Oddbean new post about login | logout 30 silver coins for Judas In this thread I'll try to give you some perspectives on the political context of Judas' betrayal of Jesus. 1/13 https://image.nostr.build/25c942a4bdcb75cf5f9bca3dd1b58cf384a0a81902b05f600d2a85fd35d78fbd.jpg
We must start with Tyre, which is an ancient city in today's Lebanon. The city had a mint that produced coins, called "the shekel of Tyre." The shekels were 14 grams of 94% silver, which was a higher degree of purity than the Roman silver coins. 2/13 https://image.nostr.build/e2f86f9dada93e9c43bb6f8f46b6b8b00078ff271144c2bfcd0cc0a85ddc71a9.jpg
Herod the Great (c. 72 BC – c. 4 AD) was a Roman Edomite client king of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea. When he completed the temple of Jerusalem in 18 BC he wanted direct control over a single coin that could be used to pay the official temple tax. Therefore, Herod transferred the mint from Tyre to Jerusalem. 3/13 https://image.nostr.build/2370fe6f28d062ecc83bbc5e875959fdc63a06436f31706bdb6b1386c1328f7f.jpg
In 26 or 27 AD, Pontius Pilate became the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius. His reign lasted until 36 or 37 AD. It's likely that Pontius Pilate took over the privilege of collecting the temple tax, and that he shared some of it with the high priests. A good deal of money was stored at the temple, where it could be loaned by the wealthy to the poor who were in danger of losing their land to debt. The high priests establishment co-operated with the aristocracy in the exploitation of the poor. I assume that Pontius Pilate probably was paid a tax of the income from the money lending business. 4/13 https://image.nostr.build/762d7782d3d8d2b96ba1797478d72eddf039fed0481ea4a8fbd1c32294fbc179.jpg
The Jewish people each year celebrates the Passover, also called Pesach, which lasts for seven days. It's a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the biblical story of the Israelites' escape from slavery in Egypt. Many Jewish traditionally travel to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, where they in the time of Jesus had to pay the tax - a half shekel per person - when they visited the temple. 5/13 https://image.nostr.build/ac4bd7dfb9df2ed23b44c1c746796cd991062145e5bd4994d91f8ba78b1660b7.jpg
In the year 33 AD Jesus came to Jerusalem. The city was packed with pilgrims who had come for the celebration of the Passover. It has been estimated that they numbered 300,000 to 400,000. Jesus visited the temple. He saw a courtyard filled with livestock, merchants, and money changers, who exchanged the standard Greek and Roman money for Tyrian shekels. The money changers received a profit, of which a solid share likely were collected by the high priests on behalf of Pontius Pilate. I assume that, with the enormous masses of visitors, the profits from the money changing must have been massive. According to the gospel of Matthew: "Jesus went into the house of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." Jesus's actions most likely prompted the authorities' decision to later have Jesus arrested. 6/13 https://image.nostr.build/26fc3522fd380e26f3101c0f01ce1e16a18399e393906518b6e5426b51308578.jpg
Jesus informed his disciples during the Last Supper that one of them will betray him. When they asked who it would be, according to the gospel of John, Jesus said: “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” He then dipped a piece of bread in a dish and handed it to Judas, identified as the “son of Simon Iscariot.” After Judas received the piece of bread, “Satan entered into him.” 7/13 https://image.nostr.build/be3c03b78a157a0f58eb9f58eb4ac15cef8dc728c4b63972483c4e9bc03408aa.jpg
According to the gospel of Matthew, Judas went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?" So, they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over." 8/13 https://image.nostr.build/25c942a4bdcb75cf5f9bca3dd1b58cf384a0a81902b05f600d2a85fd35d78fbd.jpg
Judas led soldiers to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he identified Jesus by kissing him and calling him “Rabbi.” 9/13 https://image.nostr.build/565eeced1008709a579e3ef436f4a95275e8e245df97d33120bbdd0fe605a78b.jpg
Jesus was arrested, and some days later Pontius Pilate had him crucified. 10/13 https://image.nostr.build/66740efecb646380a341bcb09d7c82515b52cf6631e43598809c263b923b0028.jpg
According to the gospel of Matthew, Judas regretted his actions and returned the 30 pieces of silver to church authorities, saying: “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” When the authorities dismissed him, Judas left the coins on the floor. 11/13 https://image.nostr.build/3892424b8d612eaa7a9e3e4de5fb538758b7c155fab17d993d3f9299ceb7eda9.jpg
Judas then committed suicide by hanging himself. 12/13 https://image.nostr.build/8e75c5ba6c626ebb82a5af30f527f8e46b68d96a8d9195f807c56adaa87bfaab.jpg
The story about how Jesus died carries several important lessons about money. The most import one is, that it's not "What's the best money?" that is the question we should concentrate on. No, the important question is: "What's the best and the worst monetary system?" In principle, we only have two systems: Monetary freedom - the right to use the money you like best. Monetary monopoly - in which a ruler dictates that the people must use the money that he is the sole producer of. And the story about why Jesus died after having threatened the policies of Pontius Pilate tells us all we need to know about the evils of monetary monopoly. Furthermore, the story tells us that it's not the debasement of money that is the most negative aspect of a monetary monopoly. Debasement is just one way of abusing the monopoly. We know from other stories, for instance the parity policy in Europe in the 1920s, that deflation of the money supply can be just as bad, and that it even can be worse than inflation of the money supply. Therefore, it's the possibility to abuse the monopoly that is the problem, not how it's abused. And lastly, the story is also a sad reminder of how religion is inextricably linked to monetary policy. In fact, I think this might be the worst stain on religion. We see the same problem repeating itself many times throughout history. I know one of these examples very well, because it caused enormous hardship to my ancestors here in Trøndelag, Norway. The Norwegian kings Olav Tryggvasson and Harald Sigurdsson (later St. Olav) tried to use a combination of Christianization by sword and monopolization of coinage to rule my people. They didn't succeed, but they laid the groundwork for king Harald Hardråde, who completed the tyrants' project in 1050 AD. Religious leaders all over the world should in my opinion start discussing the evils of monetary monopoly and how they should deal with it in the future Thank you for reading. If you liked this piece, the algorithms and I would appreciate it if you pushed the like, share and follow buttons. Feel free to check out our book on the UNDOQO website. (This photo shows Harald Hardråde's coin, with the Christian cross on one side, and his name on the other.) 13/13 https://image.nostr.build/612cd36576f5361ce5ad83559e4cff3439a0c28e40f5846b8246997b3ac90773.jpg
I believe the thread above might become one of the most important summaries that I have put together about events in the history of monetary policy. Some of the wording is a cut and paste from many, many sources that I browsed before writing it. I therefore take no credit for the wording. I just puzzled the pieces together, and made sure that it was readable, factual and to the point. Having reflected over the post afterwards, I feel I have to add that the story about the last days' of Jesus from Nazareth demonstrates to the full extent how evil monetary policy is. I'll explain: Pontius Pilate probably wanted to have everything related to money as close as possible to the temple in Jerusalem: - the mint where he produced the coins - the money lending - the exchange of money - the trading with money, goods and services - the taxing of the pilgrims As other rulers, he wanted to monopolize and centralize everything related to money and to do it to the highest degree possibly. This enabled him to extract wealth at all levels which involved exchange between people who didn't know each other or who needed a medium of exchange in order to interact or to follow their people's religious traditions. Furthermore, it maded it possible for Pontius Pilate to amass wealth and power at the lowest cost possibly - as it would have been a lot more costly for him to maintain an apparatus that travelled all places where people were in order to steal the fruits of their labor. As you see - monpolization of money and centralization of everything goes hand in hand. The story also strengthens my perception of the monetary system as being the most valuable and powerful social network that we have seen in history. As a specie, we have a deep desire for interacting with people that we don't know, and perhaps especially so when we gather in large religious feasts. Money developed as a means to make it possible to a much higher degree to cooperate with strangers. Monetary policy, on the other hand, puts up a virtual wall between strangers. Monetary policy is at its core a tax on our desire to interact with people we don't know, and a tax on visiting places. It's a policy that aims at making it possible for the ruling class to amass their wealth and power to the greatest extent, and at the cost of the rest of the people, who for the most part just want to be social and friendly with each other. Finally, this story makes it even clearer to me that monetary freedom is the only ethical system that we can have in relation to our need to use a general medium of exchange when we interact with each other. Again - thanks for your interest in following my reflections on this important political subject. (I mentioned the algorithms above, but I guess we don't have this yet here on Nostr, do we? Cut and paste between different platforms isn't always easy :-))
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Beautifully written & presented. Thank you 💜
Thx 🧡
nostr:nevent1qqswnvzu53pdhw86vswulzg8t62wmfcrz0hvxwzr200qrwuafq6dwsgpz3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezummcw3ezuer9wcpzpn3y4zskx6x0p9u9h3ep726nenk763uakscanre0lavdk2a6n8grqvzqqqqqqyckk0vm
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, thanks.
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Very informative and enlightening. Thank you. There's a good chance I'll quote and credit you in my upcoming book, The Benefits of Bitcoin.
Thx :-)
And good luck with your book
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Writing and researching this thread 👇 on history' most dramatic Easter crime rewarded me with understanding another important piece of the monetary policy puzzle. Read on, and you soon see what I mean. My journey can now be summed up in this way: 1. When I wrote Fraudcoin I realized that monetary policy is about manipulating the money supply with - inflation, - deflation, and - channelization of the stock of money. 2. Before I wrote UNBAR I had realized that in principle we only have two different types of monetary systems, something which became the backbone of this book No. 2 on money from me. These systems were: - monetary freedom, and - monetary monopoly However, I still thought that monetary monopoly mainly would be abused with inflation, deflation and channelization of the money supply. 3. And then, today I realized that the problem is monopoly itself, even if the monopolist doesn't inflate, deflate or channelize the money supply. No - the monopolist can and will use his monopoly to set up a virtual wall between people who just want to interact with each other in a cooperative manner. The monopolist then abuses his monopoly by charging a monopoly price for his money. Since this is a monopoly that in reality takes control over the most powerful social network that humankind has seen, the monetary system, it will in itself constitute a massive instrument for wealth extraction and concentration of political power. Read it and pls. share your thoughts with us. nostr:nevent1qqsxpvwll6rwka0xxrrg25ar977ya5wrt9j3t5af3d63p348fkavlyspz3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezummcw3ezuer9wcpzpqe29v7w7jch2nz2w4efvjjymdjdr8klvflvg5tek5vapf02aqveqvzqqqqqqya4tlp9
For me, this 👇 became one of my most important writeups on the history of monetary policy. nostr:nevent1qqsxpvwll6rwka0xxrrg25ar977ya5wrt9j3t5af3d63p348fkavlyspz3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezummcw3ezuer9wcpzpqe29v7w7jch2nz2w4efvjjymdjdr8klvflvg5tek5vapf02aqveqvzqqqqqqya4tlp9
Rune is on fire again with his writing.🔥 nostr:nevent1qqsxpvwll6rwka0xxrrg25ar977ya5wrt9j3t5af3d63p348fkavlyspr3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezucnfw33k76twv4ezuum0vd5kzmqzyzpj52euaa93w4xy5atjje9yfkmy6x0d7cn7c3ghndge6zj746qejqcyqqqqqqgdr3xzt #siamstr #history #grownostr
Why Pontius Pilate killed Jesus nostr:nevent1qqsxpvwll6rwka0xxrrg25ar977ya5wrt9j3t5af3d63p348fkavlyspz3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezummcw3ezuer9wcpzpqe29v7w7jch2nz2w4efvjjymdjdr8klvflvg5tek5vapf02aqveqvzqqqqqqya4tlp9
Follow-up on my piece 👇 on the killing of Jesus: The biblical texts referring to Jesus lashing the money changers, overthrowing their tables and driving them out of the temple court in Jerusalem a few days before he was arrested and killed, don't mention at all that the temple was much more than a religious building. The texts don't mention that the temple also was the largest and most powerful bank in the region. Neither do they mention that Pontius Pilate most certainly taxed the profits that the high priests made from deposits, loans and money changing. Therefore, the story about Jesus chasing away the money changers lacks important context. Directly after his arrest, the high priests held a meeting where they interrogated Jesus, before they led him to Pilate. The high priests took Jesus to Pilate and asked him to execute the rebel. According to the gospel of Luke, they said to Pilate: "He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.” It seems likely that "taxes to Caesar" referred to taxes on the temple's banking business, which were paid by the high priests to Pilate on behalf of the Roman empire, and which Jesus directly or indirectly had objected against when he created the ruckus in the temple yard. However, when Pilate went on to examine Jesus, he didn't mention the subject of taxes at all. The scriptures also make it seem like Pilate was reluctant to the proposed execution of Jesus. All of this seems very odd to me. I suspect that it throughout history has been a great deal of politically motivated editing of these texts. I believe that the motive for this censorship has been to steer clear of the fact that political control over religion, especially when it comes to the the monotheistic religions of Judaism and Christianity, goes hand in hand with political control of the monetary system. It's an unholy marriage that stretches a long way back in time, long before Jesus lived. He demonstrated against this sinful arrangement and was punished accordingly. And instead of focusing on the evil profiteering of the state and the high priests, today's narrative seems to me to focus a whole lot on Judas the betrayer, who became a useful fall guy. It's disgusting. I have no other word for it. We shouldn't be kept in the dark about these things. https://image.nostr.build/6fe58f252fc1121926d4c62ea713ed5fe4ac063ce1a05289f6e796645455a557.jpg nostr:nevent1qqsxpvwll6rwka0xxrrg25ar977ya5wrt9j3t5af3d63p348fkavlyspz3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezummcw3ezuer9wcpzpqe29v7w7jch2nz2w4efvjjymdjdr8klvflvg5tek5vapf02aqveqvzqqqqqqya4tlp9
What a chad, thank you sir 🧡 nostr:nevent1qqsxpvwll6rwka0xxrrg25ar977ya5wrt9j3t5af3d63p348fkavlysprdmhxue69uhkummnw3ez6ur4vgh8xetdd9ek7mpwv3jhvq3qsv4zk080fvt4f3982u5kffzdkex3nm0kylky29um2xws5h4wsxvsxpqqqqqqz6aemka
The most interestin reading on Nostr. Thank you! 🙏
Thx, G
Jesus died because he stood up to an oppressive banking system? #fuckinglegend nostr:nevent1qqsxpvwll6rwka0xxrrg25ar977ya5wrt9j3t5af3d63p348fkavlysppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qgsgx23t8nh5k965cjn4w2ty53xmvngeahmz0mz9z7d4r8g2t6hgrxgrqsqqqqqps4fyyt
This is an excellent thread: nostr:nevent1qqsxpvwll6rwka0xxrrg25ar977ya5wrt9j3t5af3d63p348fkavlyspzamhxue69uhkv6tvw3jhytnwdaehgu3wwa5kuegzyzpj52euaa93w4xy5atjje9yfkmy6x0d7cn7c3ghndge6zj746qejqcyqqqqqqg7egm6n
30 tyrian schekels, at 13,8gr each = 414gr of silver. At an average purity of of 92,5% that's 300$ of today's money. Judas betrayed Jesus for 300 bucks. Worst trade in the history of trades, rightfully so he hung himself. https://image.nostr.build/2d74cb450f83a6d9081bcf9ed45a651b0abb7384a2a45e8574c3e08ee218ad56.jpg https://www.muenzen-ritter.de/45376-phoenizien-tyros-schekel-jahr-32-95-94-vchr-fvz.html
I know too little about Judas' individual situation to say anything about how important it was for him to do this. Perhaps he or someone in his family were in a terrible situation due to debt?
Good read. nostr:nevent1qqsxpvwll6rwka0xxrrg25ar977ya5wrt9j3t5af3d63p348fkavlyspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfdupzpqe29v7w7jch2nz2w4efvjjymdjdr8klvflvg5tek5vapf02aqveqvzqqqqqqyq3wfwm
Love the information! Would recommend long form not next time tho
Thx, I'm not very experienced with nostr. Is it easy to add images in between text in the long form?
There is a specific clent for posting long form content: https://yakihonne.com/ It has a lot more tools for posting longform content.
Great, thx!
There is no wrong way to do Nostr at the moment, it's all still very young.
Yeah it's a lot simpler to do that. I will show you an example of it, I have done a few for Irish mythology.
Have you looked into the history of monetary freedom in Ireland? It might be enormously important.
Not in any great detail. I tend to think of the consequences of monetary theory in global terms, it never occured to me to explore it in a purely Irish context.
The Irish probably was the civilized part of the West that managed to protect the fundamental human right to use the money they liked best, likely well jnto the 17th century
Uppa Irish
Great write up. I loved reading this. Since it's Easter, let's be sure to remember what this was all about and not what it was not about. The days chronicled here, came to be called Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and then Easter Sunday. Maundy Thursday refers to the "last supper" when Jesus identified Judas as his betrayer. Maundy came from Jesus command to love one another. (The Latin mandamus, mandatory, is the root for maundy.) Jesus said we are to love our neighbors, neighbors being everone else, just as he first loved us. All of the events leading to Jesus' betrayal, pseudo-trial, crucifixion, death, and resurrection were the culmination of his plan from the beginning...to atone for man's sin. Everything chronicled here looks well researched historically, i learned lots, and I really enjoyed reading through it, though I'd encourage folks to remember: Jesus was not on a fix-the-money mission. He had a laser-focussed mission of fix-the-sin. We've all heard, "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils," (1 Timothy 6:10, ESV). I think people often wrongly quote it as, "money is the root of all evil." The bible syas it's the "love of money," meaning the problem is actually man's sinful heart, not the metal or paper money. I like the ESV or NIV versions: all KINDS of evils. As is pointed out here, Herod, Pontious Pilate, the religious leaders during Jesus' time (and throughout history), the money exchangers with their table in the temple court, and many other rulers fall into this sin. When Jesus said to, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's..." (Mark 12:17), he was saying to follow the laws instituted by legal authorities. Bitcoiners likely may not like the lesson, but the Bible does instruct ua to adhere to legal authorities...including taxation. (See Romans 13:1.) This is a hard pill to swallow. We see corruption, greed, mismanagement, outright stealing, maybe even worse. Yet, still abide by laws and rules? Tough. Anyway, quick summary... Money run by men is broken because of sinful, imperfect man. Jesus came to fix sinful, broken man, not the broken money.
The story of Jesus is one who cars for and ultimately restores everything. Money included.
Nostr readers zapped about USD 50 to me for this post about the history's most famous crime. This was more than what X paid me for a whole month of content contribution. 50K viewed it on X. I posted it on Facebook too, the engagement was OK, but significantly lower than on X. Nostr wins hands down. nostr:nevent1qqsxpvwll6rwka0xxrrg25ar977ya5wrt9j3t5af3d63p348fkavlyspp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzyzpj52euaa93w4xy5atjje9yfkmy6x0d7cn7c3ghndge6zj746qejqcyqqqqqqgzkjdst
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I only see 1/13, not the rest...?
In case you missed this one 👇 nostr:nevent1qqsxpvwll6rwka0xxrrg25ar977ya5wrt9j3t5af3d63p348fkavlyspz3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezummcw3ezuer9wcpzpqe29v7w7jch2nz2w4efvjjymdjdr8klvflvg5tek5vapf02aqveqvzqqqqqqya4tlp9
My journey in understanding monetary policy: In the beginning my focus was on the abuse of the monetary system by inflating the money supply that caught my attention. It drew my gaze to the Cantillon effect, which I probably spent too much time on mansplaining to others. Second, it was the abuse by deflating the money supply that stole my focus, especially the incredibly harmful parity policy of several European governments in the 1920s, and the way the banking elite of the UK and the US exploited this in a highly elaborate scheme carried out by Benjamin Strong and Montagu Norman. Third, I realized how many ways a monetary monopoly enabled channelization of newly created money to various favoured players. It really enables both targeted amd full-scale corruption of society. The fourth step was understanding the significance of someone being in a position to profit from creating money that the rest of us must work for. When you look deeply into this simple fact, you really see that the Cantillon effect is of secondary importance. And finally, fifth, after having understood better the motives for the killing of Jesus (see attached post,) I realized it was the monopolization of the monetary system itself that was the most important thing to focus the most on, because it opens up so many opportunities for the ruler to control people's behavior and extract wealth from them. Looking back, it feels like I have been wrestling with an onion, but I see more clearly now, that the main focus has to be on the simple question of monetary monopoly vs. monetary freedom, something which luckily is reflected in all of my books on money. If we in the public debate can focus on this core subject, monetary monopoly vs. monetary freedom, instead of just talking about the symptoms, such as for instance price increases, I believe it will be easier to win over more people in our fight against the political elite. https://image.nostr.build/7227228ff603b958cdd4bdb7bab8d8f0ba4c4450b482b195168e4e44c7f9d83f.jpg nostr:nevent1qqsxpvwll6rwka0xxrrg25ar977ya5wrt9j3t5af3d63p348fkavlyspz9mhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejj7q3qsv4zk080fvt4f3982u5kffzdkex3nm0kylky29um2xws5h4wsxvsxpqqqqqqzztzv2c
