Exodus 30:13, and the New Korean Revised Version renders the word as "half shekel." The Septuagint is also known to have commonly translated the Hebrew shekel as didrachmon. Thus, for readers of the Bible, the drachma was not an unfamiliar foreign currency but everyday money connected with the monetary units of the Old Testament.

Interpretations and Issues

• The question of value: Some interpreters hold that one coin out of ten was not a large sum, while others argue that for a poor woman it was by no means a small amount. Either way, the text focuses on the effort of searching persistently for what was lost and on the joy of finding it.
• Traditions added to the story: Sermons frequently explain that the ten drachmas were a wedding dowry or coins strung on a headdress. These explanations are conjectures based on later customs; the text itself says nothing of the kind.
• The seeker and repentance: One reading emphasizes the initiative of grace, holding that because a coin cannot return on its own, God seeks first. Another reading points out that the parable's conclusion in Luke 15:10 speaks of repentance and therefore also stresses the human response. Denominations and traditions differ in where they place the emphasis.
• Allegorical interpretation: In the ancient and medieval periods, some allegorical interpretations saw the woman as the church or as the Wisdom of God. Other interpreters draw attention to the fact that God's seeking is portrayed in the figure of a woman.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, the drachma is known chiefly through the expression "the lost drachma." Together with the parables of the lost sheep and the prodigal son, the parable is frequently used as a sermon text on themes such as evangelism, welcoming new believers, and seeking lost souls.