Proverbs 16:11 Commentary and Bible Study

The inclusion of this proverb, which is about the justice of the Lord, shows that it is right to see in the surrounding proverbs, which also speak of the ways of kings, a reference to the Lord as King of kings.A trader used to carry around with him in his bag a set of stones which were used as weights in measuring out what he bought and sold. The weights would be put on one side of the balance and the goods on the other. The dishonest trader used a lighter weight when he wanted to sell so he parted with less goods, and a heavier weight when he wanted to buy so that he got more for his money. He was said to have unjust weights. He made sure that this was not detected by only allowing a small inaccuracy, but as long as he used the same altered weight for each operation he would over time make his unfair profit. This is a picture of a man’s integrity and of the honesty with which he deals with the hidden issues of life. The king uses just weights in the administration of justice. He does not hand out two different punishments to two people who have committed the same crime just because he favours one and dislikes the other. Nor does he allow himself to do what he passes sentence on others for doing.The proverb can be applied to many different areas of life, but here the subject is the guidance of the Lord. When dealing with God, we are dealing with one who has perfect integrity and who cannot be corrupted. He always uses a just weight when he evaluates the spirits of men and women. All the interactions of life really are interactions with the Lord for he sees what we do in the minutest detail. Because we know that he reads our hearts, then any attempt to deceive our fellow man is really an attempt to deceive the Lord, for in all our conduct we are answerable to God since his laws govern our dealings with our fellow man as well as with the Lord.Man does not have to learn justice from scratch but is provided with a bag full of just weights by God. Whether we are thinking of man himself who was created upright and with understanding of right and wrong, or whether we are thinking of the law that was given to Israel (Leviticus 19:36; Deuteronomy 25:13-16) by which she was furnished with right standards, justice is something we receive. Our task is to allow it to rule over us in all we do.