Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
BAL'ANCES. Lev 19:36. In the early periods of the world gold and silver were paid by weight, so that persons employed in traffic of any kind carried with them a pair of scales or balances and different weights (generally stones of different sizes) in a pouch or bag. Dishonest men would carry two sorts of weights, the lighter to sell with, and the other to buy with. This explains the allusions Mic 6:11; Hos 12:7. In pictures on monuments is represented a balance in which the scales are simply a pair of weights. There are two bags of money which are to be equalized, one of which is a standard.
Egyptian Balancer weighing Rings of Gold. ) The scribe stands by to register the result.