The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 319

Ver. 11 (and see eh. xi. 1; x.x. 10, 23).-Honesty in business. The repetition of this maxim (see above) is an indication of the importance that should be attached to the subject. It is one that affects a very large proportion of mankind, and that affects men nee.rly every day of their life. The text reminds us- I. THAT BUSINESS IS WITHIN THE PROVINCE OF RELIGION. The man who says, "Business is business, and religion is religion," is a man whose moral and spiritual perceptions are sadly confused. "God's commandment is exceeding broad," and its breadth is such as will cover all the transactions of the market. ··commerce and trade, as much as agriculture, are "the Lord's;" it is an order of human activity which is in full accord with his design concerning us; and it is a sphere into which he expects us to introduce our highest principles and convictions, in which we may be always serving him. II. THAT DISHONESTY IS OFFENSIVE IN ms SIGHT, "A false b'alance is his abomina- tion" (eh. xi. 1; XL 10). Dishonesty is evil in his eight, inasmuch as: 1. It is a flagrant violation of one of his chief commandments. The second of all the command- ments is this, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (see Matt. xxii. 29). But to cheat our neighbour in the market is to do to him what we should strenuously pro- test against his doing to us. 2. It is a distinct breach of what is due to our brother. It is a most unbrotberly action; it is an act <lone in conscious disregard of all the claims our fellow-men have on our consideration. Moreover, it is an injury to the society of which we are members; for it is one of those wrongs which are crimes a:s well as sins • it is an act which strikes at the root of all fellowship, all commerce between man a~d man. 3. It is an injury done by a man to himself. No man can rob his brother without wronging bis own soul. He is something the worse for every act of dishonesty he perpetrates. And he who is syRtematically defrauding his neighbours is daily cutting into his own character, is continually staining his own 11pirit, is destroying himself. III. THAT HONESTY IS ACCEPTABLE To Goo. "A just weight is his delight." Not that all honest dealing is equally acceptable to him. Much hero, as everywhere, depends upon the motive. A man may be honest only because it is the best policy, because he fears the exposure and penalty of fraud: there is small virtue in that, On the other hand, he may be strictly fair and just in all his dealings, whether his work be known or unknown, because he has a conviction of what is due to his ncil,;hbour, or because be has an abiding sense of what God would have him be and do. In this case CH. XVI. 1-33.] THE PROVERBS. 327