Micah 6

False Weights

A bag of deceitful weights. Micah 6:11.

“Sixteen ounces one pound, fourteen pounds one stone!” Why is fourteen pounds called a stone? For the very good reason that weights in olden days were mostly made of stone. The Babylonians and Hebrews used stone weights, and some of these are in existence to this very day. They are not large weights like our stones, but tiny ones about the size of a lump of sugar, and shaped rather like the button mushrooms you pick up in the fields rounded on the top and cut off sharp below. Others are like shuttles or melon seeds, only about twice as big as an ordinary melon seed. And each is stamped with the name of the weight which it represents.

The merchant of Bible days (who was a travelling merchant, by the way) carried his weights about with him in a bag made of strong cotton or leather. He placed the stones in one scale and the silver which he was being paid in the other, and he told his customer if it weighed enough: for you must remember that money, in Old Testament days at least, was just lumps of silver, and you gave so much weight of silver for what you wanted to buy. That is why we read of Abraham's weighing out four hundred shekels of silver, “current money with the merchant,” as the price of the field in which he buried his wife, and that is why we read of Joseph's being sold for “twenty pieces of silver.”

Now, naturally, with knocking against each other in the bag the weights soon got worn down, and then it was the merchant's duty to replace these by others ; just as our grocers have to lay aside any light weights when the Inspector of Measures, who comes round every year to test them, says they are under standard weight. I am sorry to say, however, that as there was no Inspector of Measures in those days, and it was left to the merchants' own conscience, many of them kept their worn-down stones. And some were even so cunning as to keep two sets a set for buying, and a set for selling so that they cheated twice over. That is why the Bible is so full of warnings about “divers” or different weights, and that is why our text speaks of “a bag of deceitful weights.”

This morning I want to speak to you about two deceitful weights. They are not grocer's weights, but you are sure to meet them sooner or later; and when you do, I want you to be able to say, “Ah! I've heard of you before. You are a false weight. I'll have nothing to do with you.” But, first, I must explain a little, and to do so let me tell you a story.

In the days when James I. sat on the throne of Great Britain and Ireland, a certain English ambassador was sent to India to visit the court of Shah Jehangir, the reigning Great Mogul and Sovereign of Hindustan. While on this visit the ambassador saw an unusual sight. The Shahs birthday came round, and on that day, as was the yearly custom, a huge pair of scales was hung from a stand erected in the courtyard of the palace. Into one pan of the scales stepped the Mogul, clad in his costliest raiment and adorned with all his jewels. Into the other were piled gold, silver, precious stones, rare silks and embroideries, also all kinds of dainties and delicious fruits. When the scales balanced, and the weight of the goods equaled the weight of the Shah, he stepped down, and the goods were distributed as gifts among the people.

Now, we may not realize it, but every one of us weighs himself against something, just as surely as did that Eastern monarch. And some of us weigh ourselves against good weights, and others of us throw ourselves away by placing false or worthless weights in the scales. Some people give themselves away for love, others for learning. They think it is worth while giving all their lives for these. But a great many people throw themselves away for two deceitful weights, and it is against these I want to warn you.

1. The first deceitful weight is wealth. Lots of folk sell themselves for gold. They give their lives for money or the possessions that money brings. Now, if anybody ever tells you that money is the best thing in life, don't believe him. Money is not to be despised, of course, nor is it to be wasted; but when it comes to a case of a man against money, man is never to be compared with gold. And yet some people sell their souls as well as their bodies for a pile of yellow coins which can buy for them fine clothes and houses and lands, but which can never buy for them the best things health, happiness, contentment, and love.

One of the world's greatest and most successful millionaires was congratulated by a friend on his vast possessions. Said the friend, “With all you have you must be the happiest man in the world.” The millionaire looked for a moment as if he did not understand, and then he exclaimed sadly, “Happy! me happy!” That was all he said, but it told his story. The gold in the other half of his scale he had found to be a false weight.

2. The second false weight is position. There are many foolish people who sell themselves for position. They say that a high place in the world is the chief good. So they think of nothing but getting on and getting up. They make up their mind to climb. They push aside and trample on their fellow-men. They toady to those above them and snub those immediately beneath. As they ascend they cut their old friends.

Did I say “ascend”? Alas! they may think they are ascending, but every step up is in reality a step down; for in the mad struggle for place and power they are losing all their nobler and gentler nature. They are trampling on their better selves as well as on their fellow-men. And they are forgetting that God does not care whether they are kings or peasants. Both are exactly alike in His eyes so long as they are good men. They forget, too, that God's own Son came to earth and lived and worked for nearly thirty years a carpenter.

Did you ever hear of Ian Maclaren, the great preacher and writer? Perhaps you older boys and girls may have read his books. When he was a little fellow he was staying with an uncle in the country. He went to church on Communion Sunday and was greatly impressed by one of the elders, an old man with white hair and a beautiful saintly face, who was dressed in black in the reverent Scottish fashion. Next day the little boy was playing on the road, and to his amazement he came upon the same old man, in rough, patched clothes, breaking stones by the roadside. The boy was so astonished that he ran home to ask his uncle about it. “Yes,” said the uncle, “that is old John. He is only a poor man and a stone-breaker, but he is the most Christ-like man I have ever known.”

Boys and girls, let us make no mistake about the weights for which we sell ourselves. Do we choose wealth? Then let us choose the true riches. Let us be rich towards God, rich in thoughts and deeds of love and self-sacrifice. Do we choose position? Let it be the highest position the position of a servant of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.