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§ 115. WEIGHTS AND MONEY.

VII. 7, a hin; used for liquids. A third, half, and fourth part of a Hin are mentioned. It is supposed to be the sixth-part of a Bath, which agrees sufficiently well with those places, where it occurs.

VIII., a log, the twelfth part of a Hin.

IX., phura. The connexion in Isa. 63: 2, requires this word to be rendered wine-vat, but in Hag. 2: 16, it appears to be the name of an unknown Persian measure.

X. Ecorns, the Roman sextarius, containing the fortyeighth part of an Amphora.

XI. Modios, the Roman bushel, used for dry articles, containtaining a peck in English measure.

XII. Meronτns, a Greek measure, a third part larger than the Roman Amphora, being a Roman foot and a half in length, breadth and height.

§ 115. OF WEIGHTS and Money.

In oriental countries, as far back as the time of Abraham, the value of goods was estimated at a certain quantity of silver, the purity of which was taken into account by the merchant, Gen. 23: 16. But there is no trace of stamped silver or coin, previous to the Captivity. Nor indeed was it at that early period divided into pieces of a certain size. It was commonly weighed out in balances, DN, D, though its weight was sometimes ascertained by means of an instrument for weighing, answering to the modern steel-yards. Merchants were accordingly in the habit of carrying about with themselves balances and weights in a sort of pouch or bag. The weights were stones; hence they are called JE, DEN, words which commonly mean stones, Lev. 19: 36. Deut. 25: 13-18. Prov. 11: 1. 16:11. Mic. 6:11. Persons, who were disposed to be fraudulent, sometimes carried two sets of weights, a heavier and a lighter set, 781 78, using sometimes the one and sometimes the other, as best suited their interest.

Gold, even so late as the time of David, was not used, as a standard of value, but was considered merely as a very precious article of commerce, and was weighed, like other articles. The oldest weight, that is mentioned, is denominated in Hebrew

The same word is applied also to a piece of silver or

§ 116. OF WEIGHTS AND MONEY.

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gold, but the amount or quantity designated by it, is in both cases, unknown, Gen. 33: 19. Jos. 24: 32. Job 42: 11. In the time of Moses, the weight most in use was the shekel, bp, its half, yp, and its twentieth part, . An hundred shekels made a Mina,

, uiva, 2 Chron. 9: 16. comp. 1 Kgs. 10: 17; and thirty Minae or three thousand shekels made a talent,, Exod. 38: 25, 26. The Greek talent varied in different countries; the Athenian was estimated at six thousand drachms.

§ 116. OF WEIGhts and Money beFORE THE CAPTIVITY.

The Jewish Rabbins, in their statements in regard to weights, estimate them, like the modern Persians, according to the number of grains of barley, to which they are equivalent. That is to say, they make a grain of barley the smallest weight. This is the method of the Rabbins. The ancient Hebrews undoubtedly, as well as certain nations of profane antiquity, selected a seed of pulse, (siliqua,) as the representative of the smallest weight, with which they were acquainted. The Hebrew name for this weight is. Fannius, a cotemporary with Augustus, says that six such seeds made a scruple, and three scruples a drachm. Hence, a drachm contained eighteen siliquae, or Hebrew gerahs, which Eisenschmid, in his treatise on weights and measures, p. 23, finds equal to eighty seven or eight Parisian grains. Consequently twenty of them, which are equivalent to a shekel, would be equal to ninety six or seven Parisian grains, or about ten pennyweights, English valuation.

Beside the common legal or sacred shekel, there was another in the time of the kings, called "the king's shekel." The hair of Absalom was weighed with this sort of shekel, and amounted to two hundred of them. The heaviest head of hair, that has been found in England, weighed five ounces. Absalom's, we may well suppose, could not have weighed more than ten. This supposi tion would lead us to the conclusion, that the royal did not amount to more than the fourth, perhaps not to more than the fifth or sixth part of the legal shekel.

Gold was dealt out by the weights, which have been mentioned, but its value, for instance the value of a Gera or Shekel of gold, cannot be accurately estimated, because we do not know

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§ 117. WEIGHTS AND MONEY.

precisely what its worth was, when compared with that of silver. The shekel used in weighing gold was the royal one. The difficulty of ascertaining the true worth of any quantity of gold mentioned in the scriptures is increased by the circumstance, that the gold itself possessed different degrees of purity; in some instances it was adulterated and in other instances more fine than usual.

§ 117. WEIGHTs and Money after the CAPTIVITY.

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During the captivity of the Jews and after their return from it, they made use of the weights and the coin of other nations. Ezekiel, accordingly, chap 45: 12, mentions foreign Manehs of different weight, viz. of fifteen, of twenty, and of twenty five shekels. The coin, which the Jews used at this period, was the Persian, Grecian, and Roman. It was not till the time of the Maccabean princes, that they had a mint of their own, and coined gold and silver for themselves. The most ancient coin, of which we have any knowledge, is the Persian gold coin, called the Darick, dapeixos, Jin, J, 1 Chron. 29: 7. Ez. 2: 69. 8: 27. Neh. 7: 70, 72. The name does not take its origin from Darius the king, but from the Persian word a king; a word, which was applied to the coin in question in order to signify, that it was stamped by the royal authority, and to distinguish it from any coin, that might be stamped and put in circulation by private merchants. The impression on this coin exhibits on one side of it the representation of a king; on the reverse an archer, holding in his left hand a bow and in his right hand an arrow, and having upon his bead an acuminated tiara. Suidas, the scholiast of Aristophanes, Exxins, V. 598, and Harpocration represent the Darick as equal in weight to twenty drachms. ["According to Dr. Bernard, the Darick weighed two grains more than the English guinea; but as it was very fine and contained little alloy, it may be reckoned worth about twenty five shillings English money," Ree's Cyclopaed. Art. Darick.]

A coin, very much in circulation among the Greeks, was the Stater, ovatno, Matt. 17: 26, equal in weight to the shekel of the Hebrews. It was otherwise called Tetradrachmon, Tεroadoaxμov, because it weighed four drachms; it amounted to two shillings, seven pence English. This coin exhibits on one side the head of

§ 117. WEIGHTS AND MONEY.

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Minerva, and on the reverse, an owl together with a short inscription. It appears, therefore, from the above, that a Drachma, Soazun, was the fourth part of the Stater. It was, however, of different value in different places; the Alexandrian, for instance, being of double the amount of the Grecian. The drachma, although it was in real value about a seventh part more was, nevertheless, considered, in common mercantile exchange, as equal to the Roman denarius, i. e. seven pence two farthings English. This coin exhibited on one side the Roman goddess of victory, and on the reverse a chariot drawn by four horses. At a recent period the reverse exhibited the head of Cæsar, Matt. 22: 19.

The Jewish prince, Simon, 1 Macc. 15: 16, struck off a currency under the denomination of shekels, which weighed a stater each, or, according to F. Mersenne's estimate, two hundred and sixty eight grains. The value of this shekel in English money was two shillings, three pence and three farthings. When it was coined in gold, its value was £1: 16s. 6d. Of those Shekels which remain, those only are considered genuine, which have inscriptions upon them in the Samaritan character. Some, that have such inscriptions, may have been struck off at comparatively a recent period in imitation of those, that were really ancient. The inscriptions on them are various.

The Roman as, aoσaqiov, weighed nine pennyweights and three grains; its value was three farthings and one tenth. It was a brass coin and anciently exhibited on one side a figure of Janus, but latterly the head of Caesar. The representation on the reverse was the stern of a ship, Matt. 10: 29. Luke 12: 6. A quarter part of an as was called quadrans, Kodoavins. The Greek coin, called Дɛлтov, was of very small value, being the fourth part of a quadrans, Matt. 5: 26. Mark 12: 42.

The weight, denominated Aroa, varied in different countries Many kinds of Merchandize were sold according to the litra of the particular country, from which they were brought. Its amount, therefore, cannot be stated, John 12: 3. 19: 39.

NOTE. It ought to be remarked, that silver and gold anciently were more scarce than at present, and consequently of greater value. Its value in the fourth century before Christ was to its value in England in the year 1780, as ten to one. So that

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§ 117. WEIGHTS AND MEASURes.

four hundred and forty grains of silver would purchase as much at the last mentioned period, as four thousand four hundred would at the first.

NOTE. [The translator has thought it best, in a number of the last sections, to substitute the English modes of reckoning weights and measures, &c. instead of the German and Parisian, which are so frequently referred to by Dr Jahn. This, which he was bound to do in justice to the English reader, will account for the peculiar aspect, which the translation wears, in the sections mentioned, in comparison with the original. The following tables, which are not in the original, are taken from the third volume of Horne's Introduction to the Scriptures, App. p. 59. We are there informed, that they are extracted chiefly from Dr. Arbuthnot's "Tables of ancient Coins, Weights, and Measures."]

TABLES

OF WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND MONEY, MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE.

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2. Scripture measures of length reduced to English measure.

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1920 430 | 160 | 80| 20 | 13.3 | 10 | A schoenus or meas. line 145

11.04

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