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IV. Weights

When we turn to the problem of the weights mentioned in the Bible we find the archaeological evidence much more abundant than for the metrological units already considered. inscribed and uninscribed stone weights representing the shekel and its fractions have been recovered intact in Palestine in considerable numbers. Unfortunately they do not give a consistent testimony. Larger weights representing different times in the long history of civilization in Mesopotamia, and it is quite clear that the Hebrew system is modelled on the Babylonian. The names of three of the four principal units are the same—manū = māneh, shiqlu = sheel, girū - gērāh, and the ratios of these to each other and to the largest unit, the "talent," are similar. The largest unit was known to the Babylonians as biltu and to the herbews as kikkār, "a round thing." the name "talent" comes from the Latin equivalent of the Greek talanton, "a weight, something weighed," which is o the same order of magnitude as the Babylonian biltu and may ultimately have been derived from it.

The Babylonian system was sexagesimal: 1 talent = 600 minas (to adopt for simplicity's sake the familiar names), 1 mina = shekels, 1 shekel = 24 gerahs. There is evidence from Ugarit for a mina of 50 shekels, and the Biblical evidence indicates that a 50 shekel mina also was used in Israel, at any rate prior to Ezekiel. The archaeological evidence from inscribed Palestinian weights suggests further that in addition the mina of Palestine may have been reckoned at 50 to the talent, at least for a time. In order to clarify the obscurities it will be necessary to examine the data in some detail.

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