Government Money Policy and the Bible on Weights and Measures

Here is an article from a non-Christian economics think tank about the historical impact of profligate government printing of currency. As I write this, an estimated 80% of US dollars in existence have come into existence under the expansions of presidents Trump and Biden, partly, they claim, as economic incentive during the covid pandemic. The most famous example of such an economic program was under the pre-Nazi Weimar Republic of Germany, in which the currency was so debased that the inflation was part of the instability which inspired German voters to turn to the Nazi Party as an alternative. More recently, we have seen the same events in Mugabe's Zimbabwe and Chavez's Venezuela. 

The result of such a policy is that the same currency loses value with the passage of time. The government benefits from this devaluation because it spends the money before it has entered the market, where it will lose its value. The same is true for businesses favored by government with access to the new money, such as Wall Street and the banks. They have access to the money before it has lost its value, giving them a benefit of privilege that unfavored businesses and the general public cannot have. 

In the Bible, God expresses His divine displeasure with such manipulations of money. In Leviticus 19:35-36, He tells Israel, "You shall do not 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." He repeats this command in Deuteronomy 25:13-16: "You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. A full and fair weight you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the Lord your God." The references to "weights" may seem strange to our modern ears, since we think of money not as weight but as slips of paper, or even just as a plastic card. However, in the days of Moses, exchanges occurred through the use of scales, which told the weight in specie for a certain weight of commodity. 

The wisdom literature, too, warns against financial cheating. For example, in Proverbs 20:10, the Holy Spirit tells us, "Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord." He repeats the warning in verse 23: "Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false scales are not good." In both proverbs, cheating through monetary manipulation is named an abomination to the Lord. 

A policy of inflating the currency by government is a policy of theft, which is why it is an abomination to the Lord. it is government which should be the agent of God, not in stealing, but in suppressing theft. Yet our government has a continuing policy of such theft, especially from the poor and elderly. As such, it should be an abomination to every moral person. 

The Fall and the Dominion Covenant

In Luke 17:10, Jesus makes a surprising comment: "So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, [should] say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'" This is the nail in the coffin for any works-righteousness religion. If a man were to perfectly fulfill the law of God, then he has still not earned eternal life, because he has only done what he was supposed to do. It is like the employee who completes his assigned duties. Should his boss, therefore, give him a bonus? No, he has only done what he was required to do, and has contributed no additional value beyond what his wage has already purchased.

Think back to the first days of man. The one recorded restriction given to Adam was not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:17). And the Fall occurred when Adam broke that one restriction (3:6). Adam forsook all of the blessings of Eden by that particular sin. Yet, was he thereby promised eternal life if he refrained from eating that fruit? No, he retained his probationary status as long as he did not eat. But His assignment in Eden was far wider than that. Rather, he was to make it fruitful through the practice of agriculture (2:15), to exercise dominion (1:26) and to have families (1:28). Adam actually had an extensive list of responsibilities. The difference here was that the command not to eat the fruit, even if it had been obeyed, would not have advanced the purposes of God. Jesus, the Second Adam, talked about this, too, in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). The servants who are praised are the ones who took the master's talents, invested them, and returned a profit. The servant who is cursed is the one who returned what he had been given, with no advancement - no loss, but no profit, either.

"It is only to the just that the confirmed state of blessedness, which the Scriptures mean by life, is infallibly promised. Obedience to the law, righteousness, is the indispensable condition of God's everlasting favor. If, therefore, the scheme of redemption had done nothing more than deliver us from the curse of the law, though it would have conferred an incalculable benefit upon us, an unutterably great salvation, it would not have done all, that the necessities of the case required, to secure the perfection and blessedness of our nature" (James Henley Thornwell, "The Necessity and Nature of Christianity," emphasis in the original).

The Futility in Life for the Unbeliever

"Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge,
     and fill his belly with the east wind?
Should he argue in unprofitable talk,
     or in words with which he can do no good?
The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
     through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
     in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
     and he is marked for the sword.
He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
     He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
distress and anguish terrify him;
     they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
Because he has stretched out his hand against God
     and defies the Almighty...
Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, 
     for emptiness will be his payment."
- Job 15:2-3, 20-25, 31

After the fall of Adam, God announced a curse against him: "Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread..." (Genesis 3:17-19). Here the curse is pronounced in a life of toil made difficult and unproductive. The passage above fleshes out that curse. In both, Adam, both for himself and for his posterity, is given a life of futility in place of the blessedness that he knew, and would have continued to know, in the Garden of Eden. 


However, Job adds as element to the curse. 

We know from elsewhere that the regenerate will experience life in a world in which that curse is gradually rolled back. We see this in both agricultural and lifestyle blessings described in various portions of the prophecies of Isaiah. For example, see Isaiah 35:1-2: "The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing."

That isn't what the passage in job describes. Rather,  it is about the continuous, lifelong futility experienced by the unbeliever. Pursuing a life in rebellion against God brings against the unbeliever the opposition of the world created by that God. Even the dirt beneath his feet conspires against him. 

Does this mean that every unbeliever suffers through life or that every believer prospers? No, it doesn't. It's a generalization. But not by much. 

The Prosperity Gospel: A Baptized Get-Rich-Quick Scheme

The Proverbs say a lot about how a man is to support himself and his family and advance in the material aspects of his life. However, I am often left wondering if Christians have read that book. Maybe it has languished as part of the dispensationalist dismissal of the Old Testament (except the portions that they can use for their wild-eyed eschatological theories).

I am especially troubled by the Prosperity Gospel movement, not just here in America, but, increasingly, spreading in the mission field, especially Nigeria and the Philippines. These ministers, mostly of a Pentecostal origin, who claim that the Christian life consists in the accumulation of shiny objects, such as fancy cars, big houses, expensive suits, or big hairdos. The favor of God, they claim, is evidenced by flashy stuff, especially for their ministers, such as Creflo Dollar's private jet.

This is not God's way. While He calls Himself the one who teaches us to acquire wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18), He also says, "Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist" (Proverbs 23:4).

Where is the balance here? Wealth is clearly not sinful, since He promotes it. However, in the getting of wealth, there is much more that He has to say.

Proverbs 28:6: "Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity, than a rich man who is crooked in his ways." Let's start with priorities. Wealth is not worth the selling of our souls, as Dollar has. If faced with the choice, then the man of God sticks to his integrity. It cannot be for sale.

Proverbs 28:19: "Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty."  Godly wealth comes from legitimate, honest work. The example here is agriculture. This isn't a way to get rich quick. Rather, it is the day-in, day-out work of honest labor. Dishonest, instant gains will just as instantly disappear, leaving a man with "plenty of poverty." 

The next verse, Proverbs 28:20, is even stronger: "A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished." The drive to get rich quick will have the opposite effect, as God will give that man the consequence of poverty. Notice the contrast between faithfulness and the drive for easy wealth. They cannot coexist (Matthew 6:24). 

And lastly, Proverbs 28:22: "A stingy man hastens after wealth, and does not know that poverty will come upon him." This verse addresses the opposite extreme, the stingy or miserly man. This is not about thrift, something which is otherwise commended in Scripture. Rather, this is about the man who turns a blind eye to the needs of his neighbor, though he has the means to help him (Proverbs 14:21, 21:10).

I keep thinking of these principles, as I watch people shelling out money for lottery tickets. Where does that money come from? We know that poor people are more likely to buy lottery tickets. They are spending their mortgages, or their kids' college funds, or even money that would have gone to putting food on their tables. God will not honor such foolishness.

The Bible and Confiscatory Government

Every Christian is familiar with these words of Jesus (Matthew 22:21): "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." His words, of course, are true. I cannot say the same of how people use them. These words are often quoted to justify the taking by government of whatever taxes or property it sees fit. And I am sad to say that no one challenges that interpretation, because few people know their Bibles, beyond a few popular catchphrases.

Consider these words of warning from the Prophet Samuel (I Sam 8:14-15): "[The ruler] will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants." The context is the transition from the theocratic judgeships to the monarchy. Samuel was the last judge, and he was responding to the demands of the people of Israel for a king, "that we also may be like all the nations" (verse 20).

I suspect that most of us reading this are thinking something along the lines of, "I would kill for the privilege of paying only ten percent in taxes." And that is, indeed, one of the things we should see here. But notice also that it is Samuel's warning that the king would tax them ten percent. What does it say about us that we tolerate a government that taxes - income, sales, excise, tariffs - half of our income?

What is wrong with that? Again, we forget our Bibles. Do you recall the XIIIth Commandment (Exodus 20:15)? God says, "You shall not steal." Notice that he doesn't make exceptions for government. It doesn't exclude presidents, congressmen, governors, legislators, mayors, or city councilmen, much less the hordes of unelected bureaucrats with which are burdened. And that is exactly Samuel's warning: If you want a ruler who takes care of you, then you can expect that he will consume your livelihood.

Another prophet, Ezekiel, expresses the commandment explicitly to rulers (Ez. 46:18): "The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, thrusting them out of their property." Wow! Imagine the society we would have if our government submitted to that command. Imagine the liberty and prosperity we would experience, if it became shameful for government to take even just ten percent of our income, and were forbidden to take our physical property. There is no "eminent domain" here! And there is no room for "Moral Monday" protesters to be claiming that government should confiscate and redistribute more of our property. And there is no exemption for tyranny by 50% plus one!

Leviticus 19:35-36a, How the Government Pillages the Poor

"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."

In giving His law to Israel, Jehovah showed great concern that no one would rob his neighbor through the manipulation of weights and measures. That same standard is repeated in several places in Proverbs, such as Prov. 11:1, "A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight."

While the emphasis of these verses is justice, they have a profound impact on economics. By increasing the expenses of the producer and decreasing the expenses of the consumer of a commodity vis-a-vis the true market, the producer is impoverished and his commodity disappears from the market. "Hurray!" some would say, "Death to the profit-making businessman!" But that is a statement of economic ignorance. Afterall, labor is a commodity, meaning that the worker is himself a producer.

In our country, the dollar was pegged at twenty to the ounce of gold, up to the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. That means that a dollar in 1840 had the same value as a dollar in 1910. Then Roosevelt lowered that value to 35 dollars to the ounce of gold. Then the peg to gold was permanently eliminated completely by Richard Nixon. Now, the value of the dollar hovers around one thousand to the ounce of gold. In other words, the government has inflated the money supply to such an extent that the dollar has lost ninety-eight percent of its pre-Roosevelt value. Now that dollar from 1840 or 1910 is fifty times as valuable as the dollar in 2010! The government has manipulated that standard to its own advantage. How so? The government is never a producer, whether of goods or labor. It is only a consumer, and is thus on the profit-making end of that manipulation.

How does this pillage the poor? Wages are generally inflated along with prices. However, savings, having been accumulated at the old value but spent at the new, shrivel under inflation. Has the family been setting aside a portion of its income toward the purchase of a home? Those savings shrink with each passing day. Saving money for the education of the next generation? Again, runs away like water. Set aside a portion for one's old age? Dust in the wind.

Even as politicians profess their safeguarding of the poor, they have violated the laws and principles of the justice of God. In obedience to God's Word, we must demand that government restore just weights. We must demand that government cease the pillaging of the poor for the profit of the government treasury. That can only happen with the re-establishing of the gold standard for the dollar.

Proverbs 1:18-19, Wisdom versus American Domestic Policy

"[T]hese men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors."

On the face of it, these verses refer to robbers, that is, those who take the property of others by force. But what if you consider government redistribution of wealth as legalized theft? This verse then puts so many of our social ills together in a way too many have refused to acknowledge.

There are legitimate means of gaining the property of another person, of course: purchase, gift, inheritance, in

exchange for labor, or through due process of law in a lawsuit. Anything else constitutes force or fraud. Force through an intermediary, even government, is still force. And it carries the same spiritual consequences warned of in this Proverb.

Consider what has become of the American family, especially the minority family. Illegitimacy, welfare dependency, and fatherless homes. The list is well-known. And easily predictable. We have become a society of entitlement, expecting the government to confiscate the property of others, in order to redistribute to those who haven't produced it. We might call it "welfare," but whitewashing can't cover up theft; it merely excuses it.

The Apostle Paul also gives the same instruction. Ephesians 4:28 is explicit: "Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need." And to the Thessalonians (II Th. 3:10-11) he was even more blunt: "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies." Honest labor builds up; illegitimate wealth destroys.

King Solomon Explains the Failure of the Pleasure Principle

"There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from Him, who can eat or who can have enjoyment?"
- Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

And again in 3:12-13, "I perceived that there is nothing better for them [i.e., the children of man] than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil - this is God's gift to man."

And once more in 3:22, "So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?"

And again in 5:18-20, "Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil - this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart."

We see Solomon here looking back on his own life. He has pursued wisdom (1:13), self-indulgence (2:1), wealth (2:8), women (2:8b), and even workaholism (2:18-23). After exhausting these attempts at self-fulfillment, he concludes that it is labor in its proper sphere - to produce an enjoyable livelihood, neither as drudgery or as a source of personal significance, and then the enjoyment of the fruits of that labor - that produce a satisfying life. In other words, the greatest king in Scripture, who had every luxury known to man at his command, concluded that it was all vanity; but the labor of the common man, who then spent the fruits of that labor on enjoying life, was where true material happiness was to be found.

Even though Solomon's discovery has been available to men for about three thousand years, it is a lesson that seems to elude too many people. Our own society seems to experience only the two extremes: everyone seems devoted to dissipation, on one hand, or is an obsessive workaholic, on the other, or even both. Solomon experienced both, and concluded that there is no real fulfillment in either. Rather, fulfillment is found in meaningful labor in its sphere, and the use of the fruits to enjoy the rest of one's life.

What would our society look like if we followed Solomon's prescription? I suspect that stress-related illnesses would decrease, addiction to vices would fade, wantonness in children would be a surprise rather than expected, divorce would become the exception rather than the rule. One could imagine a host of unforced reforms that might resonate across society.

Biblical Principles of Godly Wealth vs Worldly Wealth

"Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense."
- Proverbs 12:11

"Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it."
- Proverbs 13:11

One of the things I love about Proverbs is the way God exposes an entire wrong attitude in just a few words. Here, He contrasts, in the way of Hebrew poetry, honest day-by-day labor with get-rich-quick schemes. Isn't this such a major aspect of today's economic crisis? Those who would use the stock market or home loans for a quick buck? Even though agriculture is the example used in this text, I don't think it's a matter of setting up some agrarian ideal. That was merely the best visual aid in the society of the time.

This proverb is a rephrasing of the dominion, or cultural, mandate given in Genesis 1:28, "And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion..." It is repeated in Psalm 8:6, "You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet."

Where I work, I deal with a lot of people who play the state lottery. They lay down their money every week, out of the delusion that their dollar ticket is going to win them gazillions of dollars without any additional effort on their parts. However, statistically speaking, if they simply took that same money and put it in a savings account, they would generate more wealth than they can expect to gain from the lottery. But the gleam of quick wealth blinds them to the dullness of actually saving money. Isn't the hare always more glorious than the tortoise? But which one won the race, hmmm? Even the pagan Aesop understood the principle of this Proverb better than do most modern Christians.