Proverbs 11:1 - Exposition

A false balance; literally, balances of deceit ( Proverbs 20:23 ). The repetition of the injunctions of Deuteronomy 25:13 , Deuteronomy 25:14 and Le 19:35, 36 points to fraud consequent on increased commercial dealings, and the necessity of moral and religious considerations to control practices which the civil authority could not adequately supervise. The standard weights and measures were deposited in the sanctuary ( Exodus 30:13 ; Le 27:25; 1 Chronicles 23:29 ), but cupidity was not to be restrained by law, and the prophets had continually to inveigh against this besetting sin (see Ezekiel 45:10 ; Amos 8:5 ; Micah 6:11 ). Honesty and integrity are at the foundation of social duties, which the author is now teaching. Hence comes the reiteration of these warnings ( Proverbs 16:11 ; Proverbs 20:10 ). A just weight; literally, a perfect stone, stones having been used as weights from early times. So we read ( 2 Samuel 14:26 ) that Absalom weighed his hair "by the king's stone" ( eben ).