The Treasury Chests and the Widow
According to rabbinic sources, the temple built by Herod contained 13 treasury chests, called shofar chests. The Hebrew word shoh·pharʹ means “ram’s horn,” indicating that at least part of the chest might have been shaped like a horn, or trumpet. Those who heard Jesus condemn people who symbolically blew a trumpet when giving gifts of mercy may have been reminded of the noise that coins made as they were dropped into these trumpet-shaped treasury chests. (Mt 6:2) The two small coins donated by the widow might not have made much noise when she deposited them, but Jesus showed that both the widow and her contribution were valuable to Jehovah.
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