WEDDING.— See Marriage.
WEEDS, as tr. of I'o suph, Jon 2" W, refers to sea weeds. Tlie Red Sea was called "i'D'c:, because of the numbers of them in its waters (see SUPH). Tlie weeds (xop'^oi) of .Sir 40"' mean the same as our indefinite English term weeds.
WEEK.— See Time.
WEEKS (FEAST OF).— See Pentecost.
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.—
L Introductory. Tlie Sources, monumental and literary.
Tub Hebrew Weioiit-System. ii. ((7) The Babylonian or 2.')2-f^rain unit, lii. {by Tile new Syrian or 3'20-;rrain unit. iv. (c) Tlie PhiBiiician or i;24-grain unit. T. (d) The syncretic weiglit-system of tile Mishna.
Measures op Lenoth and Surface vi. The approximate value of the Hebrew cubit, vii. Ita subttivisions and multiples, viii. Surface measure.
Ukasckes of Capacity. ix. Scale of wet and dry measures. The value of the
rphah-bath. X. The measures of Scripture. Literature.
i. Introdiiitorij. The Sources, monumental and literary. — The system of weights and measures adopted by a particular nation of antiquity is not merely a subject of interest to the nietro- logist, but is of importance to every student of the history and development of the human race. In its metrology we have a clue, frequently older than anything to be found in its literature, to the forces at work in shaping the social and economic development of this particular nation, and to the inlhience, it may be, which it was able to exercise in its turn. The early economic history of a nation or country, in particular, is a subject of wliicli in many cases the student of metrology holds the key. 'Ihis is to some extent true even of the economic historj' of the Hebrews, notwithstanding the comparative antiquity of their literature, and the almost entire absence of monu- mental evidence in the shape of actual weights and mea.sures.
An outline of our still imperfect knowledge of Hebrew weights and measures may be expected to include the following topics: — (1) A presentation of thevarious.systems— weight, measures of length, and measures of capacity — and of the mutual rela- tion of the various denominations within e.'ich .sys- tem ; (2) an attempt to determine the absolute value or values of each individual weight and measure in terms of the BritL-ih imperial system ; and (3) the relation of the Hebrew system in its various divisions to the older metrolo^ical systems of anti(iuity. Reference will be made only inci- dentally to the question of the origin of weights and measures in general, and to tlie inter-relation of the various sy.stenis, — of the weight stamUvrds to those of length, and of both to the standards of volume, — siibjectsof equal interesi iiiul complexity, which belong rather to a scientilic treati.se on metrology. It must sutlice at this stage to record the fact that mo.st Continental metrologists are now agreed as regards the most elaborate of the ancient systems, and, it would a|ipcar, the source of all or almost all existing systems, namely the Babylonian, that it was constructed with rigid scientilic accuracy upon the basis, astronomical ly ascertained, of tlio unit of length. A cubic vessel, a fract ion of this unit in the side, furnished the unit of volume ; the weight of water contained in this unit was the unit of weight (."co below, ;;§ vi. ix.).
The sources from which are derived the materials
902 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
for such an outline as has just been sketched are of two kinds — monumental and literary. The former, unfortunately of the most meagre amount, consist of actual measures and weights, including coins, that have come down to us from the various periods of the national life of the Hebrews. The literary sources are, first of all, the books of the liible, to which the works of Josephus, despite numerous inaccuracies, form an invaluable addition, owing to the frequent valuation of Jewish measures in terms of the contemporary Grajco-Roman system. The treatises of the Mishna also contain valuable material for the first two centuries of our era. Finally, we have the late Greek writers on metro- logy, one or two fragments, in particular, showing accurate knowledge of the later Jewish system (see Hultseh's Mctrologicorum Scriptorum Rcliquia;, 1864). Under both heads, monumental and literary, may be classed the metrological data furnished by the two great centres of early civilization, Baby- lonia and Egypt, on the one hand, and on the otlier by the better-known systems of Greece and Rome. At every period of tlieir history the Hebrews were alive to the necessity of an accurate system of weights and measures, and of an honest handling of the same. The earliest literary prophets are already found inveighing against the too pliant conscience of their contemporaries who made the ephah smaU and the shekel great (Am 8°) ; in other words, gave short measure in selling the necessaries of life, while weighing the price to be paid against a weight that was unduly heavy. Amos' successors, Hosea (12') and Micah (6""-), were also led to de- nounce the 'balance of deceit' witli its 'bag of deceit- ful weights,' and the 'scant ephah which is abomin- able.' Centuries later there is a sad monotony in the complaints of the religious teachers regarding the prevalent tampering with the 'just' weights and measures (Pr IP 16" 20'"). The first legislative action in the interests of economic righteousness in our extant records is found in the Deuteronomic legislation (Dt 25''""). Here the practice of em- ploying a double set of weights and measures- one above the normal for buying with, and an- other below it for selling with — is condemned, and ' whole and just,' i.e. accurately adjusted, weights and measures expressly enforced under promise of the Divine blessing. A similar demand for 'a just balance, just weights, a just ephah, and a just bin,' is emphasized in the Law of Holiness (I,v 19*"-) and in an important passage of Ezekicl's ideal constitution, to which attention will after- wards be called (Ezk 45'-'2). The latest legislation even went so far as to order the periodical clean- ing of the weights, scales, and measures, lest their true value and capacity should be impaired by the adiiesion of foreign substances (Baba bathin, V. 10 f.).