3 / 54 talents in silver
1 cubit \m inches)= V — — ; — ■ — ; — ^ — -. — .
weight ol 1 cul). mch of silver
As the talent contained 3000 shekels, and as silver weighs 2051 grains per ounce, we have, by substitution,
1 cnbit='y/
72.000 shekels silver
2651 grains
or, assuming the ancient sliekel to have weighed (as above) 220 grains, 1 cnbit (in inches)=-y 1^4^^^=^/5975 = 18.14 inches.
This strikingly agrees with the residt attained above. Prof. Paine remarks that the cores fortlie tenons in the sockets may safely be neglected, as the dross would fully counterbalance them. The alloy, if at all used in mainifacturiug, would not materially raise the value of the cubit in this calculation.
(5.) Land and area were measured eitlicr by tlic cubit (Numb. XXXV, 4, 5; Ezek. xl, 27) or by the reed (Kzek. xlii, 20; xliii, 17; xlv, 2; xlviii, 20; IJev. xxi, 10). There is no indication in the Bible of the use of a sipiare measure by the Jews. Whenever they wished to define the size of a plot, they specified its length and breadth, even if it were a perfect square, as in Ezek. xlviii, 1(5. The difliculty of defining an area by these means is ex- perienced in the iuterpretation of Numb, xxxv, 4, 5, where the suburbs of the Levitical cities are described as reachi.ig outward from the w^-ill of the city 1000 cubits round about, and at the same time 2000 cubits on each side from without the city. We can hardly understand these two measurements otherwise than as applying, the one to the width, the other to the external boundary of the suburb, the measurements being taken respec- tively perpendicular and parallel to the city walls. Put in this case it is necessary to understand the words ren- dered " from without the city," in ver. 5, as meaning to the exclinfUm f;/"the city, so that tiie length of the city wall should be added in each case to the 2000 cubits. The result would be that the size of the areas would vary, and that where the city walls were nneipial in length, the sides of the suburb would be also unequal. For instance, if the city wall were 500 cubits long, then the side of the suiiurb would be 2500 cubits; if the city wall were 1000 cubit;*, then the side of the suburb would be oOOO cubits. Assuming the existence of two towns, 500 and 1000 cubits square, the area of the suburb would in the former case = 6,000,000 square cul)its, and would be 24 times the size of the town; while in the latter case the suburb would be 8,000,000 square cubits, and only 8 times the size of the town. This explanation is not wholly satisfactory, on account of the disjiroportion of the suburbs as compared with the towns; neverthe- less any other exjilanation only exaggerates this dispro- portion. Keil, in his comment on Josh, xiv, 4, assumes that the city wall was in all cases to be regarded as 1000 cubits long, which, with the 1000 cubits outside the wall, and measured in the same direction as the wall, wouhl make up the 2000 cubits, and would give to the side of the suburb in every case a length of oOOO cubits. The objection to this view is that there is no evidence
as to a uniform length of the city walls, and that the suburb might have been more conveniently described as 3000 cubits on each side. All ambiguity would have been avoided if the size of tlie suburb hail been decided either by absolute or relative acreage; in other words, if it were to consist in all cases of a certain fixed acreage outside the walls, or if it were made to vary in a certain ratio to the size of the town. As the text stands, neithef of these methods can be deduced from it. See Leviti-
C.VI- CiTV.
2. The measures of distance noticed in the Old Testa- ment are the three following: («) The 1^'^, tsu'ad, or pace (2 Sam. vi, 13), answering generally to our yard. (h) The V']Xrt r'^'l'Z, kibrdth ha-drets, rendered in the A. Y. " a little way" or " a little piece of ground" (Gen. xxxv, IG; xlviii, 7; 2 Kings v, 19). The expression appears to indicate some definite distance, but we are unable to state with precision what that distance was. The Sept. retains the Hebrew word in the form Xaj3pa- S-ri, as if it were the name of a place, adding in (icn. xlviii, 7 the words Kara riv 'nnrtSpofioi', wliich is thus a second translation of the expression. If a certain dis- tance was intended by this translation, it would be either the ordinary length of a race-course, or such a distance as a horse could travel without being ovcrfa- tigued — in other words, a stage. But it probably means a locality, either a race-course itself, as in 3 ^lacc. iv, 11, or the space outside the town walls where the race- course was usually to be found. The Sept. gives it again in (Jen. xlviii, 7 as the equivalent fur Ephrath. The Syriac and Persian versions render kibnith by jxira-' sang, a well-known Persian measure, generally estimated at 30 stades (Herod, ii, 6; v, 53), or from 3i to 4 Eng- lish miles, but sometimes at a larger amount, even np to 60 stades (Strab. xi, 518). The only conclusion to be drawn from the Bible is that the kibioth did not exceed and i)robably etpialled the distance betworn rictlilchem and Kachel's burial-place, which is traditionally identi- fied with a spot 1?; miles north of the town, (c) The ci"" T("^T!> <fi>'if^ yom, or """1 "^ri r) inuhaldk yom, a day's journey, which was the most usual method of cal- culatiug distances in travelling (Gen. xxx, 36; xxxi, 23 ; Exod. iii, 18 ; v, 3 ; Numb, x, 33 ; xi, 31 ; xxxiii, 8; Dent, i, 2; 1 Kings xix, 4; 2 Kings iii, 9; Jonah iii, 3; 1 Mace, v, 24, 28; vii, 45; Tobit vi, 1), though but one instance of it occurs in the New Testament (Luke ii, 44). The distance indicated by it was naturally fluctuating, according to the circumstance of the travel- ler or the country through which he passed. Herodotus variously estimates it at 200 and 150 stades (iv, 101 ; v, 53) ; Mariinis {ap. Ptol. i, 1 1) at 150 and 172 stades ; Pau- sanias (x, 33, § 2) at 150 stades; Strabo (i, 35) at from 250 to 300 stades; and Yegetius i^De Re Mil. i, 11) at from 20 to 24 miles for the Koman army. The ordinary I day's journey among the Jews was thirty miles; but I when they travelled in companies, only ten miles. Ne- j apolis formetl the first stage out of Jerusalem, according j to the former, and Beeroth according to the latter com- [ 1 utation (Lightfoot, Ejerc. in Luc. ii, 44). It is inipos- j sible to as.sign any distinct length to the day's journey : Jahn's estimate of 33 miles, 172 yards, and 4 feet, is based ujion the false assumption that it bore some fixed ratio to the other mea.sures of length. I In the Apocrypha and New Testament we meet with the following additional measures: (</) The Sabbath- day's journey, (Tn/3/iirtroi> i)S(',c, a general sUtement for a verj- limited distance, such as would naturally be re- garded as the immediate vicinity of any locality, {e) The ffrdciov, sladlnm, or " furlong," a (ireek measure 1 introduced into Asia subseipiently to Alexander's con- (juest, and hence first mentioned in the Ajiocrj-pha (2 1 Mace, xi, 5; xii, 9, 17, 29), and subsequently in tiie New [ Testament (Luke xxiv, 13; John vi, 19: xi, 18; Pev. xiv, 20; xxi, 10). Both the name and the lengtli of i the stade were borrowed from the foot-race course at ! Olymi)ia. It equalled 000 Greek feet (Herod, ii, 149),