Monday, July 15, 2013

Diverse weights


(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 25:13–19, “Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. 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. For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God. Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.”
There is a proverb that illustrates this passage, “It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.” (Prov 20:14) So often a buyer tries to cheat the seller then he goes and boasts about it to his friends.  This section tells sellers that they are not to have two kinds of weights for their scales. One for buying and one for selling. Meaning that they are not treating buyers and sellers the same way. The Lord promised Israel prosperity for obedience in the Land this meant that they wouldn’t have to cheat and lie to be prosperous, in fact, the opposite was true. The Amalekites were descendants of Esau and thus related to Israel (Gen 36:12, “And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau’s son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these were the sons of Adah Esau’s wife.”) Even though the Amalekites were related to Israel and, hence, descendants of Abraham, The came and fought against Israel, unprovoked as the moved from Egypt to the Promised Land. They chose not to act in a brotherly way to Israel so Israel was told to pay them the consequences and treat them as though they were not fellow descendants of Abraham. The Lord promised Abraham’s descendants that they would be blessed but the Amalekites chose to curse Abraham’s primary descendant and called the Lord’s curse upon themselves.

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