The descendants of Israel were faced with a choice unlike any other. After delivering them from years of captivity in Egypt, God presented them with an opportunity to become His special people, called out and separate from the rest of mankind (Exodus 19:1-9). When the people accepted, God proceeded to deliver a series of laws, sacrifices and instructions to them, which are recorded, primarily, in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Although it is not appropriate for God’s followers today to expect justification with God by obeying each of these requirements as the Jewish people did, there is value in reviewing them and reflecting on the spirit behind the words.
Deuteronomy 25:13-16 record a specific set of instructions involving weights. For centuries, certain goods such as food have been priced according to weight. In today’s supermarkets, meat is often prepackaged and sold by the pound (or other unit of weight). Boxed goods such as cereals and baking ingredients are sold in containers which display the weight of the product; for example, a five-pound bag of flour. Fresh produce is also often sold by weight. Customers or cashiers weigh the produce on a scale at the time of purchase and the customer is charged a set amount per unit of weight for the item.
When God’s law was given to the early Jewish people, the concept of weighing goods was often used as a basis for transactions. The scales at the time were balance-based, where the goods were placed on one end of the scale and an object of a predetermined known weight was placed on the other end. Having precise measurements was, like today, important to transactions. The customer did not want to be overcharged, and the seller needed to ensure a fair price for the sold product.
Many people had their own set of personal weights that they used during transactions. Deuteronomy 25:13 declares that followers of the Law should not have “divers measures, a great and a small” in their bag. Verse 14 builds on the same concept, prohibiting the keeping of “a great and a small” in the household. When a consumer went to the market or had a personal transaction with another person, it was common practice to keep a personal set of weights in a bag, much like items may be taken to a store in a purse today. During the transaction, a consumer would place their desired goods on a scale to determine cost. If the consumer used a weight that was knowingly heavier than the accepted standard of measure, the consumer could obtain more of the goods at the same price as if an accurate weight were used, but at the cost of defrauding the seller. If a seller, in turn, used a lighter-than-accurate weight were used during the transaction, the seller could part with less product for the same price, but at the cost of defrauding the customer.
Verse 15 declares God’s expectation for the followers of the Law. By having one correct set of weights, transactions can be kept “just” – a fair amount of product for a fair price. God’s justice follows this same concept. His justice is perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4). A “just” interaction therefore reflects God’s character of goodness. A knowingly unjust interaction displays an attitude of selfishness over a respect for others, and is considered “an abomination” to God (Deuteronomy 25:16).
The same importance of maintaining a just character during transactions is widely acknowledged by God’s followers today. However, the principles behind this article of the law, laid out simply in these four verses of Deuteronomy, extend beyond business transactions. God’s requirement of justice is still a cornerstone of the narrow way of consecration to Him, and the spirit behind the prohibition of the “divers weights, a great and a small” remains a central consideration for faithfulness.
Weights Great and Small: Our Consecration
In Philippians 3:7-8, Paul explains that he makes a distinction between his efforts to please God and all other pursuits in life, going so far as labeling the latter type of pursuits “loss.” Life is a sequence of decisions, some bigger than others, but all important in that collectively, they define us. Even not making a decision is in itself a decision. A decision requires one to examine all sides of an issue and weigh them against each other. Valuing any activity that takes one away from service to God with “weight too great” results in one spending more resources than necessary away from one’s committed service. By counting worldly pursuits as loss, Paul avoids this trap. As new responsibilities enter one’s life, or as new pursuits creep, sometimes deceptively, into modern life, each must be weighed and evaluated. Paul’s words don’t necessarily mean that every pursuit in the current life is evil or against God. However, weighing each with a proper weight helps to prioritize life’s conflicting demands.
A certain rich man once asked Jesus what must he had to do to gain eternal life (Luke 18:18). Jesus responded that the man should sell all that he had and give the proceeds to the poor and after that, to follow him (Luke 18:22). Jesus understood that the man was using a “weight too great” to measure the importance of his worldly goods, resulting in Jesus’ instruction for the man to rid himself of this weight. The man had a direct, personal invitation from Jesus to follow him, and yet, because of the weight of value he put on his possessions, Luke 18:23 records the man became sorrowful and left Jesus (Matthew 19:22). Jesus’ followers today may not all have the same degree of wealth that the young man possessed. However, each has possessions, influences and priorities. Any of these, when weighed incorrectly against the invitation to follow Jesus, may cause sorrow or even a walking away from the path of following our Master.
Time is a resource that none can replace or replenish. The best we can do is “redeem our time,” as the Apostle Paul encourages us to do in Ephesians 5:15-16. Each day requires certain tasks that are common to all people, and, by necessity, diminish the pool of a day’s time. Although Jesus taught that these tasks should not be stressed about (Matthew 6:25-31), these tasks are nevertheless required to be responsibly fulfilled by consecrated individuals (I Timothy 5:8). A balance must therefore be maintained between the needful demands on one’s time and the expenditure of one’s time in consecrated service. Weighing the necessary demands of current life with “a weight too small” can contribute to a deficiency in one’s responsibilities, which, being of the Lord’s people, may inadvertently cause others to cast negative judgements against our Lord and his people. Weighing these responsibilities with “a weight too heavy” can lead to a desire to accumulate wealth, status or worldly respect over consecrated service.
Judging worldly influences with “a weight too light” can also contribute to a misjudgment of effort or commitment required by the effort. This can lead to a laxity in judgement that can be difficult to back away from. When the descendants of Israel agreed to become God’s people (Exodus 19:8), they agreed to follow God’s commandments. Among the most important of these commandments was remaining true to God, and to not worship other “gods” (Exodus 20:3,4). Over time, however, the people began to adopt the practices of the heathen people around them, turning away from God despite their promises and turning to other worship (Judges 2:11-13, for example). Remaining true to God, who had delivered them from bondage and granted them blessings and promises beyond any other nation deserved to be weighed with a great weight indeed. Although the scriptures do not specify exactly why the people of Israel turned to other gods, the fact that they chose to do so demonstrates that they weighed their commitment to God with a “weight too small.” By doing so, the Israelites too their vows lightly, and were punished by God for doing so (Judges 2:14, 15).
Weights Great and Small: Our Brethren
Jesus instructed his followers to care for one another as he had cared for them (John 13:34-35). A gauging of the development of a consecrated heart is the love of one’s brethren (I John 3:14). Part of caring for another’s well-being is a concern that the other is being treated in a fair and just manner. Positions of selfishness, either in physical transactions or in abstract interactions such as conversations and judgements demonstrate an imbalance in the weights used to evaluate another. Having the spirit of just measurements during interactions between consecrated individuals therefore supports the healthy development of the overall body of Christ.
If a “weight that is too small” is used during interactions between brethren, oversights, even slackness in consecration can result. In Galatians 2:11-21, Paul records an interaction between himself and his fellow apostle, Peter. Although Peter was integral in the events leading to the consecration of Cornelius, the first Gentile whose consecration was accepted by God (Acts 10), he later began to limit certain aspects of his fellowship to brethren with Jewish backgrounds. Paul understood that these actions were against God’s will that all members of the Church should be equal (Galatians 3:26-29) and confronted Peter about Peter’s behavior. Had Paul measured his brother Peter with a “weight that was too small,” this confrontation and subsequent correction may not have happened. The understanding that the narrow way of consecration was, and remains, open to all, Jew and Gentile, is foundational to a correct understanding of salvation. If Paul allowed Peter, a respected leader of the early church, to continue setting the example of preferring Jew over Gentile, disharmony and misunderstanding could have resulted.
Today, the lesson of “a weight too small” manifests itself in other forms as well. Some leaders of professed Christian organizations promote the idea that participating in church services once a week is a sufficient expenditure of time in God’s service. Others promote the idea of monetary donation, and that a sufficient percentage of “tithing” can procure salvation. In some branches of Christianity, the concept of “once saved, always saved” is promoted, which teaches that a one-time acceptance of Jesus as one’s savior is all that is needed to obtain and keep salvation. Although there may be aspects behind each of these thoughts that are considerations for the consecrated heart, any one, on its own, is a “weight too small.” Meaningful interactions between brethren maintain, at their core, the understanding of the magnitude of the vows of consecration (Philippians 3:13-16). God expects His followers to devote their full hearts, minds, and very lives to His service, not just some smaller measure. By helping each other realize and remember the extent of those vows, as Paul did with Peter, brethren help each other maintain their focus and intensity on reaching the prize promised to the faithful.
Conversely, judging our brethren with a weight that is too heavy can lead to discouragement and even a falling away from the narrow way of consecrated service. In Matthew 18:5-7, Jesus compares those who seek to follow him, but are developing their faith, to “little children.” Children, by nature, have loving and trusting hearts, and are easily impressionable. A harsh judgement from a parent, teacher, coach or other adult often results in a child believing they are not capable of a given effort. Similarly, a harsh judgment from one’s brother or sister in Christ may have a devastating effect on the spiritual morale of a new or fragile consecrated heart. The concept of judging one’s brother with a “weight too great” is reinforced by Jesus in Matthew 7:3-5, where he teaches the well-known lesson of not judging the mote in a brother’s eye when there is a beam in one’s own eye.
In I Thessalonians 5:11-13, Paul urges the members of the Church to “edify” one another. The word “edify” is Greek word 3618 in Strong’s Concordance, and means to build or embolden. Paul further teaches that brethren should esteem each other very highly, as all are working in service to God and all are working toward a salvation that results in being together with our Lord Jesus, whose sacrifice is at the heart of our salvation. The Church class will be comprised of people from all different manners of time periods, cultures and backgrounds. Judging the efforts and works of one’s brethren, even judging a specific person, against one’s personal preferences or background can be judging one of God’s called ones with “a weight too heavy.” Paul reminds all those seeking to please God that the goal of all brethren should be to love each other and to assist each other in the great work of developing a likeness of Jesus.
Somewhat ironically, since they studied the letter of the Jewish law, the Pharisees of Jesus’ time provide another example of judging another with a “weight too great.” In Matthew 23, Jesus calls his disciples’ attention to the “heavy burdens…too grievous to be borne” that the Pharisees laid upon the people. Through their interpretations of the Jewish law, and through their enforcement of those interpretations, they lost site of the spirit of the Law. They judged the people with a weight too heavy, one that the people could never hope to fully understand, let alone balance. They used the understanding of the Law and their interpretations of it as a means of power and control over the people. Jesus referred to the Pharisees as hypocrites (Matthew 23:13) because their actions and judgements “shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.” Hypocrites are those whose actions are contrary to the words they speak. The Pharisees, who studied and reflected on the scriptures, should have been among those helping the people to develop hearts and minds pleasing to God. Instead, enabled by their own love of personal respect and authority, they used a “weight too great” against the people, enacting so many intricacies to the perceived requirements for satisfying the Jewish law that the average person could not hope to satisfy them.
Lengthening Our Days in the Land God Gives Us
Any type of balance is difficult. Developing a heart and mind that is acceptable to God is the work of a lifetime. Each one is incapable of adequately judging the service or commitment of another, and in some ways, even one’s own level of service. Like the widow’s mite (Mark 12:42-44), what is a small offering for one consecrated heart may be a substantial sacrifice for another. Although each has a responsibility for helping another weigh the balance of their consecrated actions, as Paul did with Peter, each also has the responsibility to examining the weight used during those interactions, so it is as “perfect and just” a weight as possible.
Deuteronomy 25:15 ends with the thought that using a just weight will allow one to “lengthen thy days in the land which the Lord thy God hath given thee.” Every consecrated heart feels the indescribable love of God in their hearts and lives. Every consecrated heart also feels, to their core, the love that caused Jesus, our Master, to lay down his life on our behalf. Without the feeling of that love, consecration would not have been possible. Although there are difficult times in the lives of each of God’s followers, the consecrated life of each one is like a wonderful symbolic land which God has given us to dwell in. In the use of our time, in the interactions with our brethren, and in all things in our lives, using a perfect and just weight for balance, not one great and not one small, will, together with God’s grace and our Master’s advocacy, help us remain in that beautiful “land” that our God has given us.
Ecclesiastes 5:4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
