Yahweh tells us to have honest scales, and to do no injustice in measurement of length, weight, or volume.
| Leviticus 19:35-36 35 “You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. 36 You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am Yahweh your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” |
35 לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ עָוֶל בַּמִּשְׁפָּט | בַּמִּדָּה בַּמִּשְׁקָל וּבַמְּשׂוּרָה: 36 מֹאזְנֵי צֶדֶק אַבְנֵי צֶדֶק אֵיפַת צֶדֶק וְהִין צֶדֶק יִהְיֶה לָכֶם | אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם |
The subject here is money. Yahweh says we are to be perfectly honest whenever we measure out quantities of goods, and also to be honest when measuring out payment of gold and silver. He considers this to be so important that whosoever behaves unrighteously with money is an abomination in His sight.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 25:13-16
13 “You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light.
14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.
15 You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which Yahweh your Elohim is giving you.
16 For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to Yahweh your Elohim.
In verse 15, we see a commandment with a promise. Yahweh tells us that if we want our days to be long, we must use perfect and just weights and measures. If we want long and peaceful lives, then we must pay strict attention in matters of money. This is about as serious a health warning as there is; and as we will see, American society has crossed over the line in some frightening and catastrophic ways.
In Yahweh’s way of thinking, one can tell how righteous a nation is (and whether or not it can be expected to survive, in the most literal of terms) by scrutinizing its money. Each and every measure of value is to be just, and perfect. Because Yahweh’s laws have no statute of limitations, this rule is timeless, and it will still apply even in the coming Millennial Temple.
Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 45:9-10
9 ‘Thus says Yahweh Elohim: “Enough, O princes of Israel! Remove violence and plundering, execute justice and righteousness, and stop dispossessing My people,” says Yahweh Elohim.
10 “You shall have honest scales, an honest ephah, and an honest bath.”
Notice:
- In the days of the Millennial Temple,
- Yahweh will tell our leaders to stop the violence, to stop the plundering, and also to stop dispossessing His people
- by re-establishing honest measures of value (i.e., by re-establishing honest money).
So if Israel will have honest money in the future, and if having this honest money will stop the plundering, the violence and the dispossession, then the following things must logically be true:
- We do not have honest money now; and
- Because we do not have honest money now, we have violence, and plundering, and injustice among our people; and
- because we do not have honest money, we will probably continue to be dispossessed until such time as Yahweh commands our coming princes to re establish honest money.
So if we need honest money in order to enjoy long lives in peace, and to stop being dispossessed, then what does it take to have honest money in Yahweh’s eyes? And how does it differ from the money we have today?
Micah tells us that we are to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Yahweh our Elohim.
Micah 6:8-16
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does Yahweh require of you But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your Elohim?
Do we realize that, in context, Micah is talking about money? But how do we love mercy, and walk humbly, with money? Yahweh gives us a mysterious answer.
9 Yahweh’s voice cries to the city — “Wisdom shall see Your name: Hear the rod! Who has appointed it?
What does Yahweh mean, “Hear the rod”? When a child disobeys his parents, he is corrected with a rod of discipline (e.g. Proverbs 13:24, 22:15). In the same way, Yahweh disciplines His children when they disobey Him. And just as every wise child tries to discover what got him spanked (so he can avoid getting spanked in the future), the wise of Yahweh’s people also see and hear the name of Yahweh’s rod, which is sent to punish those who gather the Treasures of Wickedness, and who use the “short measure that is an abomination.”
10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is an abomination?
11 Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
Yahweh tells us He will not count anyone who uses wicked scales, or who has a “bag of deceitful weights” as pure. But if we no longer weigh out silver and gold on scales when we purchase our goods in the market, then what is Yahweh talking about? And how can we be guilty of using wicked scales (and deceitful weights) in a society where we use electronic cash?
12 For her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13 Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you, by making you desolate because of your sins.
Why does Yahweh say that our rich men are full of violence, and that we have spoken lies? And why does He say that all of our tongues are deceitful in our mouths? And why does He say all of us are to be punished, when only the rich men are full of violence?
King Omri lived some 150 years before Micah, and yet the ‘Statutes of Omri’ and the ‘works of Ahab’s house’ were still being kept in Micah’s day. Yahweh said that because the people were still doing these things, there would be hunger and devastation in the land.
14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied; hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away, but shall not save them; and what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.
15 “You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; and make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
16 For the statutes of Omri are kept; all the works of Ahab’s house are done; and you walk in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing. Therefore you shall bear the reproach of My people.”
What are these ‘Statutes of Omri’? Scripture does not give us much detail. On the surface, Omri appears to be just some minor king who ruled the Northern Kingdom of Ephraim (Israel) for six years.
Melachim Aleph (1 Kings) 16:23-28
23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and reigned twelve years. Six years he reigned in Tirzah.
24 And he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; then he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, Samaria, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill.
25 Omri did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and did worse than all who were before him.
26 For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin, provoking Yahweh Elohim of Israel to anger with their idols.
27 Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
28 So Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. Then Ahab his son reigned in his place.
Scripture does not tell us much more about Omri than that he did more evil than all those who had gone before him; and that he begat the wicked King Ahab. Yet while he only reigned for twelve years, Omri was so influential, and led the Northern Kingdom away from the Torah so completely that for many years after his death, the Edomites and the Assyrians called the Northern Kingdom ‘the house of Omri’ (Mat bit-Humri).
If Scripture does not give us much detail about King Omri, it tells us more about his son Ahab. While verse 16 tells us that Omri did more evil than all those who had come before him, verse 30 tells us that his son King Ahab did even more evil than that.
Melachim Aleph (1 Kings) 16:29-33
29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.
30 Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of Yahweh, more than all who were before him.
31 And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Tsidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him.
32 Then he set up an altar for Baal [the Lord] in the temple of Baal [the Lord], which he had built in Samaria.
33 And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke Yahweh Elohim of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
While Judah’s kings were imperfect, many of them feared Yahweh, and trusted that if they sought Yahweh’s face in the decision-making process, that Yahweh would reward their people with good. While the application is slightly different, Yeshua gives us the same principle, that we are to seek Yahweh first, in all things.
Mattithyahu (Matthew) 6:31-33
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first the kingdom of Elohim and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
In contrast, the kings of the north almost never sought Yahweh’s face during the decision-making process. Rather, first they sought to establish national security and prosperity by forging treaties and alliances with the gentile nations; and only afterward did they seek Yahweh’s blessings. The parallel between “the works of Ahab’s house” and America’s leaders is almost exact.
Ahab sought to foster wealth and security by forging strategic alliances with other nations. His marriage to Jezebel, daughter of the Tsidonian (Phoenecian) king was likely made out of indifference to Yahweh’s Torah, and/or from a desire to cement a strategic alliance with the Tsidonians. His motive was likely to give a boost to the Ephraimite economy by gaining access to the huge maritime markets of the Tsidonians.
Although Ahab may have purposed his marriage into the Tsidonian Empire in order to increase the economic weal and national security, he did not take into account that Yahweh is in control of all things. Ahab’s alliance with the Tsidonians did not stop King Ben-hadad of Syria (Aram) from attacking him. Because the Syrian army so greatly outnumbered Ahab’s, Ahab’s defeat seemed certain; and yet Yahweh took mercy on Ahab and delivered him, so that he would ‘know Yahweh.’
Melachim Aleph (1 Kings) 20:13
13 Suddenly a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel, saying, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today, and you shall know that I am Yahweh.’”
However, Ahab did not destroy Ben-Hadad, and so Ben-Hadad attacked again the following year. Yahweh delivered Ahab yet again, but again He implied that Ahab should destroy the Syrian army, in that the Syrian army would be ‘delivered into his hand.’
Melachim Aleph (1 Kings) 20:26-28
26 So it was, in the spring of the year, that Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.
27 And the children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went against them. Now the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside.
28 Then a man of Elohim came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “Yahweh is Elohim of the hills, but He is not Elohim of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am Yahweh.’”
Ahab’s forces routed the Syrian army, and King Ben-Hadad fled for his life. However, when Ben-Hadad offered Ahab access to the thriving marketplaces of Damascus, Ahab cut a covenant (a treaty) with him.
Melachim Aleph (1 Kings) 20:34
34 So Ben-Hadad said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father I will restore; and you may set up marketplaces for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.”
Then Ahab said, “I will send you away with this treaty.” So he made a treaty with him and sent him away.
The World would think that sparing our enemies’ lives is a ‘nice’ thing to do, and they would approve. The only problem is that Yahweh had already said that He wanted the Syrian army destroyed. King Shaul’s disobedience when he failed to put King Agag and the Amaleqite flocks to death was likened to idolatry in First Samuel 15, and so it was also for King Ahab. The only difference was that Ahab’s motivation was not just negligence but also greed, as he was swayed by the prospect of accessing the marketplaces of Damascus.
If King Ahab were alive today, he would likely be a U.S. President or a pillar in the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the United Nations, or any of the other numerous organizations that seek to ignore Yahweh’s instruction in order to improve international commerce. These kinds of organizations are filled with statesmen of Ahab’s worldly ilk; and much like Ahab they promote tolerance towards other religions in the name of international trade. Notice, however, that when Ahab sanctioned Baal worship for the sake of his Tsidonian wife Jezebel, it eventually ushered in the wholesale slaughter and persecution of Yahweh’s prophets.
Melachim Aleph (1 Kings) 18:4
4 For so it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of Yahweh, that Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water.
Ahab’s financial successes typify the “Treasures of Wickedness” that Micah 6:10 warns us about. These Treasures of Wickedness are any benefits that come not from seeking first the Kingdom of Elohim (and His righteousness), but from seeking first the material blessings that we want Yahweh to add to us.
Micah 6:10-11
10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is an abomination?
11 Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
At the time of this writing (in 2009 CE), America is still seeking Yahweh’s blessings without first seeking His face; and Yahweh’s rod of discipline is fast approaching. Therefore let us have eyes to see, and ears to hear, and learn how we got into so much trouble.