Every reader of the Scriptures is familiar with that dramatic incident recorded by

Daniel, where a finger writes upon the plaster of the wall of the King's palace the words

of doom; Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, which, being interpreted, meant:--

What, in a specific sense, was true of Belshazzar, is true of us all, for it is written,

"There is none righteous, no, not one . . . . . all have sinned, and come short of the glory

of God" (Rom. 3: 10, 23).

In this series we purpose taking the figure of the balances, and bringing before the

reader several aspects of divine truth wherein an observation of balance is of the utmost

importance. Before doing so, however, it will be well if we acquaint ourselves with the

way in which this figure of the balances is used in Scripture. The earliest reference is in

Gen. 23: 16, where "Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in

the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the

Anyone at all acquainted with the religion of ancient Egypt will remember the

prominent place the "weighing of the heart" occupies in the, so-called, Book of the Dead,

and the constellation known as Libra, "The Scales", in the signs of the Zodiac, shows that

from earliest antiquity scales and weighs were known to men.  The Hebrew word

Moznayim, which is found in the O.T., is the Hebrew name for this sign, Libra, and the

brightest star of this constellation is named Zuben al Genubi, "The price which is

deficient", and another bright star is named Zuben al Chemali, "The price which covers"

(Dr. Bullinger's The Witness of the Stars).

The standard weight was fixed as far back as the time of Moses, for we read of "The

shekel (or weight) of the sanctuary" (Exod. 30: 13, 24; Lev. 5: 15). Job also uses the

figure of the balance, saying:

The word translated "even" here is tsedeq, "right" or "just".