The Forgotten Memorial
*This stone and that stone; *this measure and that measure; *though two of them *be stacked against each other, *it is an abomination of Yahweh. (MAST)
Proverbs 20:10 (NKJV)
10 Diverse weights and diverse measures, They are both alike, an abomination to the Lord.
*[This stone and that stone] literally, stone for stone. While I am not an expert in Hebrew or Aramaic to know how each marking differentiates letters, words, or phrases in the original language, I have faithful dictionaries to help guide my word studies. The Hebrew noun, here, has a repetition: stone and stone. But while the dictionaries make no distinction between the subtle markings that separate the words, looking closely, you can see a distinction between them. Therefore, this may be why the traditional translators have chosen to combine the nouns as one phrase: unequal weights, as they also did with the following phrase: unequal measures (ESV). I am ignorant as to the science behind their decisions, and so I am not making it my aim to discredit the traditional translators, but I do want to stay strictly to the word for word progression of Solomon’s thought. It’s literally single stone by singular stone, while the phrase, unequal weights, in the plural, assumes the context of a balancing scale, which is to standardize weights and measures of precious metals. But I’m not confident we can be dogmatic about that due to the given context. Solomon gives us no direct context as to how he is using this phrase because it’s proverbial. So we have to see how it’s used elsewhere in Scripture.
Looking at Deut. 25:11-16, we have a replica of these two phrases in a direct context. Moses is legislating the punishment, after the fact, should a quarrel break out between neighbors, as it had been revealed that the wife of one fighter interrupted the fairness of the process by intervening against the other, and so exposed her own guilt, being commanded to remain silent by her substitute in the court of law, lest her words should be used against her. Therefore the spiritual purpose of the punishment is given with the explanation of this legislation. The spiritual husband and wife are to have one purse, with equal authority over it, so that it prevents disorder in the judicial courts, and preserves the holiness of the house meditated by the lamb's blood. Now, therefore, this was given in the context of Israel’s holiness in the LORD, so it is not said, directly, for our edification what caused the dispute, but underneath lies the heart of it.
The husband may have been challenged to defend his wife's honor to a merchant or some debt collector that required payment for the use of a particular item, given “the answer of the context” of equal authority over the purse. Thus the holy commandment to cherish the faith and promise of what is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine (So.2:16; 6:3). So it appears she may have been borrowing behind her husband's back like the use of a modern-day credit card. And so the husband stands in place of his wife, as he should in true righteousness, to question the accusations before a judge, but in this context, it led to an old fashioned scuffle in the dirt. So the judge is ordered by the holy commandment to cut off “her hand” in the dispute to exercise justice before the creditor, and to protect the honor of the husband left as dust in the wake of his wife.
And so the phrase follows that man and wife are to share equal responsibility for the weight of their sin. And he was spiritually speaking, in the holiness of their own house, as they offer it to the LORD with lamb’s blood on the frame of its door, to share the workload of their private business in an equal delegation to prevent early justice from the mouth of the LORD. And so the application of the legislation closes on the centrality and responsibility of the home to uphold this command, as Christ did when he reiterates it upon the headship of the body of the family (Matt.18:8), and upon the judicial system should the husband forsake it (Matt.5:25-30). But this still doesn’t answer how Solomon is using it for the context of His civil court. The less significant details are missing as he loves to cover them under pithy proverbs to guard the trust of the children of Israel.
Nevertheless, he loves to expose spiritual points of holy interest to carry the sacred weight of Israel’s covenantal ark of purpose. So the background and historical context are limited as to getting underneath the reasoning of the proverb. Still, we have more framework to further explore in judging how to accurately translate the phrase as we look into the root of these distinct Hebrew nouns, which are identified as stones. First, let's remember the immediate context, as this verse is the proverbial answer to the previous spiritual question, which Solomon posed about the size and measure of his judgment seat, as its holiness in the sight of God and Israel weighed upon him.
Therefore let us take the primary and general meaning of the stones, not as they are in the context of a balancing scale for a standard of weight, but as they are stacked upon each other as an altar built for the LORD under the newly reestablished sacrificial system of the Temple in Jerusalem. There has been a debate throughout the history of Israel, of which altar of stones is the highest (proper) place of worship before God. It continued up to the days of Christ (Jn.4:20-24). So Solomon’s application is addressing “the high places,” which still stand in opposition to the Federal altar (Headship) of sacrifice. The disputes between the altars present a question of which sacrifice the LORD accepts in the exclusivity and unity of Israel’s one true and living God, Yahweh. For a national system, built on God’s electing favor, calling them out of the slavery of Egypt, there required a unifying sacrifice to join the tribes and children of Israel under one LORD (Deut.6:4) in allegiance and obedience to His holy purposes; for this was the purpose God showed mercy to them, to demonstrate the grace of His holiness in them.
Therefore, Solomon is standardizing his throne of justice by the one alter of the Levitical priesthood and the covenant that Yahweh made with Levi's house. Therefore any eben by eben (stone upon stone) that remains erect as an altar; it’s in opposition to the unity of the two distinct covenants that Yahweh established with the houses of Levi and David, to function like a “birth stool” (oben) to bear the final sacrifice of the Beloved and Eternal Son of God (Matt.1:21). These two distinct covenants are like the two stones which were stacked upon each other for the midwives to aid the birth of the Hebrew children before the Exodus (Ex.1:16). This image is the heart of what Solomon is symbolizing with this corrective answer against the “free will” presumption of his judgment seat. Therefore, he is not acting as a dictator over the children of Israel but is executing, enforcing the pre-established covenant of their fathers.
*[this measure and that measure] literally, size for size. Again, I see little to no evidence of why this should be understood to mean the measures of a balancing scale. Solomon is observing and measuring these stones with the naked eye from the perspective of the absolute covenant that Yahweh, the LORD, has made with the fathers. So the opposing “high places” have no weight upon the scale of his human, though naked, judgment, because he receives his perspective from the written and confirmed Law of God, which originated not by men, but was established by Yahweh Himself (2Chr.7:1-3). These altars, of which some were erected out of good intentions (Gen.12:7-8;28:10-22;35:1-7), and some of where even God once answered the sacrifices (2Chr.1:3, 1Kgs.3:2-4), while others being erected out of rebellion (2Chr.11:13-15;14:2-3;21:11; 2Kgs.23:13; Num.33:52; Lev.26:27-33), no longer have equal authority or bearing on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant: God’s fixed judgment seat over the nations (Isa.56:7; 2Chr.7:11-12; Num.18:23;1Chr.28:4).
So the principle that carries over, to all generations, is that no one can say, because he has an erection larger than another, that his God gives him the highest or greatest authority. That’s the pride that comes before the fall, because even though Solomon himself who originated out of the covenant of the sure mercies of David, grew proud in the erection of his work in the dedication of the Temple grounds, forgetting the grace and Spirit of Yahweh that carried him along. He began to trust in his own wisdom, which split the kingdom like a lustful youth in the pride of his life, coarsely jesting, “My erection is bigger than yours” (Eph.5:4). And so there is a sense in which king Saul may have been better off serving under the discipline of God, given over to a thorn in the flesh, than Solomon, who was graciously permitted to drift in the pride of his abundant revelations (2Cor.12:7). So between the small accomplishments of Saul and the large successes of Solomon on the scale of balances, neither have added anything of value to the grace and virtue of God to make Israel the instrument of God’s Eternal Word to the nations.
*[though two of them] literally, although two of them. It’s challenging to see how the two clauses are joined together because there is no verb at all in this construct. All we have to go on is an adverb that conveys both meaning and conjunction to understand its flow. It appears Solomon is saying, “Stone for stone; size for size; together, they are an abomination of Yahweh, though they are the same.” And on that, it appears he is further commenting on Deut.25:11-16, but adding, by the Spirit, of course, a new application of the Law.
In a civil dispute, during the era of Moses, cases were brought forth to be judged by him, who by the Spirit was setting a precedent for the following generations; and of this context, is further established in the civil arena of Solomon, as we see him adding a “spiritual but holy” commentary of the Law concerning the hard cases brought forth into the high court (Ex.18:13-27). Therefore the Law itself is not being changed here but requires a further application for distinct circumstances that arise out the ignorance of Israel’s sin, which is to be covered by “the blood of the lamb.” Nations are given the liberty to write their own laws as cultures advance and become more civilized, but the spiritual nature of the Law of God cannot and does not change (Heb.13:8; Rom.7:1-4; 2Cor.3:4-6; Rom.3:31; Matt.5:17-18; Lk.24:44; Acts 1:3-8).
*[be stacked against each other] And so we come to this clause addition that I added to help establish a background context for the broad and general reader. It appears that these stones symbolize an altar of two distinct people, yet who worship “the same” together. I cannot be dogmatic about the nature of the case. However, it could be a husband and wife in a domestic dispute, or it could be, which appears more evidential to me out of the original Hebrew, two of the same sex in a civil contract by use of the suffixed pronoun, hem, which is sometimes translated “the same,” given the absence of a verb. For the spiritual community, however, Solomon seeks to keep the identity of these individuals under wraps, lest they are stoned to death by the letter of the Law outside of the judgment of the court.
It’s helpful to remember that Solomon is not just acting as king over Israel but is also acting as king over foreign communities, of which treaties were established for peace in the land. Nevertheless, he is laboring to act out his role as king from a conscience cleansed by the Word of God. As a supreme judge of the land, he had the liberty to enforce the letter of the Law, which meant death to these individuals, but he also knows the Lord is merciful, even to His enemies. So Solomon is recognized by Christ for his spiritual ability to make peace out of the wisdom of the Truth (Matt.12:42). If we were to view the Law of God apart from the context of the Exodus, and the commentary Moses himself gave about it, and even the judgments of the Prophets and Kings that followed it, there would have been no one to survive the generations judged by the letter of the Law, for they all deserved the judgment of death (Ex.19:12;21:12,15-17; 22:19; 31:14-15; Lev.19:20; Lev.20:2,10-16,27; 24:15-22; 27:29), which is the ultimate “moral certainty” and point (of the letter) of the Law. Any or all of mankind weighed on the scales of the holiness of Yahweh is the weight and void of the dark abyss of outer space absent of all (His) light (Rev.20:1-3; Lk.8:31; Rom.10:7; Gen.1:2; Matt.8:12; 22:12-13; 25:30). But not all of Israel was able to conclude this from the Law of God (Rom.10:3-4) because they rejected the Prophets that He sent (Zech.13:4; Matt.3:7; Lk.3:7; Rev.6:12; 11:3; Lk.11:50; Matt.23:35; 27:25).
And so Solomon rightly concludes the judgment of this false erection of pride and self-honor, which walked into his civil court in the form of a divorce or civil dispute, as an abomination of Yahweh. But Solomon doesn’t offer immediate justice according to the letter of the law but only recognizes the spiritual condition of this false altar erected in the heart of Israel. It appears to be a house without the application of the lamb’s blood. And so he educates the next ruler (one of his sons) how to judge between the clean and unclean for his own house’s spiritual benefit (Lev.19:18), but to the detriment of permitting these false erections to continue for the next generation (Ps.78:56-61; 2Sam.1:19; 1Kgs.11:7; 12:31). And the irony of this proverb is that it directly applied to the kingdom being split in two because of the wide acceptance of these high places, which both Solomon and Jeroboam gave consent to for the sake of religious peace and freedom. But it’s not like what the founders of the American constitution promised, for it was (as it is for us today) a redistributing of government funds (taxes/tithes) to build and restore idol worship (1Kgs.13:2). There was much wisdom, however, for Solomon to show mercy to this false erection. Still, he goes beyond mercy and grants grace on his own authority at the expense of the people’s sacrifice (2Chr.8:11; 2Kgs.23:13), a sin that divides the kingdom in two. What an irony!
*[it is an abomination of Yahweh] literally, a hatred of Yahweh. This clause needs no explanation for translation. It is as simple and straightforward in the Hebrew as it is in the English translation. Apart from the exclusivity of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Rev.5:6,12;13:8; Gen.3:21-23), there is no sufficient altar to satisfy the justice prepared for the damned as these false erections will be permanently forgotten.
Isaiah 26:1–5 (NKJV)
1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks. 2 Open the gates, That the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. 3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. 4 Trust in the Lord forever, For in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength. 5 For He brings down those who dwell on high, The lofty city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He brings it down to the dust.
Isaiah 26:8 (NKJV)
8 Yes, in the way of Your judgments, O Lord, we have waited for You; The desire of our soul is for Your name And for the remembrance of You.
Isaiah 26:10 (NKJV)
10 Let grace be shown to the wicked, Yet he will not learn righteousness; In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, And will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
Isaiah 26:12–15 (NKJV)
12 Lord, You will establish peace for us, For You have also done all our works in us. 13 O Lord our God, masters besides You Have had dominion over us; But by You only we make mention of Your name. 14 They are dead, they will not live; They are deceased, they will not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, And made all their memory to perish. 15 You have increased the nation, O Lord, You have increased the nation; You are glorified; You have expanded all the borders of the land.
Isaiah 26:16–21 (NKJV)
16 Lord, in trouble they have visited You, They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them. 17 As a woman with child Is in pain and cries out in her pangs, When she draws near the time of her delivery, So have we been in Your sight, O Lord. 18 We have been with child, we have been in pain; We have, as it were, brought forth wind; We have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth, Nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen. 19 Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead. 20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past. 21 For behold, the Lord comes out of His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, And will no more cover her slain.
The pithy version:
[Stone for stone; size for size; though two of them be the same, they are an abomination of Yahweh] (MAST)
