was about 18 inches. Ancient Israelis seem to have employed, however, two cubits, of different

lengths, one for commercial purposes and one for building. There are no concrete examples of

either, but judging by the dimensions of some ancient square building-bricks in Israel, which are

regarded as being two-thirds of a cubit on a side, it can be concluded that the cubit used in

building was about 19 or 20 inches. A similar cubit, with which the Jews were no doubt

familiar, was employed in Egypt, measuring between 20.6 to 20.77 inches (Porter 1913). There

were also smaller units of measure such as the span, the palm and the digit, or finger-breadth.

These were very important to the ancient Israelis but will not be elaborated upon in this study

due to lack of pertinence.

Pencil

 The pencil of Isaiah 44:13 is probably a stylus, for engraving as well as for marking out

lines. For engraving on gems as it says in Exodus, "You shall take two onyx stones and engrave

on them the names of the sons of Israel" (Exodus 28:9 NASB). Particularly delicate instruments

of this kind must have been used (Easton 1913). There is no Biblical reference, but pencils were

probably used to draw up plans or blue prints for major construction projects.

Chisel

 Chisels are almost as old as humanity, and were used on both wood and stone (Exodus

20:25) and possibly also on metals. In particular, with a broad chisel and an adz the surface of

wood may be finished very smoothly (Easton 1913). The plane (maqtso'ah) of Isaiah 44:13

should be translated chisel (Easton 1913). The literal meaning of the word is a graving tool, or

carving tool. The word "maqqabah", translated as axe in KJV and NASB is translated as chisel

in the NIV, "In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no

hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built" (1

Kings 6:7 NIV). The translation of chisel as opposed to axe makes more sense looking at what it