Deu 25:14-16 Don't have different measuring devices in your house—one large and one small. (15) You must have honest weights and measuring devices, so you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, (16) for anyone who does these things—anyone who deals dishonestly—is detestable to the LORD your God."
Oooooh! This is a good one.
It starts out talking about a specific kind of deceitfulness - where a merchant has two “measures”, a large one and a small one.
Remember, these people didn’t have digital scales. What they had was something called a “balance”, a very primitive device that consisted of a horizontal bar or beam with weighing pans suspended from each end. The beam was delicately balanced in its center on a pivot. The item to be weighed was placed in one pan and standard “measures” of known weight were added to the other pan until the beam was as close to equilibrium as possible.
Now, if a merchant wanted to cheat, he or she would use an “small” or undersized measure to make an item seem heavier than it really is or a “large” or oversized weight to make the item seem lighter.
God evidently looks down on this practice. But…
Notice how verse 16 ends with “anyone who deals dishonestly.” Cheating on weights is simply an example. Cheating and dishonesty in any form is an abomination.
We have lying, cheating politicians; lying, cheating business men and women; lying, cheating clergy; lying, cheating athletes; lying, cheating journalists; lying, cheating friends and relatives… and none of them are barred from getting married.
So… what’s up with that?