(8) Anklets of bronze and silver have also been found in various places. They are like bracelets, only larger. In a country where the ankles were usually left bare, it was as natural to wear ornaments on them as on the arms. These, too, are denounced along with the other ornaments of women in Isa. 3: 18. (9) Rings, too, of various kinds have been found in profusion. Most of the finger rings were simple circles of metal; usually they were of bronze; sometimes of iron. Silver and gold rings were comparatively few in number and of small size. Several signet rings were found at Gezer. Finger rings are not often mentioned in the Bible. (See, however, Num. 31:50.) They evidently were highly regarded by well-to-do people, for in the Parable of the Prodigal Son Jesus tells us that the father "put a ring on his hand" (Luke 15:22). Signet rings were the possessions of the great and of kings. (See Gen. 41 : 42 and Esther 3: 10, 12, and Fig. 184.) CHAPTER X MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND MONEY MEASURES. WEIGHTS. INSCRIBED WEights. MONEY: Who invented coinage? Darics. Maccabæan coins. Asmonæan coins. Herodian coins. Roman coins. The Widow's Mite. The Piece of Silver. Coinage of the Revolt of 66-70 a. D. 1. Measures. The Hebrew units of dry measure were: 1. The Homer (or Cor), which contained 10 Ephahs (Ezek. 45: 11, 14). 2. The Ephah, which contained 3 Seahs (Isa. 40: 12) or 10 Omers (Exod. 16: 36) or 18 Cabs (2 Kings 6: 25, and Josephus, Antiquities, IX, iv, 4). Corresponding to these were the units of liquid measure: 1. The Homer (or Cor), which contained 10 Baths (Ezek. 45: 11, 14). 2. The Bath, which, according to Josephus and Jerome, contained 6 Hins (see Exod. 29: 40). 3. The Hin, which contained 3 Cabs, or, according to the Talmud, 12 Logs. These two systems have the Homer as their major unit. The Homer had the same capacity in each system. The Ephah of dry measure equalled the Bath of liquid measure, and the Cab was the same in each. If, then, the capacity of one unit in either measure could be determined, we should know the capacity of all the others. It has been the custom of archæologists to strike a kind of average of the confused statements of Josephus and Epiphanius' and correct these by estimates based on Babylonian measures. Calculations based on this method will be found in recent works on Hebrew archæology and dictionaries of the Bible. It has been impossible, however, to reach certainty. Three systems will be found in the books referred to: one based on the supposition that the Log of a pint; one based on the supposition that the Log = 10% of a pint; the third on the supposition that the Log = 1 pint. The estimates of the Homer vary accordingly from 80 gallons to 81.25 gallons, and 89.28 gallons.2 91 = 1 An early Christian writer, born in 315, died in 403 A. D., who was bishop of Salamis in Cyprus. 2 From this equivalence the reader can easily compute the value which the intermediate measures would have according to this theory. The multiples of the Log which formed the Cab, etc., are given above. Under these circumstances some discoveries of the Augustinians of the Assumption, in the grounds of their monastery in Jerusalem, appear to be of importance. They found at various times in excavating for building purposes four vessels, which seem to have been a series of measures. Taking the larger one as the unit, the capacity of the one next smaller is three-quarters of the capacity of the first; the third was just half the first; the fourth, a quarter of it. These vessels all appear to have been in a building which had a Hebrew inscription over its door. Although the inscription was broken, the word "Corban" was still legible. Père GermerDurand assumes, accordingly, that the building was used as a place where temple tithes were paid, and that this series of vessels were standard measures employed in collecting tithes. The quantities of material contained by these vessels are as follows: Largest, 21.25 litres or 19.6 quarts. Père Germer-Durand thinks from a study of Josephus and Epiphanius that the largest of his vessels represents the Ephah of dry measure or the Bath of liquid measure. If this assumption is right, it gives a series of measures which are each about than the smallest of the series referred to above. On this basis Hebrew dry measures become: smaller 1 See Père Germer-Durand, "Mesures de capacité des Hebreux au temps de l'évangile" in Conferences de Saint-Étienne, Paris, 1910, pp. 89-105, and Fig. 185. 2 The Jewish name for an offering to God. (See Mark 7: 11.) It is not certain that the vessels found by the Augustinians represent the measures that Germer-Durand supposes, but it is as likely that they do as that the confused statements of Josephus and Epiphanius afford an accurate basis for calculations. It is probable that in actual business there was in ancient times a great deal of variation allowed from the ordinary standard of measures. We know of no rigid regulation of the matter by a central authority. 2. Weights. The two weights most often mentioned in the Bible are the talent and the shekel. The Bible nowhere tells us of how many shekels a talent was composed. In Babylonia the talent consisted of 60 manas,1 and each mana of 60 shekels, so that the talent consisted of 3600 shekels. The Phoenicians divided the mana into 50 shekels, and it is thought by scholars that the Hebrews did the same, though we have no positive evidence on the point. Manas are not mentioned in the Bible, unless in Dan. 5: 25.2 In the course of the excavations by Bliss in the Shephelah a number of weights were found, some of which were inscribed. Macalister also found a large number of weights at Gezer, a few of which bore inscriptions. Some others have been found by natives and purchased by travelers. The writer had the pleasure of discovering two weights in this way. 3. Inscribed Weights.-These inscribed weights are of the greatest interest to the students of the Bible. Five weights are known that are inscribed in old Hebrew characters with the word neseph, "half"; see Fig. 186. These are undoubtedly half-shekels. Two of the three are broken, and one is perforated. The other two weigh, respectively, 157.56 grains and 153.6 grains. The average of these is 155.5 grains, which would make the shekel 311 grains. Another weight, said to have come from Samaria, was described some years ago by Dr. Chaplin. It bears the inscription roba neseph, "the quarter of a half," and weighs 39.2 grains. Another weight from Samaria is in the possession of Mr. Herbert Clark, of Jerusalem. It is made in the form of a turtle and bears the inscription homesh, "a fifth," and weighs 38.58 grains. Probably it was intended as the fifth part of a shekel. "Mana" is both the Babylonian and the Hebrew term. In English it has usually been corrupted to "Mina." 2 Some scholars understand MENE to be such a reference. Another series of inscribed weights, of which three examples are known, bears the inscription beqa. The word comes from a root that means "cleave" or "split." This word occurs twice in the Old Testament, in Gen. 24 : 22 and Exod. 38: 26. In the passage last mentioned it is defined as half a shekel; (see Fig. 188). A third variety of weight bears the. inscription payim. The first of these to be discovered was found by the writer in the hands of a dealer in Jerusalem. On one side it bore the word payim and on the other lezekaryahu yaer, "belonging to Zechariah son of Jaer." This weight is cubic in form (see Fig. 187) and weighs 117.431 grains.1 Macalister found another of similar shape, which bore only the inscription payim. It weighed 114.81 grains. The word payim is very puzzling. It has been interpreted by Clermont-Ganneau as meaning "two-thirds," and as designating twothirds of a shekel. Possibly this is right. This weight is mentioned in 1 Sam. 13: 20, 21, and its discovery has explained a Hebrew phrase which has puzzled all translators. We now know that these verses should be rendered: "But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his plowshare, and his axe, and his adze, and his hoe, and the price was a pim (or payim) for the plowshares, and for the axes, and for the three-tined forks, and for the adzes, and for the setting of the goads." The name of the weight here expresses the price, just as shekel, the name of another weight, does elsewhere.2 One bronze weight found at Gezer bore words meaning "belonging to the king," but it is not clear to what king it referred. A glance at the weights here described makes it evident that the standards of the ancient Hebrews were not exact. If these are representative weights, the shekel must have varied from 200 to more than 300 grains Troy. This is what one acquainted with the Palestine of today would expect. The peasants still use field-stone as weights, selecting one that is approximately of the weight they desire. Even among the merchants of modern Jerusalem, where 1 The weight is now in the library of Haverford College, near Philadelphia. The words rendered "the price was a pim" are translated in the Authorized Version, "they had a file," margin, "a file with mouths"; in the Revised Version, "they had a file," margin, or "when the edges... were blunt." The Revisers add, "The Hebrew text is obscure." The Hebrew word rendered "file" and "blunt" comes from a root that means "to prescribe" or "appoint." It could easily mean the "established price," but can mean neither "file" nor "blunt." Pim means "mouths" and is employed figuratively for "edges," but neither of those meanings fits the passage. The discovery of these weights has cleared up the whole obscurity. The writer's attention was called to the bearing of these weights upon this passage by Prof. Max L. Margolis. |