As they say, people dishonest in business may eat better, but the honest ones sleep better.
If you recall the story of Tamar in Genesis 38, you’ll be in familiar territory when you read Deuteronomy 25:5-10. This is the so-called Levirate marriage arrangement, from the Latin levir, meaning brother-in-law. This had to do with the dilemma posed by the death of a childless man and the plight of his widow. The dead man’s brother was to take his sister-in-law to be his wife, and their first son would “raise up a name to his brother in Israel” (v 7). In the case of Tamar, the brothers were not willing to do this and were judged by God. Thus, except for Tamar’s unseemly plan, the line of the Messiah through Judah would have been extinguished. Similarly, in the story of Naomi still to come, but for Boaz and his willingness to take Ruth as his wife, what would have become of the line of David? Any man not prepared to marry his widowed sister-in-law could practice “taking off the shoe,” “And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed’” (v 10). On that occasion, the widow could “spit in his face” (v 9) because of his unwillingness to act the part of her near kinsman. Ironically, our Lord Jesus, who willingly became our Kinsman-Redeemer at such personal expense, was Himself spit upon, another indignity of which He was not worthy. But He bore it all for us! The rest of the chapter deals with various injustices, from dealing with unfair tactics in a public brawl (vv 11-12), to the use of unfair weights and balances in business (vv 13-16). In this case, the Lord inferred that coming up light on your weigh scales could lead to coming up short on life! “You shall have a perfect and just weight…that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you” (v 15).