The Early Hebrew Weights Found at Lachish

Abstract

EXACT weights and measures are among the most necessary items in the economic and judicial life of a nation.l This . is also the opinion of the Hebrew legislator:· Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just efah, and a just hin, shall ye have .... (Lev. xix, 35 f.) Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have .... (Deut. xxv, 13 £I.) Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them alike are abomination to the Lord. (Prov. xx, 10.) ... a just weight is His delight. (ibid. xi, I), etc. . The inscriptions or marks on weights are doubtless, more or less, a guarantee for thee exactness of the weight. -Hence the importance of the extant early Hebrew inscribed or marked weights, especially as few have been found. It is highly prob-

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