wall that brought consternation into the heart of the king of Babylon expresses the

fundamental truth; "Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting" (Dan. 5: 27).

This brings us to the illuminating fact that the Scriptures have used the figure of the

"balances" and the "plumb-line" to illustrate the impersonal and incorruptible character

of "Right". We may not all agree as to what we mean when we speak of the force of

Gravity, but whether our views be those of Newton or those of Einstein, the acceptance

of the evidence of a pair of scales or of the plumb-line remains unchallenged. The force

that secures the right ration of our daily food, is the same as that which enables the

builder to erect our dwellings correctly, and one of the special features of both actions is,

that like the judgment of God, it is "without respect of persons".

The close relationship between the "balance" and the "plumb-line" is found in the

word used by Isaiah when he said:  "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and

righteousness to the plummet" (Isa. 28: 17). Here the "plummet" is mishqeleth, the

feminine form of mishqal, "a weight" used in balances, as we read in Ezekiel, "Take thee

balances to weigh".  The reader will doubtless have perceived that these words

mishqeleth and mishqal are both related to shekel, which, though "money", was

"weighed". "And Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver . . . . . four hundred shekels of

silver current money with the merchant" (Gen. 23: 16). The weighing of the money

ensured that it was "right" in amount.

We find this symbolic use of the plumb-line in the seventh chapter of the prophecy of

Here the word translated "plumbline" is the Hebrew anak, a word that means

something "leaden", not only because of its weight but because it is uninfluenced by

magnetic attraction and therefore a suitable figure of even-handed justice.

The prophet Zechariah also speaks of the use of a plummet saying: "They shall see

the plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel" (Zech. 4: 10). Here the word "plummet" is the

translation of two Hebrew words, namely, eben bedil, stone, tin, The use of the word

"stone" brings in the idea of "weight", for eben is the word used in Zech. 5: 8 where he

speaks of "the weight of lead".

The intentional use of this great force everywhere around us as a symbol of inflexible

right is not only seen in the use of the plumb-line, but in the use of the balances.