Fairness and Equality – The Ninth Commandment

Fairness and Equality

The Ninth Commandment

Leviticus 19:35, 36

“You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”

God’s redemption applies equally to all who receive it. So does His truth. He commands His people to apply truth equally to one another and, we can assume, to all others as well. We must not have one standard for this person and one standard for that. We must be truthful and honest in all transactions.

This statute challenges the validity of measures of trade and commerce in a variety of ways. For example, should discounts in purchasing be made available to one group of people, and not to all? Should tariffs by applied selectively? Should protectionism be an instrument of foreign policy rather than fairness? Should taxes be graduated or flat?

All such questions relate to how people deal truthfully and fairly with one another and, thus, should be considered in the light of such statutes as this.

In this series of In the Gates we present a detailed explanation of the Law of God, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and working through the statutes and rules that accompany each commandment. For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the practice of ethics, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.MyParuchia.com and click on our Book Store.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.