82
Ed Metzler
§ 14.
The two tablets were the prototypes
of
ancient weights and measures, as I
discovered
when calculating their volumes
and weights.38)
Therefore,
every cubit of 44.6 cm measured at
archaeological sites in Israel bears
witness to the
width of the stone
tablets of Moses.39)
Every
vessel of 22.2 liters found in
Israel with Bat
written on it
in ancient Hebrew script is one
fourth
of a cubic cubit, and six Omers (= 0.6
Bat)
or 0.15 cubic cubits make
up the volume of
one of the tablets.40) Likewise, every
weight-stone
38) Cf. Ed Metzler, Mosaical Metrology
(N. 9) pp. 37.
One tablet weighed
36 kilograms or 6000
Beka of 6.0 grams.
39) Ibid. The official cubit was
defined as the width of
one tablet, and
the Kikar as its weight.
40) The conversion factor of cubic cubits
and Bats is
contained in 1.
Kings 7, 2326: The sea of molten
brass in the
temple of King
Solomon was a cylindrical tank with
a volume of
10 cubits by 10 by 5,
i. e. 500 cubic
cubits, a circumference of
30 cubits, and a
capacity of 2000 Bat. Hence one
Bat (22.2 liters)
or Ephah (Ezekiel
45, 11) is 0.25 or 1/4 of
a cubic cubit, and
one cubit (44.6 cm)
is the cube root of 4 Bat or
40 Omer (Exodus
16, 36). The 10
cubits, which form a square, are
generally mis-
interpreted as the
diameter of a circle. Since its
circumference
would be 31.4 cubits,
while it actually was 30 cubits,
the text
must mean something else,
because a difference of 1.4
cubits
could not possibly have escaped
notice, when measuring the vessel with a string
around it. Therefore, the 10 cubits
"from lip to lip"
do not refer
to the diameter of a
circle, but to the distance
between the
opposite sides of a square. Neither this
square nor |
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