Ezekiel 45:10

Eze 45:10 Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.

Ver. 10. Ye shall have just balances.] Lev 19:35-36 Pro 11:1; Pro 16:11; Pro 20:10; Pro 20:23 Mic 6:10-11; {See Trapp on "Lev 19:35"} {See Trapp on "Lev 19:36"} {See Trapp on "Pro 11:1"} {See Trapp on "Pro 16:11"} {See Trapp on "Pro 20:10"} {See Trapp on "Pro 20:23"} {See Trapp on "Mic 6:10"} {See Trapp on "Mic 6:11"} The gospel rule is, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." {Mat 7:12} And, "Let no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter; because that the Lord is the avenger of all such"; and the civil magistrate is his minister, "a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil" either by force or fraud. {Rom 13:4}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze_45:10

Ye shall have Just balances.

God requires just dealings

That our consciences may be enlightened and set right, we want a standard, like the standard weights and measures that are kept in the Tower of London, to which all the people in the little country villages may send up their yard measures, and their pint pots, and their pound weights, and find out if they are just and true. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

45:10-12 When the prince gathered the offerings of the people for the Temple (see 45:13-17), he was not to adjust the scales so that he profited from the difference between what he took in from the people and what he gave out for the ministry of the Temple.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ephah and Bath were both of one quantity, save that Ephah contained in dry things that which Bath did in liquor, Lev. 5:11; 1 Kings 5:11.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 10. Ye shall have just balances] This appreciation of weights, measures, and money was intended to show them that they must not introduce those to which they had been accustomed in the captivity, but those which God had prescribed to their forefathers. See the notes on the parallel places.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Cf. Lev_19:35-36; Deu_25:13-15; Mic_6:10-11 (the accursed scanty ephah); Pro_11:1; Pro_16:11; Pro_20:10. From this it appears that the words of Amo_8:5 “making the ephah small and the shekel large” are more than a figure.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye shall have just balances,.... That is, take care that true weights and just measures be used in trade and commerce, that so one man may not impose upon and cheat another; which is the business of the civil magistrate to look after:

and a just ephah, and a just bath; and not make the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit, as some did, Amo 8:5 the "ephah" was a measure for dry things, as wheat, barley, &c. and the "bath" for liquid things, as wine oil, &c. as Jarchi and Kimchi observe; see Lev 19:35.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

A general exhortation to honesty, expressed by true weights and measures (marginal references). This fitly introduces the strict regulation of quantities in the prescribed offerings.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ye; princes of Israel.

Shall have: though they were not traders to use, yet they must have, i.e. appoint, for to them as a privilege it appertains to appoint standards for measure among their subjects. Just balances, or weights and scales, by which to measure what is to he sold by weight, one and the same to all, that none buy by a greater and sell by a lesser. So Lev 19:35,36; Pr 11:1; 16:11; Mic 6:10,11. So must the prince remove oppressive cheating by divers weights.

Ephah, to measure dry things, as corn, olives, dates, &c.

Bath: this was a measure of liquid things, as oil, wine, or water, and what each contained the next verse will acquaint us. s.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10-11. The Israelitish merchants needed these injunctions. (Compare Lev_19:35-36; Deu_25:13-15; Mic_6:10-11; Amo_8:5.) The Hebrews had been in constant relation with the Babylonians from the earliest times, and had adopted their sexagesimal system. The ephah and the bath were equal in contents (according to Haupt, measuring between nine and ten gallons), but the former is only mentioned as a dry, and the latter as a liquid measure. Ezekiel’s horror of commercial dishonesty may be compared with the Egyptian confession: —

I am not a falsifier of measures in the temple.

I do not add to the weight of the scale.

I do not falsify the indicator of the balance.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The exhortation addressed to the princes to practice justice and judgment now extends itself so as to include their subjects, who are required, in all their commercial dealings, to have just balances and just measuresa just ephah for dry goods, and a just bath for liquids. (compare the prescriptions in Lev_19:35, 36 and Deu_25:13-15, and contrast the practices in Hos_12:7; Amo_8:5; Mic_6:10, Mic_6:11; see also Pro_16:11)

Just balances.

The princes of Israel are exhorted to govern justly and to be fair in their exaction of taxes. The older prophets often had occasion to denounce the oppression and robbery of the people by the princes. After the chastisement of the Captivity, the restored people should be well treated by a better order of princes. But when the rulers set an example of using just balances, the people may he required to follow.

I COMMERCIAL HONESTY IS A PRIMARY CHRISTIAN DUTY. It is possible to represent the spirituality of religion as so extremely ethereal that it has no contact with the commonplace facts of daily life. There is a subtle temptation to antinomianism in the highest pretensions of holiness. But the scriptural view of religion keeps it in close relations with plain every-day morality. The saintliness that is too refined to condescend to questions of truth and honesty is pure hypocrisy. The Christian should be first just and true; let him then add whatever other graces he may attain to. But to neglect these duties is to leave the most fundamental parts of morality unestablished. The airy pinnacles of rapturous devotion that shoot up so high in the heavens rest on an insecure foundation when these essential duties are neglected.

II THIS DUTY IS SHAMEFULLY NEGLECTED BY PROFESSEDLY CHRISTIAN PEOPLE. In some quarters there seems to be a tacit understanding that it is impossible to be quite true and straightforward. A certain amount of laxity is said to be permitted by "the custom of the trade." This evil is glaringly apparent in regard to those goods that are exported to foreign nations. The worthless shoddy and the sized calico that wealthy English firms send abroad advertise to the world the hypocrisy of English Christianity. It is hard for the missionary to urge the heathen to embrace the gospel when the merchant offers to them these things as specimens of its products. It is vain to urge that competition is so fierce as to make an honest course ruinous to these who would pursue it. It is better to be a bankrupt than to be a thief. But experience shows that dishonest trading does not pay in the long run. Its character is certain to be discovered, and then confidence is destroyed and the trade checked. On the other hand, there are well-known houses that have grown rich and prosperous on their ascertained fairness in supplying good wares by honest measures.

III DISHONESTY MINGLED WITH FALSEHOOD IS DOUBLY WICKED. This is the case where incorrect measures are used. The measures are intended to represent a certain standard, of which they come short. There is the pretence of giving good measure. This is worse than the offering of a short quantity without the show of testing it. The highwayman who meets a man openly and demands his purse is no hypocrite. But the business man who uses false measures is passing himself off as honest while he is acting as a thief. The shame of lying is added to the crime of stealing. There is an abuse of confidence, for the well-known measure is supposed to represent a certain quantity. The deceitfulness of this conduct utterly degrades the miserable man who fattens for a while on its ill-gotten gains, only to reap in the end certain ruin in the next world, if not in this.

Piety and equity.

shall have just balances." Devotion, when divorced from morality, is worth nothing in the sight of God. Men have thought and taught that the one thing that God (or the gods) required was to be reverently approached by his adherents, and to receive their numerous offerings. (see Mic_6:6, Mic_6:7) But his disciples did not so learn Moses, and we have not so learned Christ. Under him we have come to understand that every good tree must bring forth good fruit, and that it is he who doeth righteousness that is righteous. In this great matter of equity between man and man it is difficult to over-estimate its religious importance. By error and failure therein we separate ourselves from God; by rectitude and fidelity therein we commend ourselves to his loving favor. We take the injunction as covering more ground than the words themselves express; and we look, therefore, at

I THE RANGE OF ITS APPLICATION. "Ye shall have just balances" means, of course, more especially Be fair in your dealings when you trade one with another; but it also means Do what is just and upright in all your relations; do sound and thorough work at the carpenter"s bench, and at the fore, when you build the house or dig the garden or plant the field; be true and faithful to your scholars, to your people, to your clients, to your constituents, in the schoolroom, or the pulpit, or the court, or the House of Commons. Do what you undertake to do; be what you profess to be; be honest, sincere, faithful in every sphere in which you move.

II THE DIVINE REGARD. "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good;" but if they could overlook anything they would not fail to observe whether men did or did not do justice to their fellows. If we suppose that there are some things respecting which God is indifferent, among these, assuredly, is not the question whether we do or leave undone what we have promised to do. From the formal compact, carefully drawn and solemnly ratified between the sovereign and the nation, down to the word of promise made by the tradesman or the seamstress, all our human dealings and undertakings are the object of the Divine regard. "I have seen" is a sentence we should do well to hear at all times and in every place when we covenant with men.

III THE DIVINE RECOMPENSE.

1. Approval or displeasure. We may make quite sure that, when we are acting unfairly or unfaithfully in any relationship whatever, however we may be gathering money or reaping honor, we are laying up a large measure of Divine disapproval; the "anger of the Lord is kindled against us." But when we are acting conscientiously and equitably: however we may be disregarded and passed by on the part of our fellows, we are enjoying the favor of our Lord.

2. Reward or penalty. Faithfulness will bring

1. our own self-respect;

2. the esteem of those whom we serve;

3. the consolidation of our Christian character;

4 commendation and promotion in the day of Divine recompense. (Luk_19:17)

Unfaithfulness will have to bear a penalty corresponding to this the loss of self-respect, public reprobation, degradation of character, Divine condemnation in the future. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ephah of the dry measure.

bath of the liquid measure.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.