Proverbs 20:23 - Unequal Weights and False Scales

Proverbs 20:23
Differing weights are an abomination to the Lord, and a false scale is not good.

Message: Unequal weights and False Scales

Time: It seems that Proverbs was written and then compiled sometime between the tenth and sixth centuries B.C. Proverbs was probably written during the reign of Solomon, 971-931 B.C.


What the Lord is Saying:

From Tabletalk -- Merchants are not permitted to defraud their customers with standards that allow them to sell less of a product than their buyers think they are getting, and they may not use mislabeled units to buy more of a product than a seller thinks he is selling. The same principle apply to the consumer as well; we are not to cheat merchants our of the fruit of their labor by fraud, theft, or other immoral means. Similarly, governments should not employ unequal measures via the inflation of currency, ever-changing standards of weight, and so forth. Such things are an abomination to the Lord, for He is sovereign also over the economy and prizes truth in all of our relationships. 

Most everything you buy in a store has a label on the product that tells you how much of the product you are buying. What if the label said one thing and the contents of the package had something else? You would feel cheated. You would feel like one thing is being said, but something else is the result.

Even in the marketplace, God wants us to deal with one another in honest ways. This could mean not accepting more change from a cashier than what is due.

Promise: Even in the smallest of economic matters, Christians are to be fair and just.