Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BALANCES

Although modern coinage had developed in the Eastern Mediterranean by the 7th century b.c.e., coins were not widely circulated in the ancient Near East during OT days. Silver and gold, which were used as media of exchange, were weighed on balances (Jer. 32:10). Weights of stone or metal marked with their weights were used to ascertain the amount of gold or silver placed on the other side of the balance.

Balance weights from the 7th century unearthed at Timnah (Tel Baṭash/Tell el-Baṭâshī) are made of stone. These round stones have flat bases, and consist of two types of weight measurements: the pim and the shekel. The three-pim stones discovered weigh 7.72, 7.88, and 8.02 gm. A two-shekel weight weighs 22.78 gm., a four-shekel weight weighs 43 gm., and two eight-shekel weights weigh 91.2 gm. and 91.16 gm.. Thus, the weights varied slightly.

Coins were widely used by NT times, but money was still sometimes weighed (Matt. 26:15). Balances are mentioned in the NT only in Rev. 6:5.

Dishonest merchants could easily use weights that were heavier than the amount etched on them. In this way, the merchant could collect more gold or silver than the purchaser thought he was paying. This dishonest practice was thoroughly condemned in the OT (cf. Lev. 19:36; also Prov. 11:1; 16:11; 20:23; Ezek. 45:10; Hos. 12:7[MT 8]; Amos 8:5; Mic. 6:11). Balances are used figuratively in the Bible to indicate a person’s integrity, worthless vanity, or moral bankruptcy (Job 31:6; Ps. 62:9[10]; Dan. 5:27).

Bibliography. A. R. Burns, Money and Monetary Policy in Early Times (1927, repr. New York, 1965); M. I. Finley, The Ancient Economy, 2nd ed. (Berkeley, 1985); G. L. Kelm and M. Amihai, Timnah (Winona Lake, 1995).

Alan Ray Buescher

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BALANCES

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)