This page updated on: June 27, 2005
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Come on Down! Here are some Biblical stories that your group can use to play The Price is Right. The typical TPIR round goes like this: 1. Four contestants are brought down to play. A prize is displayed, and the contestants take turns guessing the price. The winner of the round is the contestant who guesses closest, WITHOUT going over the actual price. 2. The winner goes on to play one of the TPIR games.
The purpose for this web page is to give background on a number of events in the Bible where a numeric price was paid, that can be used to play rounds of The Price Is Right. The events listed can be used as round starters, where multiple contestants try to get that closest guess without going over. Or the events can be used for a game for the person who wins the round. The link immediately below shows many games that can be used.
Here is a link to CBS.com. This link has a pick list where you can pick any of the seventy games regularly played on "The Price Is Right" and see a description of how it is played. Of course, nothing beats sitting down and actually watching TPIR! That is where the ideas really sink in. Then pick some of the biblical prices found below and PLAY!
Read about the Dice Game at this link. In Numbers 3:40 - 51, we read how the Lord took the Levites in place of the first born males of Israelites. When the counting was done, there were 22,273 firstborn males and only 22,000 Levites. For the 273 extra, the Lord told them to bring 5 shekels each. The total was 1,365 shekels of silver. This fits in to the dice game because the total price is made up of the digits 1, 3, 6, and 5 - all of them digits found on dice.
Now and Then. To fit some items into the Now and Then game, we have to modify it to Before and After. The story comes from 2nd Kings, chapters 6 and 7. The city of Samaria was under siege. Ben-Hadad king of Aram, was attacking. Elisha prophesied that the siege would be lifted and food could be found for a ridiculously low price. An officer scoffed at the idea. Elisha said the officer would see it but not get to eat of it. That came true as the people rushed over the officer when they found out the food was available. I used different translations for the before and after so this would not be too easy. Before: donkey's head was sold for two pounds of silver; a half a pint of seed pods for two ounces of silver. After: a measure of fine meal was sold for a shekel; two measures of barley for a shekel.
Below are more stories with prices and costs from the Bible. You can either use them as initial rounds for people to compete against each other or find (or make up) a game for the winner of a round. I am a Sunday school teacher, so naturally I hope you tell some of the story beyond simply asking how much money!
In Genesis 33:19 we read about Jacob buying land near Shechem after meeting Esau. He bought the piece of land for 100 pieces of money (100 pieces of silver). He set up his tent there, as well as an altar.
In Genesis 23:15 we read about Abraham buying land to bury Sarah. He bought the piece of land for 400 shekels of silver. He bought the cave of Machpelah.
In Esther 3:8-11, Haman offered King Xerxes ten thousand talents of silver as he tried to exterminate the Jews.
In Second Samuel 24:24 we read how David bought Araunah's threshing floor and oxen for fifty shekels of silver. David was unwilling to offer something to his God which cost him nothing. To confuse things a little, the price is 600 shekels of gold in the first Chronicles 21:25 version of the story.
This one is strictly for use with adults. As a dowry for his daughter, King Saul asked David to bring a hundred Philistine foreskins. Saul's real idea was that David would get killed trying to do this. But Saul was not counting on God being with David.
In First Kings 10:28-29 we read about Solomon buying horses and chariots from Egypt. Horses cost a hundred fifty shekels of silver and a chariot cost six hundred shekels of silver.
Omri, the king of Israel, bought the hill Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver. That is found in First Kings 16:24. He built a city on the hill.
Jeremiah bought a field from his cousin Hanamel for seventeen shekels of silver. That is in Jeremiah 32:9. The field was at Anathoth. As God prepared to bring ruin on his people, this land sale was a message that after the captivity in Babylon there would again be a life where things happen like buying and selling land.
In Acts 19:19 those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them. The price of the books totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver.
In John 12:5 Judas asked why the ointment was not sold to give to the poor. His estimation was that it could bring three hundred shillings.
More to be added soon!
DnDCrownover@comcast.net (Please put 'puzzle' in the subject) This page updated on: June 27, 2005
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