But the ammah itself is not a fixed unit, for in Ezekiel we have found a cubit which was a hand breadth longer than the common cubit. The sub ject has been amply discussed, and opinions are various [CumT]. We may conclude that there were two cubits, the sacred of seven, the common of six handbreadths ; and thus these two cubits were to each other as seven to six—that is, the sacred cubit held seven handbreadths of the or dinary cubit of six handbreadths. There is no reason, however, to think that the sacred cubit was divided into seven parts. It was the older and , would be divided according to the duodecimal method which prevails in this matter, and accord ingly would contain six palms and twenty-four fingers, only that its fingers and palms were greater than those of the ordinary cubit. This is proved by the express statements of the Talmud, according to which the sacred, as well as the common cubit, contained six handbreadths.
As we have no unit of measure given us in the Scriptures, nor preserved to us in the remains of any Hebrew building, and as neither the Rabbit's nor Josephus afford the information we want, we have no resource but to apply for information to the measures of length used in other countries. We go to the Egyptians. The longer Egyptian cubit contained about 234.333 Parisian lines, the shorter about 204.8. According to this the Hebrew mea sures of length were these :— Sacred cubit . 234.333 Parisian lines.
The span . . 17.166 „ The palm . . 39.o55 The finger . . 9.7637 „ Comrnon cubit 204.8 *I The span . . 102.4 PP The palm . . 34.133 „ The finger . . 8.533 „ The two sets of measures--one for dry, another for liquid things—rest on the same system, as ap. pears from the equality of the standard for dry goods, namely the ephah, with that for liquids, namely bath. The difference in the names is merely accidental. 11:n (homer), denoting a heap, is the name for the largest measure of dry goods (Lev. xxvii. ; Num. xi. 32 ; Ezek. xlv. z). In later times the homer was replaced by the cor (Ezek. xlv. 14), which is found among the Hellenists in the form KOpos. In Hosea iii. 2, the -1/15, half-homer,' is mentioned, which the Seventy render by hutoKopos, and the Vulgate by corus dimidius.' Another measure is rini, which comes from an Egyptian root denoting to measure.' found in the Septuagint, the N. T., and Josephus, under the form o-cii-ov, is of uncertain origin. The Seventy translate it some times by simply Airpov, measure' (Gen. xviii. 6), and the dual form by Sitzerpov (2 Kings vii. nny, in its derivation and meaning resembles -inn, but denotes a much smaller mass. (cab), the
hollow, the bowl, was adopted by the Greeks as xagos. These are measures for dry goods. We now pass on to liquid measures. riz is from a root which denotes to determine,' to measure.' It is put in relation to the homer in Ezek. xlv. It, ; whence we learn that the bath was applied to fluids. 2. rn is retained by the Seventy in the forms Eli', ty, 6. The word is of Egyptian origin. 3. (log) is a word found only in the Mosaic law regarding the cleansing of the leper (Lev. xv. 12, the log of oil'). It is referable to an Ai-abic root which denotes to press into.' The feminine form is found in the Syriac, with the meaning of bowl. Log had the same import as cab.
In order to determine the relations between these measures, we take the ephah and bath, which in Ezek. xlv. I I are declared to be of one measure. They each contained the tenth part of a homer (Ezek. xlv. 14); thus the relation of the homer to the bath and the ephah belongs to a decimal division (Exod. xvi. 36).
The Seah, itirpov : the translation given by the Septuagint of the Hebrew in Exod. xvi. 36 is as follows Si ryokEdp UKCI.TOP T6.7P rptc2u, Alrptop the homer is the tenth part of three mea sures, (M. With the Septuagint and the Targum the ephah was equal to three seahs (comp. Matt. xiii. 33, crcira rpia, with Gen. xviii. 6, and Jerome on the former place). The same relation is derived from a passage in Josephus (Antiq. ix. 4. 5), where the contents of the seah are given as one Italian modius and a half, for the moclius held sixteen sextarii, and the ephah, according to Josephus, seventy-two sextarii ; a modius and a half is, there fore, the third part of the ephah. The Rabbins entirely concur in these views. The cab, accord ing to Josephus (,4ntiq. ix. 4. 4 ; comp. 2 Kings vi. 25), is equal to four xest, for one-fourth of a cab he translates by tiarns, seventy-two of which make a kterp7lr7js, a measure ; eighteen cabs then make an ephah, and six a seah. In the same way the Rabbins determine the proportion of the cab to the seah (comp. the passage in Leusden, Phil. Mixtus, p. 2o5). There remain the hin and the log. The hin, according to Josephus (Antly. 9. 4), is au old Hebrew mass, which contained two Attic x6es, of which twelve went to the Attic me tretes ; therefore the hin is the sixth part of the bath. The log, according to the Rabbins, is the twenty-fourth part of the seah, consequently the seventy-second part of the bath, and the twelfth part of the hin (comp. Leusden, Phil. Ilfixtut, p. 2:27).