Leviticus 19:35

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment,.... This is repeated from Leviticus 19:15; and in order to lead on to some other laws and instructions; though Aben Ezra thinks this is said in connection

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. No JFB commentary on these verses.

In meteyard; in the measuring of lands, or any dry and continued things, as cloth, ribband, &c. In measure; in the measuring of liquid or such dry things as are not continued, only contiguous, as of corn or wine, &c. Or, the former may note greater, the latter, less measures.

Leviticus 19:35 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.Ver. 35. Mete yard.] Or line, for measuring of ground.

(35) Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment.—It will be seen that the Lawgiver uses here exactly the same phrase with regard to meting out right measure which he used in connection with the administration of justice in Leviticus 19:15. He, therefore, who declares that a false measure is a legal measure is, according to this law, as much a corrupt judge, and defrauds the people by false judgment, as he who in the court of justice wilfully passes a wrong sentence. Owing to the fact that men who would otherwise disdain the idea of imposition often discard their scruples in the matter of weights and measures, the Bible frequently brands these dealings as wicked, and an abomination to the Lord, whilst it designates the right measure as coming from God himself (Deuteronomy 25:13; Deuteronomy 25:15; Ezekiel 45:10; Ezekiel 45:12; Hosea 12:8; Amos 8:5; Micah 6:10-11; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 16:11; Proverbs 20:10; Proverbs 20:23). According to the authorities during the second Temple, he who gives false weight or measure, like the corrupt judge, is guilty of the following five things. He (1) defiles the land; (2) profanes the name of God; (3) causes the Shechinah to depart; (4) makes Israel perish by the sword, and (5) to go into captivity. Hence they declared that “the sin of illegal weights and measures is greater than that of incest, and is equivalent to the sin of denying that God redeemed Israel out of Egypt.” They appointed public overseers to inspect the weights and measures all over the country; they prohibited weights to be made of iron, lead, or other metal liable to become lighter by wear or rust, and ordered them to be made of polished rock, of glass, &c, and enacted the severest punishment for fraud.

Verse 35. Ye shall do no unrighteousness] Ye shall not act contrary to the strictest justice in any case, and especially in the four following, which properly understood, comprise all that can occur between a man and his fellow. 1. JUDGMENT in all cases that come before the civil magistrate; he is to judge and decide according to the law. 2. METE-YARD, במדה bammiddah, in measures of length and surface, such as the reed, cubit, foot, span, hand's breadth, among the Jews; or ell, yard, foot, and inch, among us. 3. WEIGHT, במשכל bammishkal, in any thing that is weighed, the weights being all according to the standards kept for the purpose of trying the rest in the sanctuary, as appears from Exodus 30:13; 1 Chronicles 23:29; these weights were the talent, shekel, barleycorn, &c. 4. MEASURE, במשורה bammesurah, from which we derive our term. This refers to all measures of capacity, such as the homer, ephah, seah, hin, omer, kab, and log. See all these explained, Clarke "Exodus 16:16".

35, 36. Uprightness enjoined in judgement and in commercial dealings. Cp. Deuteronomy 25:13-16; Ezekiel 45:9 ff. meteyard] lit. (Anglo-Saxon met-geard) a measuring rod. For the word see Taming of the Shrew, iv. 3. 153. ephah … hin] The former was about a bushel, the latter about 1 1/2 gallons of our measure.

The ephah is here taken as the standard of dry measure, and the bin (see Exodus 29:40 note) as the standard of liquid measure.

35. Meteyard — Measuring line or rod.