5 Smooth Stones

Hosea12:7 “A merchant, in whose hands are false balances, He loves

to oppress.”

Hosea12:7 “But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from

dishonest scales—they love to cheat.” (NLT)

When a street vendor sells by volume, he will have a measuring container, the container often measures about 6 inches long and 3 inches wide. When the vendor measures something, they will fi ll the measure, then shake it to make sure it is full. If the vendor chooses, perhaps he likes you, or wants to be especially nice, he will then press it down and even fi ll it until it is running over. When the fi rst measure is in the container the vendor would say, “The blessing of God be with you.” Then the woman who is doing the shopping would open her veil or outer garment, forming it into a pouch in the front to hold the grain and the vendor would pour in the purchased item. We can see this referred to in Ruth chapter 3. Ruth 3:14 “So she lay at his feet until morning, and she arose before one could recognize another. Then he said, "Do not let it be known that the woman came to the threshing fl oor." 15 Also he said, "Bring the shawl that is on you and hold it." And when she held it, he measured six ephahs of barley, and laid it on her. Then she went into the city.” In using this Orientalism, Jesus is pointing out that God’s judgment back to us will be exceptionally abundant, so it is wise to use His righteous judgment in our walk. John 7:24 “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” Paul the apostle spoke of the importance of righteous and wise judgment in the church when he addressed the church in Corinth. They were going to court over certain unresolved issues to ask nonbelievers to use worldly standards to o ff er judgment over these ma tt ers. 1 Corinthians 6:1 “Dare any of you, having a ma tt er against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest ma tt ers? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” It is so interesting that he says the saints will judge angels in the future, so we ought to know how to use proper judgment for just resolution. Yet in the church in Corinth, as well as in many churches today, we are not using proper righteous judgment and our churches, businesses and people are weaker for it.1 Corinthians 11:30 “For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be

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