October 11

Oct 11 - Today from Proverbs 11 we look at verse 1
"The Lord abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are His delight."

The initial concept is easy enough to understand. The merchants of the Middle East would buy and sell many goods by weight. There would be some sort of balance scale involved. Measured weights were placed on one side of the scale and the goods placed on the other side until they were equally balanced. Crooked merchants would often keep two sets of weights in the bag. One set was accurate, the other set was lightened in his favor. Through years of experience, he would know the opportunities to use the lightened weights. The socially weak and disenfranchised were particularly vulnerable. If the merchant was discovered by the wary customer, there was seldom any around who would come to their defense. They could expect to be cheated - that's the way life was. The vulnerable people were cheated and the merchant's purse got fatter.
Just weights are accurately metered weights that are to be used for every customer. The merchant is not to have a second set at the ready for poor, unsuspecting consumers. Not many of us are deceived in such a manner by the merchants of today. We buy pre-packaged goods of which the weights and measurements are carefully monitored by the U.S. government. Even our gas pumps are regularly monitored for accurate volume. Never the less, there is a very clear principle in this proverb which is applicable to all generations of all cultures: It is the principle of the double standard.
We all fall prey to the use of double standards in life. One of the most contributing factors to this truth is that we think we own things, and therefore we have a right to control them as we feel fit. We have lost the sense of stewardship.
When John the Baptist came preparing the way for Jesus' ministry of restoring the kingdom of God, he called people to repent. Like all Rabbis of his day, John was a Metaphoric Theologian. To take his statements literally is to miss the deeper kingdom principles involved. In Luke 3:11 John declares to the crowd, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." Justice and equity are kingdom principles. The man with two tunics (or more than he needs), does not own them, he has been endowed with them by God. God created man to serve his fellow man in community. The self-serving man who believes he owns the two tunics might say, "I worked hard for my two tunics. Let the one without go and earn his own." It is a throw-back to Cain's statement to God when he said, "Am I my brother's keeper?" This is the root of the double standard. "I will bestow favor to those who will benefit me and I will withhold favor from those who are none of my concern or whom I dislike. If they need what I own, let them curry my favor." The Lord abhors double standards. They dishonor the victims, and they dishonor God.
The merchants didn't have to feel anything toward their customers. Feelings have absolutely nothing to do with justice and equity. The merchant should have feelings for God - feelings of gratitude, honor and respect. Out of those feelings the merchant is to use only one set of weights - the just weights. The man with two tunics need not feel anything for the man with none. His gratitude, respect and honor of God should be enough motivation to be a good steward and provide for his needy fellow man. The standards we use in our every day relationships with others should have nothing to do with feelings. We are to love our neighbor - and even our enemy - out of gratitude, honor and respect for our God and our Redeemer. Our integrity is to be grounded in our relationship to Him, not in our relationships with others. That is the true mark of a disciple.