weights Summary and Overview

Reduced to English troy-weight, the Hebrew weights were: (1.) The gerah (Lev. 27:25; Num. 3:47), a Hebrew word, meaning a grain or kernel, and hence a small weight. It was the twentieth part of a shekel, and equal to 12 grains. (2.) Bekah (Ex. 38:26), meaning "a half" i.e., "half a shekel," equal to 5 pennyweight. (3.) Shekel, "a weight," only in the Old Testament, and frequently in its original form (Gen. 23:15, 16; Ex. 21:32; 30:13, 15; 38:24-29, etc.). It was equal to 10 pennyweight. (4.) Ma'neh, "a part" or "portion" (Ezek. 45:12), equal to 60 shekels, i.e., to 2 lbs. 6 oz. (5.) Talent of silver (2 Kings 5:22), equal to 3,000 shekels, i.e., 125 lbs. (6.) Talent of gold (Ex. 25:39), double the preceding, i.e., 250 lbs.

WEIGHTS . See Measures. WELLS were very essential in a dry and hot country like Palestine, and were generally provided at each place of pasturage with a great outlay of labor. They were deep, John 4:11, and difficult both to dig and preserve, and hence were a valuable part of the husbandman's property. Num 20:17-19. They were sometimes owned in common. Gen 29:2-3. To protect them from the sand and from being used by others, they were covered, usually with a stone, and surrounded with a low wall. Gen 29:2, 1 Kgs 15:8. To stop them up was, and still is, regarded as an act of hostility. Gen 26:15, and to invade the right of property in them was often the cause of sharp contention. Gen 21:25. The water was sometimes drawn by a well-sweep and bucket, sometimes by a windlass, but generally by pitchers and a rope. In a country where water was so valuable and so difficult to be procured, the well naturally became the centre of many scenes of actual life - the halting-place of the traveller. Gen 24:11; the camping-place of armies, Jud 7:1, etc. - and it furnished an appropriate emblem of rich blessings. Jer 2:13; Jer 17:13. See Jacob's Well and Beer-sheba.