This noun originally denoted a case for keeping the mouthpieces of wind instruments, but came to mean a small box or bag for money and valuables. The related classical meaning includes a coffin or sarcophagus (another type of box), showing the word's basic sense of a container. In the New Testament, it appears twice in John's Gospel, both times describing the money box that Judas carried for Jesus and the disciples. John notes that 'Judas had the money box' and was a thief who took from what was put into it (John 12:6), and later that Judas had charge of the money box when Jesus told him to buy things needed for the feast (John 13:29).