Proverbs 11:1

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Proverbs 11:1. Just weight, literally, “a stone of completeness, a full stone.” Stone was a very ancient material for weight; not rusting, it was not changeable.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 11:1

JUST WEIGHT

This judgment on a false weight is a two-fold revelation.

I. It reveals the existence of a true standard. We only know what is false by knowing what is true. If a mason looks at a stone and declares that it is uneven, he declares at the same time that there is such a thing as an even stone, or that there is a possibility of making a stone perfectly level and square. He reveals his knowledge of what is even by passing judgment upon what is uneven. When a judge declares that a man has not fulfilled the requirements of the law, he thereby proclaims the existence of a law which ought to have been, and might have been obeyed. As Paul tells us, “Sin is not imputed where there is no law” (Romans 5:13). And if a weight is condemned as false, the condemnation implies that there is a certain standard of weight which ought to have been reached. God, who here tells men that He abominates a false balance, declares by His condemnation of it that there is such a thing as a true weight: that there is that which He recognises as justice between man and man. And much that men call “a full stone,” a “fair day’s wages,” is not so regarded by God. It is not dealing truly with a man to give him the smallest possible amount for the work he does—to take advantage of his poverty or ignorance to beat him down to the lowest sum for which his need will induce him to give his labour, and thereby condemn him to all the evils of insufficient means. “Behold!” says Carlyle, “supply and demand is not the one law of Nature; cash payment is not the sole nexus of man with man,—how far from it! Deep, far deeper than supply and demand are laws, obligations sacred as man’s life itself!” This is the law of the Divine kingdom: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12). Less than this is a “false balance,” this is the “full stone,” which is God’s “delight.”

II. It reveals the character of God. If a man declares that certain actions are displeasing to him, the declaration reveals his character; if the actions that he hates are wicked in themselves and hurtful to men, his hatred of them proclaims his own righteousness and benevolence. That God is a hater of false weights and measures in every sense and of every kind proclaims Him to be a God of mercy and truth, a Ruler who will Himself “not pervert judgment,” who “will not lay upon man more than right,” but who will “give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (Job 34:12; Jeremiah 32:19). And the text likewise proclaims God’s notice of what men sometimes call little things. The farthing kept back from the child, and the ounce taken from the pound, are as much marked by Him as the short wages given to the man, the unjust sentence passed upon the prisoner. Dr. Guthrie says “God sees the water in the milk, and the sand in the sugar.” There are no great and small transactions in a moral sense, one action contains the sin as much as another.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

In this emphatic reproduction of the old rule of Deuteronomy 25:13, we may find, perhaps, a trace, as in chap. Proverbs 6:1, of the growing commerce of the Israelites, and the danger of dishonesty incidental to it. While the words have a wider range and include all unequal and unrighteous judgments, there can be no doubt that the literal meaning is the prominent one. The stress laid on the same sin in chaps. Proverbs 16:11, Proverbs 20:10, bears witness to the desire of the teacher to educate the youth of Israel to a high standard of integrity, just as the protest of Hosea against it (ch. Proverbs 12:7) shows the zeal of the prophet in rebuking what was becoming more and more a besetting sin.—Plumptre.

Hither may be referred corruptions in courts, and partialities in Church businesses. See that tremendous “charge” to do nothing by partiality or by “tilting the balance” (1 Timothy 5:21). Those that have the “balances of deceit in their hand” (Hosea 12:7) are called Canaanites, so the Hebrew hath it, that is, mere natural men (Ezekiel 16:3), that have no goodness in them, no, not common honesty; they do not as they would be done by, which very heathens condemned.—Trapp.

Surely he that weighs in a false balance is himself weighed by God in a balance of justice, and for the gain he gets he getteth to himself from the Lord His just abomination; not only His dislike or condemnation of it, but the abomination because it is a theft cloaked with the colour of justice, even the exact justice of weighing. But a just balance is such a delight unto God as that He delighteth, as it were, to be a seller in that shop, and that He maketh others to delight to come and buy at it. Surely such a “perfect stone” (see Hebrew) is a perfect jewel, and a precious stone in the sight of God. But in a spiritual sense there is no such false balance as when man weigheth heavier than God, earth heavier than heaven, the pleasures of sin heavier than the crown of glory, a momentary contentment heavier than eternal blessedness. And justly are such false balances an abomination to the Lord. But that is a just weight whereby the light vanity of worldly things is rightly perceived, the levity of earthly greatness is truly discerned, the weightiness of God’s promises is duly considered, the heaviness of God’s threatenings is carefully apprehended. Such a weight is God’s delight, doth overbalance all whatsoever the world delighteth in.—Jermin.

That which is hurtful to our brother is hateful to God, and therefore can never be helpful to us. If He judge it unrighteous we shall find it unprofitable: if it be damnable in His sight, and therefore His soul doth hate it, it will at last be in our sense, and our souls shall rue it. Here is consolation to them that do constantly and conscionably addict themselves to the practice of equity. None hath truly learned this but such as have been apprentices to heaven, whom the Lord hath informed in the mysteries of that trade.—Dod.

Weight and balance are judicial institutions of the Lord, and every weight is His work. But marriage compacts, also political confederacies, civil compacts, judgments, penalties, etc., are ordinances of Divine wisdom and justice, and are effectively superintended by God.—Melancthon.

This is repeated with varied language three times (Proverbs 16:11; Proverbs 20:10; Proverbs 20:23). The tendency of all commentators is to treat it as descriptive of men. It seems conspicuously to be asserted of the Almighty. Sentences like chap. Proverbs 10:29 make the doctrine a very timely one, that God is in His very essence just; that He takes no liberties of an arbitrary nature; that He is the administrator, not at all of fate, for this is blind and unreasoning, but of eternal rectitude; that we need give ourselves no care of our government, for that He has no temptation to do us wrong, because “false balances” are an abomination to Jehovah.” “Delight” is rather a strong version. It only means that the Almighty has the eternal desire to be absolutely just. Omniscience, omnipotence, and this desire must make an immaculate administration. God will not, by a false balance, become an abomination to Himself.—Miller.

Commerce is a providential appointment for our social intercourse and mutual helpfulness. It is grounded with men upon human faith, as with God upon Divine faith. Balance, weights, money are its necessary materials. Impositions, double dealings, the hard bargain struck with self-complacent shrewdness (chap. Proverbs 20:14)—this is the false balance forbidden alike of the law and of the Gospel (Matthew 7:12; Philippians 4:8).—Bridges.