The Lord abhors dishonest scales, but an accurate weight is his delight. The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the unfaithful destroys them. [Proverbs 11:1, 3 NET]
What does all this mean? What is it that angers God so much? To answer that we need to look to two passages - one from Leviticus and one from Deuteronomy. The first passage in Leviticus states the general principle of regulation of measures in commerce.
You must not do injustice in the regulation of measures, whether of length, weight, or volume. You must have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt. [Leviticus 19:35-36 NET]
God expects His people to be honest in their business dealings - buying and selling goods. The second passage in Deuteronomy goes into more specific detail of a condemned practice regarding having two sets of weights - one the official weight (the heavy one) and a lighter one to deceive the purchaser.
You must not have in your bag different stone weights, a heavy and a light one. You must not have in your house different measuring containers, a large and a small one. You must have an accurate and correct stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the Lord your God is about to give you. For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent to the Lord your God. [Deuteronomy 25:13-16 NET]
These are strong statements of God's standards in the world of commerce. God abhors dishonesty. He hates it intensely. So Christians must be totally honest. Other nations might practise forms of deception such as are mentioned in Deuteronomy. But God expected His people to be different. His standards of honesty were very high and they are still high today. God is unchanging.
The local councils in Scotland have departments which are called Trading Standards and they are responsible for checking that all transactions are honest and above board. There are still some people who try to cheat to increase their profit.
But the principles are much more wide ranging. Anything dodgy or suspicious is condemned. What are we like in our work life? Do we hold the same standards which we do in church? The Christian in the work place should be described as a man or woman of integrity.
John Risbridger recounts the story of a Christian who worked as a clerk at Selfridges. One day he took a telephone call for Gordon Selfridge who was in the office at the time. The clerk informed Gordon Selfridge that this person was wishing to speak with him. Gordon Selfridge replied. "Tell him, I'm out." The clerk courageously or you might think foolishly gave Mr Selfridge the phone and said, "You tell him yourself." You can well imagine that this did not go down too well with the powerful boss. He was raging with the Christian (who had the nickname "Gibbo"). Gibbo said to his boss, "If I can lie for you, then I can lie to you and I never will." John Risbridger said that this incident established this gentleman as someone who could be trusted in the organisation. [John Risbridger: Monday Morning Bible Reading Week 1 at the Keswick Convention in 2015]
[Photo by Karren McPherson - a bespoke picture to illustrate this blog]
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