Solomon’s wisdom in the book of Proverbs covers a litany of subjects, including the importance of righteous dealings among image bearers.
In Proverbs 16:11 he says,
“A just balance and scales are the LORD’s;
all the weights in the bag are his work.”
The proverb is addressing commercial transactions. The “balance and scales” would be for weighing items a buyer wants, and the “weights in the bag” are associated with the balance and scales. Things needed to be placed on scales to be weighed so that the appropriate price could be identified and then paid.
But the book of Proverbs recognizes the temptation to take advantage of others in a transaction. By messing with scales and weights, a seller can deceive a buyer and end up selling less than the buyer thinks and getting more money from the buyer than the seller should.
In the book of Proverbs, such transactional deception is an abomination to the Lord.
In Proverbs 11:1,
“A false balance is an abomination to the LORD,
but a just weight is his delight.”
In Proverbs 20:10,
“Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD.”
In Proverbs 20:23,
“Unequal weights are an abomination to the LORD,
and false scales are not good.”
Loving your neighbor will mean dealing justly with your neighbor. Covetousness and greed can tempt someone to manipulate scales, and the Lord abhors such deception. Why should people pursue righteous dealings with their neighbors?
Proverbs 16:11 answers the question. The root of righteous dealings is the Lord himself. Just scales are from him. A properly weighted bag is his work. The proverb is identifying the standard behind commercial activity that is just. The standard is the Lord.
Righteous dealings matter because the Lord is righteous. The pursuit of justice with and toward one another matters because the Lord is just.
A Darwinian worldview cannot establish the responsibility of dealing justly with one another. Sinful impulses want to exploit others for gain. Your neighbor becomes someone to be used rather than loved. Thoughts might include: “I’m going to get what I think I deserve.” Or: “If I work things in this way, I can increase my gain without the other person even realizing it!” The end justifies the means, even if those means are unequal weights and manipulated measures.
The wisdom of Scripture directs us differently. The golden rule cannot abide false scales, because you would never want to be the buyer whose ignorance is exploited. Just dealings are crucial for maintaining the social fabric around us. If we cannot trust one another in commercial transactions, we are in a socially despondent position.
Proverbs 16:11 tells us the root of righteous dealings so that we might remember the accountability we have to our Creator. Our moral impulses for justice are not the result of evolutionary processes. They are ingrained by the One who has formed us as his image bearers.
The truth of Proverbs 16:11 should shape not only commercial transactions but legal and judicial processes as well. The pursuit of justice should not be corrupted by favoritism, bribes, elitism, tribalism, or political pressures. The administration of justice needs equal weights and measures, balanced scales.
Righteous dealings in commercial and judicial contexts are vital for human flourishing. Cheating the system and deceiving your neighbor(s) are abhorrent to God. If the Lord has declared something an abomination, let’s not make that abomination a life or social strategy for achieving the ends we want.
A just balance and scales are from the Lord. Let us receive his divine wisdom, then, and love our neighbors themselves instead of merely loving what we can get from them. Righteous dealing is good for you and for others.