THEOSISTheodoret of Cyrus
God ordains that the priests receive designated lands within the outskirts of the city, extending ten thousand cubits from east to west and from north to south, with a measure of twenty-five thousand cubits. This is established so that they may, as written, benefit from the tithes and firstborn offerings, providing them sustenance from the land, enabling them to live in peace, embrace righteousness, refrain from coveting more, and avoid causing harm to the people. As it states in Ezekiel 45:9, elders of Israel are to forsake unrighteousness and wickedness, ensuring that justice and fairness prevail, and abolishing violence among the populace, declares the Lord Adonai.
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Further, He provides regulations for weights and measures, indicating that equity and justice must be upheld in these matters. He insists on a uniform measure for both transactions of receiving and giving. It is clarified that a kor consists of ten homors, with each homor containing ten quinixes, resulting in a total of one hundred quinixes per kor. Additionally, the ephi is defined as equivalent to one quinix.
He stipulates that there should be fifty shekels in a mina, and that each shekel is composed of twenty ovols. Oil is specified as ten kotyls equating to one homor, determined as one-tenth of a korah. Moreover, the requirements for wheat and barley offerings are set at one-sixth of the homor, which is half of the measure known as medimn; given there are thirty medimn in a korah, this designates the homor to comprise three medimn, with one-sixth of this amount representing half of a medimn. It is decreed that from ten kotyls, one kotyl shall be presented, as well as a tithe from the flock.
All these provisions are established so that the people may contribute to the elder for the necessary sacrifices, enabling him to offer them during festivals, new moons, and sabbaths, and to intercede with God on behalf of the people. He further instructs on the observances for the new month of the tenth month, the fourteenth day, and the rituals of the seventh month, calling the offerings made during this seventh month a sacrifice. It is written: “The sacrifice of unleavened bread for the calf, and of unleavened bread for the ram, and of oil for the unleavened calf,” which, as noted in the Syrian translation, is synonymous with gemina.