Friday, June 19, 2015

Alma 11:1 - 11:5

Alma 11:1 Now it was in the law of Mosiah that every man who was a judge of the law, or those who were appointed to be judges, should receive wages according to the time which they labored to judge those who were brought before them to be judged.

Mormon explains the way the judges were paid for their labor. It was according to time spent in judging.

I assume that the more time they could be at work the higher their salary. One would wonder if they were not trying to generate business by getting folks to sue each other.

Alma 11:2 Now if a man owed another, and he would not pay that which he did owe, he was complained of to the judge; and the judge executed authority, and sent forth officers that the man should be brought before him; and he judged the man according to the law and the evidences which were brought against him, and thus the man was compelled to pay that which he owed, or be stripped, or be cast out from among the people as a thief and a robber.

Concerning people who did not pay their debts, they were brought before these judges by force if necessary to account for their refusal to pay. The debtor had three options. Pay or his property was ceased. The last option, far more extreme, was expulsion from society and labeled as a thief and a robber.

Being thrown out of town was considered the worst of punishments. However, being unable to associate with family and friends was considered even worse than death.

Alma 11:3 And the judge received for his wages according to his time—a senine of gold for a day, or a senum of silver, which is equal to a senine of gold; and this is according to the law which was given.

A day’s wages for a judge was one “senine” of gold or a “senum” of silver. A senine was equal in value to a senum.

It looks like the Nephites had a coinage system. I assume that a senum of silver was greater in volume then a senine of gold.

Alma 11:4 Now these are the names of the different pieces of their gold, and of their silver, according to their value. And the names are given by the Nephites, for they did not reckon after the manner of the Jews who were at Jerusalem; neither did they measure after the manner of the Jews; but they altered their reckoning and their measure, according to the minds and the circumstances of the people, in every generation, until the reign of the judges, they having been established by king Mosiah.

The Nephites had their own coinage system using gold and silver. The value they placed on these coins was not based on the system back in Jerusalem. Nor did they weight their gold and silver using the same weights and measures. It was based on their own system which was alter and redone over the years. It was finalized during the reign of king Mosiah.

Alma 11:5 Now the reckoning is thus—a senine of gold, a seon of gold, a shum of gold, and a limnah of gold.

The name of the gold coins were: senine, seon, shum and a limnah.

I am guessing that they are arranged in order of value with senine being the of the greatest value. So the question is how do they relate in value to each other. Is one say twice as valuable as another?

No comments:

Post a Comment