Deceptive Weights and Measures (Proverbs 11:1)

There is an art to lying that is rivaled by nothing else. Man fell by means of deception. Lucifer is that father of lies. Lying lips are an abomination.

"A false balance and unrighteous dealings are extremely offensive and shamefully sinful to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight." Proverbs 11:1, Amplified

I remember hearing a story of a butcher and a baker who would exchange goods every week. The butcher would give one pound of meat to the baker for a one pound loaf of bread. At one point the baker came into the butcher very upset. He had stated that the butcher was shorting him meat. The butcher looked at the baker and stated, "I have been going off of the weight of the loaf you give me." Both men were dishonest in their dealings with each other.

Deceptive weights have a couple of things tied up within them. First of all it is a deception that is willful. The seller of goods must know that his weights are false. He is willfully choosing to deceive his patrons. In that deception, he is also stealing from them more than his due payment.

"You shall do no injustice in judgement, in measurement of length, weight or volume. You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord you God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." (Leviticus 19:35-36, NKJV) It pleases the Lord when we follow His mandates. Sure this law was laid out for the Jew, but it is also morally right.

This is the first time that we are encountering the idea of willful deception in the book of Proverbs. It is interesting that Solomon uses scales for a "word picture" to define honesty. Every time that I see a scale I am always driven toward the thought of our judicial system in America. In the court there is a statue of a woman holding a scale and she is blindfolded. This is to signify that justice is blind. I do not think that this is what the Lord truly intended for our dealing with criminal acts. Justice need not be blind if it has a weight and measure and ruler to use. This just weight would be the Word of God. But in a nation where the Lord is being pushed out, justice will no longer need a blindfold, for she will have her eyes gouged out.