September 24, Proverbs 20
Unequal weights and unequal measure are both alike an abomination to the LORD.
- Proverbs 20:10
In a time before standardized measurements and calibrated scales, weights and volumes were somewhat ambiguous. That’s the background for our text and a similar idea in verse 23: "Unequal weights are an abomination to the LORD, and false scales are not good." God detests cheating, and these verses describe a kind of cheating common in ancient times that’s not unknown today.
An unscrupulous merchant could increase his profit margin by having two sets of weights in his bag. This was long before pounds and kilograms had been defined, but let's imagine the situation with two weights, both of which are marked to be one pound.
Perhaps a farmer wanted to sell something he had grown, maybe some grain. (I know grain would probably be exchanged by volume, not weight. Let’s keep the illustration simple.) The merchant would take his “buying weight” out of his bag. It weighed a little more than a pound. The commodity the farmer wanted to sell would be weighed on a balance with the heavier than actual weight on the other side to determine the quantity. The effect would be that the merchant bought more than a pound for the price of a pound. But when the merchant sold that grain, a different weight came out of the bag, the “selling weight.” This one weighed less than an actual pound, and was considerably less than the unscrupulous trader's buying weight. The merchant made an unfair profit on both ends of the deal, paying less for more product and selling less product for more money.
It's not wrong for a merchant to buy at wholesale and sell at retail prices. That has been an understood business practice for centuries. People have been buying and selling and making a profit since Bible times, probably as long as there's been civilization. The moral problem lies in the double standard the unscrupulous merchant used to determine quantity and fair value. The dishonest measurements were a way to make excessive profits from the transactions. He cheated the farmer who grew the grain and the customer who bought it by using unequal weights to conduct business.
Verse 14 has another variation on the same unfair business practice: "'Bad, bad,' says the buyer, but when he goes away, then he boasts." He buys merchandise for less than it is worth by degrading the quality of the thing he's trying to buy. He complains about how worthless it is so he can buy it for less. After the purchase, he boasts about what a good trader he is, or what a magnificent item he has for sale. It's the double standard again.
It's not smart or shrewd to treat people unfairly in our business dealings. If we would feel cheated when someone did to us exactly what we did to others, we shouldn't be doing it. It's the Golden Rule again. God despises the double standard. Cheating is bad business because it takes advantage of the other person. It's toxic to relationships. And the extra profit may seem great at first, but God said it wouldn't be good later. Look at verse 17: "Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel." I had a mouthful of gravel a time or two as a boy from some of my bicycle wrecks. If I remember correctly, it didn't taste very good.
Proverbs addresses some "big" moral issues like immorality and drunkenness. But these wise sayings also convict us of what we think of as "lesser" everyday issues, such as lying, quarreling and cheating. When God has declared some practice to be an abomination, we cannot change the nature of the forbidden practice by excusing it. We can't lessen the severity of disobeying God by saying "Everybody does it" or "That's just how business is done." It's not how you and I will do business if we want to please and obey God.
Copyright © 2021 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—September 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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