It's nearly impossible to describe what forty shekels of silver
would convert to in today’s currency. The mention of forty shekels of silver
obviously implies that Nehemiah’s first readers would be horrified by the severity of the burden the quoted figure suggests. The former governors used this astronomical tax for their own daily ration,
that is, their elaborate dinner table. Contrast the hunger and poverty described in Nehemiah 5:2–3.
15 The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God.