* TxX«.vria.7o; in Rev 1621 (cf. also Jos. RJ v. vi. 3) can in the nature of the case be only an approximation. The PEFSt, 1892, 289 f., records the discovery of a large stone weighing 64600 grs. (41900 grammes), used as a heavy talent weight.
purely designating a weight is Xirpa (pound, Jn 12* J939) » This was identified with the 7Hina of the above scale as its approximate equivalent. Its exact weight in the Roman scale of Aveights is given as 5050 grs., or 11 oz. avoirdupois.
II. Measures.— 1. Measures of Length.— The unit of linear measurement in earlier Biblical times was the cubit (nsN). This was obtained by the adoption of the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger as the stand- ard. There are evidences that such a standard was early averaged, conventionalized, and made the legal unit among the Israelites, being intro- duced like other standards of the kind from Baby- lonia. The cubit did not, however, remain a fixed unit throughout. From Ezk 40* (cf. 43^*) we learn that two standards of measurement called cubits had come into use, and were employed in the prophet's day, and that these differed by one hand's breadth. The common cubit was six hand- breadths in length, the sacred cubit, seven. The ?[uestion of the absolute length of either is, there- ore, resolved into the value of the handbreadth. It would be useless to discuss in detail the various processes through which the solution of the prob- lem has been attempted. The results of these processes show a divergence of over nine inches. Conder {Handbook of the Bible) finds the cubit to be 16 in. in length. Petrie (Ency. Brit.^ xxiv. 484) finds it to be 25 "2. Between these extremes are the following : A. R. S. Kennedy (Hastings' DB, art. ' Weights and Measures'), 17 '5 in.; Watson (PEFSt, 1897, 203 ff.), 17-7; Beswick (i6. 1879, 182 ft".), 17-72; Warren (ib. 1899, 229 ft".), 17-75 in.; Smith's DB, based on Thenius, 19-5 in.; and Petrie [PEFSt, 1892, 31), 22-6. If we set aside the extremes by Conder and Petrie and Smith's DB, the divergence in the remainder is reduced to a margin not larger than "25 inch. Accordingly, the consensus of the most recent investigation may be safely taken to fix the value of the cubit in inches at between 17 '50 and 17 '75. Therefore the symbol, 17 "5+ may be accepted as the approximate value of the common cubit among the Israelites. Upon this basis the longer cubit of Ezk 40* was 20 6 in. This result coincides with the Egyptian metrological system, and it appears probable that, being introduced from Egypt as the equivalent of the royal Egyptian measure of the name, the cubit was gradually reduced until in Ezekiel's day the shorter form of it had been definitely fixed. This, then, persisted up to NT times, and was identified Avith the Roman cubitus of a little less than 17 "5 in. (cf. Smith, Diet, of Antiq. p. 1227).t
The subdivisions of the cubit were the span, equalling half a cubit ; the palm or hand-breadth, one-sixth of a cubit; and the digit or finger-breadth, one twenty-fourth of a cubit. The multiples in common use were the fathom, consisting of four cubits, and the reed, of six cubits. Hence the table :
Digit. Palm. Span. Cubit. Fathom. Reed. Digit (Finger- 1
breadth) Palm (Hand- 4 1 3-
breadth) Span . . 12 3 1 8-75
Cubit . . 24 6 2 1 17-52
Fathom. . 96 24 8 4 1 70--f
Reed . . 144 36 12 6 1'5 1 105-5
•73 in
* In this place, according to Hultsch, the X/r/ja is not the same as in .In 193!». He understands the term to be the name of a translucent horn vessel with measuring lines on the outside, used by apothecaries in dealing out medicines. Such a mea- suring instrument was used ; but that it served for carrying ointment is improbable, and the identification of the Xirpci. here with Jn 19-«' seems more natural.
t In Egypt, too, there was a longer cubit and a shorter, and these two were related to one another as 7 to 6, their values in inches being respectively 19-43 and 16-66.
820 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
WELL
In the Gospels the cubit is mentioned in Mt 6^^ Lk 1225, and Jn 218. jn all these passages it appears as an approximation, and neither requires nor admits of precise determination. Lengths less than that of the cubit are not alluded to. Of greater lengths the following occur, being outside the usual scale as given above. The stadium or furlong (Lk 24^'', Jn 6" IP*). The term is borrowed from the Greek scale, and appears there as the equivalent of 600 ft. (more precisely 600 ft. 9 in.), or 400 cubits. The mile (Mt 5") was also borrowed, but is taken from the Roman scale, and was equal to 7 '5 Greek stadia (furlongs), or 3000 cubits (1700 yds.). _ The day's journey (Lk 2"^*), which is a common Oriental Avay of reckoning distances of considerable length at the present day, seems to have been used in ancient times also. It is not, however, reducible to any definite equivalent, and was no doubt a very elastic term. See on this and on ' Sabbath day's journey,' art. Journey.