XI.
(1) A false balance is abomination to the Lord. — A similar proverb is found in Proverbs 20:23, and praise of just weights, Proverbs 16:11; Proverbs 20:10. The repetition suggests that this form of cheating had become common in the time of Solomon, when the commerce of Israel began to develop. If so, there would be good reason for these frequent warnings, for it would have been useless to raise the superstructure of a religious life, as is the intention of this book, without first laying the foundation of common honesty between man and man.
A just weight. — Literally, stone, stones having been used for weights from early times. (Comp. Leviticus 19:36.) A standard weight, “the king’s stone,” seems to have been kept by David (2 Samuel 14:26).