BALANCE

BALANCE (Heb. ??????, peles; Isa. 40:12; Prov. 16:11; cf. pilles "make straight, level," Isa. 26:7; Ps. 78:50; synonomous by synecdoche with pair of scales, moznayim – Lev. 19:36; Isa. 40:12; Jer. 32:10; et al. – and with balance beam ?????, kaneh; Isa. 46:6). The equal arm balance of the ancient Near East (as distinguished from the unequal arm balance with counterpoise introduced by the Romans) consisted of a horizontal beam moving freely on a central fulcrum, with the object to be weighed and standard weights suspended at opposite ends in pans or on hooks. In its earliest form the beam was suspended at its center by a cord held in the hand, and equilibrium was estimated visually. Under the 18^th dynasty in Egypt larger balances were developed, supported by an upright frame resting on the ground. From the frame was suspended a weighing plummet (Heb. mishkolet, ii Kings 21:13; Isa. 28:17) which could be compared with a pointer extending downward at right angles from the pivotal point of the beam.

The principle of the balance was probably derived from the yoke of the burden bearer (Isa. 9:3), with its two equalized loads. The earliest mechanical balances were small, and were used only for objects of high value in relation to their size, e.g., gold, silver, jewels, spices, etc. The oldest known example is a stone balance beam from the pre-dynastic Gerzean civilization in Egypt. Weights from the Sumerian and Indus civilizations show that the balance was in use there in the third millennium. Hand balances and large standing balances are illustrated in many Egyptian reliefs and wall paintings, the former also on a Hittite relief from Carchemish and the latter on one from ninth century Assyria. From ancient Israel a crude sketch of a man holding a pair of scales, incised on the base of a scale-weight of the seventh-sixth centuries b.c.e., is extant (unpublished). Biblical references to the balance are both literal (Lev. 19:36; Jer. 32:10; Ezek. 45:10; et al.) and figurative (Isa. 40:12; Ps. 62:10; Job 6:2; et al.). Fraudulent weighing is repeatedly denounced in the Bible, i.e., substandard weights (Amos 8:5), different sets of weights for buying and selling (Deut. 25:13), and false balances (Hos. 12:8; Prov. 11:1). An effort to standardize weights by marking them with an official shekel sign, attributable on archaeological grounds to Josiah, may have been accompanied by regulations for the construction and operation of balances. In later times the levites were made custodians of "all measures of quantity and size" (i Chron. 23:29).

bibliography:

A.B. Kisch, Seals and Weights (1965), 26–78; F.G. Skinner, Weights and Measures (1967); em, 4 (1962), 540–3 (incl. bibl.).

[Robert B.Y. Scott]