The answer based upon my research and calculations is approximately $89,641. This is a very interesting question. How much does it
pay to sellout God's man? There's no way of knowing exactly what silver was
worth in the Old Testament, but we can calculate the price using some facts
to get an idea. The price of silver as of August 31, 2012 is $31.68 per
ounce[1].
The Bible says in Judges 16:5 that EACH of the lords of the Philistines paid Delilah 1,100 pieces (shekels) of silver
to betray Samson. The Bible tells us in
Judges 3:3 that there were 5 lords of the Philistines. So she received 1,100
shekels times 5. The major weight of metal mentioned in the Bible is the
shekel, as its name, which means simply “weight,” testifies.
A
shekel contains 16 grams of silver. So if each of the five lords gave
Delilah 1,100 shekels of silver, she received a total of 5,500 shekels of
silver. I multiplied 5,500 shekels times 16 (grams per shekel) to determine
how many total grams of silver Delilah was paid, which is 88,000 grams.
There is no American ounce. There is the Avoirdupois ounce which is 28.35
grams and the Troy ounce which is 31.10g used for quantifying gold and
silver bullion.
So I'm using the Troy ounce weight value. So I divided 88,000 (total grams) by 31.10 (grams per ounce), which gives us 2,829 ounces of silver. Finally, multiply the 2,829 ounces of silver times the present price of $31.68 per ounce of silver, which means in today's prices Delilah was paid approximately $89,641 to betray God's man, Samson.
It is quite amazing that both the strongest man who ever lived (Samson) and the wisest man who ever lived (Solomon) were both conquered by women. Let that be a lesson to all men of all time! Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 7:26, “And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.” What a statement! Don't be offended ladies, remember that God chose Mary (a woman) as the vessel of honor to bring the Savior of the human race into the world. Jesus is precious!
