This morning, when I checked on my friend, he told me a story about a young man who approached him about clearing brush and debris from the culverts on his ranch so the creek where his cows drink could flow freely. We had about 13 inches of rain, heavy rain two weeks ago, and trees, brush, and even a brand new tire washed up into the culverts. They negotiated the pay by the hour.
When the young man was finished, he gave the amount of hours it took to complete the job; he lied. As it sometimes happens, my friend, who can see from his house across the highway, happened to be looking from his dining room window and knew exactly when the young man arrived at his gate for work. When the young man came to his house for his pay, he lied about the hours it took him to complete his task. My friend then told him he saw the time he arrived, and was it not his wife’s car at the gate? He had to confess; it was the truth.
My friend paid that which was due to the young man, but in the absence of honesty and integrity with a false weight and balance, the young man will never return again to work for him.
When we practice to deceive, we may get by with it once. Sooner or later one is caught in a web of their own making. False weights and balances are an abomination to God. Abomination, by definition, means “a detestable act.”
“A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is His delight.” Proverbs 11:1
“Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I Am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.” Leviticus 19:36
“But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
Deuteronomy 25:15
“Diverse weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord.” Proverbs 20:10″
“Divers weights are an abomination unto the Lord; and a false balance is not good.” Proverbs 20:23
“Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?” Micah 6:10-11
“He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.” Hosea 12:7
“Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit.” Amos 8:5
“He made a pit and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.” Psalms 7:15-16
“Doing mischief to hurt another returns to harm the mischief-maker. The pit he digs to entrap another becomes his own pitfall.
The writer alludes to a method of hunting wild beasts in ancient times. A pit would be dug and covered over with brush and leaves. As unsuspecting animals were driven over it they would fall through and be trapped.
The lesson is that the person who lays a deceptive plan for the destruction of others will be ensnared by his own devices. Such retribution is not uncommon among the crafty who are caught in the consequences of their own devilment. They become entangled in the recoils of their own cunning. They are trapped in self-dug pits. They are caught in self-made nets.
History is replete with examples. Many a Haman has been hanged on the gallows he prepared for another. (Esther 7:10). Many a Judas has sold himself with his own kiss (Matthew 26:48).
No one can overestimate the danger of a crooked and mischievous policy. Neither can one overwhelm the worth of an open and straightforward coarse in dealing with others – both friends and foes.” ~ Leroy Brownlow
“The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful: to make the most of what we have: to be happy with simple pleasures: and have courage when things go wrong.” ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder
Eileen Light
I come across this problem almost every day. There are so many ways to lie and “think” you are OK. Parents inadvertently teach children to lie by showing them how to do these devious things, but do they know what they are doing? Children are required to “obey your parents…in the Lord (Eph. 6:1),” but will there be times when they should not obey? What are parents teaching them by the very way they live and speak day after day?
“Go to the door and tell that salesman I am not here.”
“Tell your teacher at school that the dog ate your homework.”
“Tell my friend I made the gift for her” (when it was really my sister).
“Ask your artistic friend to make this poster for you and tell the teacher you drew it.”
“Tell everyone you can’t go to Bible class because you are having a heavy period, when in reality it is the substitute teacher we hate.”
and on and on and on…