‘And he saw a certain poor widow casting in there two mites.'
But then Jesus noted a woman who cast in ‘a very few lepta', the very smallest Jewish coin. The number ‘two' was often used to indicate ‘a very few' (compare 1 Kings 17:12). Numbers in those days tended not to be used strictly mathematically but as adjectives which were intended to convey an impression. Thus Jesus may not have known the exact amount. Although if it was a vow offering it would be declared. In this latter case we can imagine what the priest thought when he announced ‘two lepta'. Even if he was a good man he would not have been moved by the thought of it. But whether it was a general gift or a vow offering, in either case Jesus knew that it was all that she had. And He was moved in His heart by how much she had given.