"The earliest shekels were a unit of weight, used as other units such as grams and troy ounces for trading before the advent of coins. Coins were used and may have been invented by the early Anatolian traders who stamped their marks to avoid weighing each time used. Early coins were money stamped with an official seal to certify their weight. Silver ingots, some with markings were issued. Later authorities decided who designed coins.[3] Herodotus states that the first coinage was issued by Croesus, King of Lydia, spreading to the golden Daric (worth 20 sigloi or shekel),[4] issued by the Persian Empire and the Silver Athenian obol and drachma.

As with many ancient units, the shekel had a variety of values depending on era, government and region; weights between 9 and 17 grams, and values of 11,[5] 14, and 17 grams are common. A shekel is a gold or silver coin equal in weight to one of these units. It is especially the chief silver coin of the Hebrews.

The shekel was common among western Semitic peoples. Moabites, Edomites and Phoenicians used the shekel, the latter as coins and weights. Punic coinage was based on the shekel, a heritage from Canaanite ancestors.

The Aramaic tekel, similar to the Hebrew shekel, used in the writing on the wall during the feast of Belshazzar according to the Book of Daniel and defined as weighed, shares a common root with the word shekel and may even additionally attest to its original usage as a weight.

Exodus 30:24 notes that the measures of the ingredients for the holy anointing oil were to be calculated using the Shekel of the Sanctuary (see also Exodus 38:24-26, and similarly at Numbers 3:47 for payment for the redemption of 273 first-born males [6] and at Numbers 7:12-88 for the offerings of the leaders of the tribes of Israel), suggesting that there were other common measures of Shekel in use, or at least that the Temple authorities defined a standard for the Shekel to be used for Temple purposes."