Monday, 11th October 2010, 20:55 hrs
For a period of time between 16th October 1979 and 15th October 1986, when I was enlisted in the Armed Forces of Singapore and later the Republic of Singapore Air Force, the book of Proverbs was my daily reading. In the forces, one oftentimes has to be careful with what one says, does, and ensure that he or she is in keeping with the rules and orders laid down by the defence ministry. It was during this time of the daily reading of the proverbs that I discovered the wisdom of wisdom. Today, I decided to look at Prov. 11.1-3, and once again realise the theme of these verses to so strikingly wise.
Proverbs 11.1 speaks about two basic things in the social life of Solomon's time, when he was king of Israel. People were perhaps cheating each other, particularly in the markets, grocer shops, the butchers, and the like. And during those comparatively primitive times, the one equipment was the scale. The grocer shop owner would put a particular weight on one side of the scale, while the other side would be placed the amount of goods the buyer purchases. However, it was often a practice among the unscrupulous businessmen to place an incorrect weight on one side, often far lighter but which bore a far heavier written weight. This is called 'a false balance'. The writer of this proverb says that while nobody knows about this matter (i.e. when it's happening, though nearly every poor citizen knew about it!), 'a false balance' is a 'false balance'. Even though no one saw it, God did. Thus the writer says 'a false balance is an abomination to the Lord'.
An abomination is something not only bad, but wrong and therefore prohibited. It carries with it the consequence of being hated by God. For it is a prevalent form of social injustice, oppression, and bully. But the writer further tells us that 'a correct weight' is God's delight. In fact, a 'false balance' is a subtle form of disobedience to the commands of God; it is a form of dishonesty.
Today, such a 'false balance' seems remote in our modern society. However, its presence remains. Like the ancient days, when 'a false balance' simply meant giving someone (i.e. the buyer) less than what he/she purchased, our modern times are filled with such 'false balances'. In the supermarkets, we do witness marked up prices of groceries and various stuff. Many incorrigible business-people are profiteering at the expense of the poor.
But we need to ask ourselves, particularly within the Christian church, whether we too practise such 'false balances'. For example, a church in my country of origin once told the church members that it (the church) needed several million dollars for the new building, when in fact the savings from the church funds had already more than covered the cost. This becomes a form of dishonesty. Of course, a certain Christian organisation claims it is delivering some special educational services to people who are interested, but only to be short-changing these believers who come forward to pay for the services. Closer to home, when a preacher says he is preaching the Word of God, proclaiming the message of God, when he or she in fact never prepares the sermon and wanders everywhere in his or her sermonising, he or she is being dishonest and offering a 'false balance' to the worshippers who have come to receive spiritual nourishment. This of course can equally apply to more Christian organisations that offer services of various kinds!
Let us move on to the next verse, which says 'when pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble'. Interestingly, most commentators and scholars do not observe any link between this verse and the previous one. They opine that the previous verse seems to revolve around the question of social justice, while the second verse concerns a person's psychological self-regard. But if we observe closely, the writer might well be offering us a certain definition of 'pride'. Perhaps, we can imagine a grocer shop owner who uses an incorrect weight to create a false balance and so cheats his customer. He does not humble himself before God but thinks he can do something 'clandestinely', without anyone knowing. But God sees from above and examines the heart of every human. Thus, he will one day be exposed. When that time comes, 'then comes disgrace'. This is precisely what the verse is saying. Those business-people who refuse to humble themselves, but think they're smart to get away with their false balances will face disgrace when people gather together and expose their misdeeds.
The above comment reminds us who serve within Christian organisations, that when we claim we offer good, high standard services to believers when in fact we are not, we are in fact being 'proud'. And in case we are mistaken, the verse here does not refer to those who try to correct such false balances by speaking up as 'proud'. Indeed, in every Christian organisation, there will be the just, the righteous, the truly humble who would speak up for the oppressed, the bullied, the poor. And these are oftentimes a challenge to the 'powers that be' and the 'establishment'. But let us be sure about this: they are not proud people. The truly arrogant ones are those who persist in their false balances. However, there will be a day when the Lord will gather together all the oppressed people, the poor, the marginalised and expose the 'false balances' of these organisations and those members within who perpetuate such evils. When that time comes, it will indeed be their 'pride that precedes their disgrace'. However, the writer points out, by way of contrast, that wisdom is with the humble. And the humble here are a reference to those who know there is a true God who is watching, and he abhors the practice of false balances.
The third verse is a further extension of the second, which speaks of the integrity of the upright. Who are the upright? Within the context of the three verses, the 'upright' must refer to the 'humble' of verse two. They are conscious of the knowledge and justice of God; their integrity therefore becomes their guide, so that they avoid being dragged into the wiles of the 'proud'. What is this 'integrity'? Well, simply put, it is, within the above context, 'honesty'. The 'upright', as the term suggests, are able to stand straight and tall, without having to bend to avoid being detected. They observe and practise certain principles that are in keeping with 'correct weights', and are consistently faithful to their beliefs in God. Thus, naturally their 'integrity' or their 'honesty' guides them.
Whereas people in general look for ways to succeed in this world, the 'upright' allows their 'integrity' to guide them in the path of their maker. This means when something is wrong in that a principle is contradicted, they would ensure that it is put right as soon as possible, without dilly-dallying, or connive at the wrongs out of 'face-saving' reasons, such as 'wanting to please the wrong-doer', etc. In fact, to the world, those who avoid pointing out the wrongs committed, and pretend to be gracious and nice when basic principles of decency have been compromised are truly nice, pleasant and humble people. But according to the second half of verse three, there is nothing humble about such people, nor are they nice and pleasant. The verse describes them as 'treacherous', and predicts that such people will be destroyed by their own quality, which is 'crookedness'.
What the penultimate paragraph says is that those who refuse to point out the false balances, speak up against them, put a stop to them, correct and rectify them, are in fact an abomination to the Lord, for they are proud, treacherous and crooked.
Do we have such people within the Christian churches? Are there Christian organisations where 'false balances' have been practised, where those who are absolutely aware of their existence refuse to correct the situation? I'm sure we all know the answer. Perhaps, we may be even experiencing it, or worse still, we might even be the culprits ourselves!
The answer to the above lies in the key of knowing the Lord, which, interestingly, is what verse one is hinting at: if a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, how then can one avoid the abhorrence of God? It is by exercising correct weights. But why should one do so, unless one knows the Lord and seeks after his delight! Thus, verse one says, '...but an accurate weight is his delight'.
'Our father in heaven, grant that we may never practise false balances, but help us exercise correct weights, wherever we are, whatever we are, and whatever we do. Amen.'
