In order to understand the nature of the bribe that will be given to Amulek, Mormon takes a rather long aside to describe the monetary system of the Nephites. He feels the need to make this description because he assumes that it is a unique system that his reader may not understand. While Mormon may have had some understanding of the modern Western society that would eventually read the Book of Mormon, it is most clear that he considered that he was writing to his Lamanite descendants. If he assumes that he must explain Nephite means of exchange to them, it is quite likely that this is not the system common among the Lamanites. Authors do not explain the things they consider to be obvious. When Mormon speaks of travel, he never indicates the mode of travel. He assumes that we will known that they travel on foot. He is not aware that we have multiple modes of conveyance, and might interested in the particular mode the Nephites use. For Mormon, this is simply too obvious to state. In this case, however, Mormon is very explicit in describing the mode of exchange. This very detail suggests that he considered this information unique, and therefore not to be assumed.
There are several parallels between this system that is established by Mosiah and similar situations in the Old World:
“Ancient kings typically implemented their economic progress by means of official decrees. In this light it is interesting that King Mosiah’s statute contains similarities to other ancient law codes antecedent to the Nephite system. For example, similarities appear almost effortlessly in the law code of Eshnunna, which was compiled about 1800 b.c. in a Babylonian city by that name that lay approximately 50 miles northeast of Baghdad in modern Iraq. In fact the similarities are rather striking. First of all, the opening lines in the law code of Eshnunna set out an important equivalency that becomes the basis for commerce: ”one kor of barley is equal to one shekel of silver.“ A similar conversion between silver and barley was also used among the Hittites. Perhaps it is coincidental, but the law of Mosiah begins with a comparable ratio of value stated in similar phraseology: ”a senum of silver, which is equal to a senine of gold, … and either for a measure of barley" (Alma 11:3, 7).
A second parallel has to do with the basic reason for establishing values for various goods. At Eshnunna, this valuation was designed to allow merchants to deal in a variety of commodities, each one being convertible into either silver or barley, sesame oil, wool, and other things. Thus precious metal and grain measures were interchangeable. Correspondingly, the Nephite system allowed traders to convert from silver or gold into many other goods: “also for a measure of every kind of grain” (Alma 11:7).
Third, one of the motives behind the laws of Eshnunna was apparently to create a kind of standard rate of compensation for drivers of wagons or for boatmen, as well as to set the penalties for damages or the daily rates for renting different means of transport, such as boats and wagons. In the case of the Nephites, the system was likewise linked to a standard daily wage, in this instance for judges. Both systems are consistent with the ordinary workings of ancient economies.“ (Welch, John W. ”Weighing & measuring in the Worlds of the Book of Mormon." In: Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. 8:2).
A note should be made on the day’s wage. The original has a typographical error indicating 1,000 rather than 1.0. The value of a days wage is based on verse 3 which very clearly states that it is one senine or senum that is the wage. The next point that should be made is that the senine/senum per day may or may not be the wage of the judge alone. It is actually more probable that this is the value that is given to the position of judge, and supports the judge and his lawyer/scribes. If we assume only a single senine/senum per day, then Zeezrom’s bribe of 6 onties would only be wages for 42 days (Dahl, p. 318 and Welch, John W. “Weighing & measuring in the Worlds of the Book of Mormon.” In: Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. 8:2). While this is a large number, it does not appear to be overly large, and perhaps not sufficiently large to be as overwhelmingly tempting as Zeezrom appears to believe it to be. If, however, that sum were the wage for more than one person, then the offer to Amulek becomes much more impressive in its size.
Another interesting facet of the Nephite monetary system is the replication of values for silver and gold, but with different names. The value remains the same, but the name of the value includes the metal of which the “piece” is made. This is an odd feature. The modern coinage of the US might have, at one time, had “coppers” and “silvers,” but such a terminology did not develop because “silvers” could have referred to dimes, quarters, dollars, etc. Of course the newest system makes all such naming impossible, but the fact that it never arose stems from the separation of the symbolic value from the intrinsic value. In the case of the Nephite monetary system, these are symbolic equivalencies based on a bushel of barley, and for some reason the nomenclature required a different description for the unit based on the metal the piece was made of.