Core Values - Part 1

We study the scriptures, listen to the preaching and teaching of the word in order to bring about an internal cultural shift.

I’d like to focus on one aspect of culture that the spirit of the living God is shifting. I’m going to use the word values to label the specific aspect of culture that will be my focus in the next couple of post.

The word “values” has an easy definition. It simply means what’s important to you and is an abstract idea. It does not possess mass, texture, shape or color.

However, you can see your values by examining the choices you make each day of each week.

There is another idea called core values that is relevant. Core values is simply what’s important to you in times of stress. What we choose to do when times are great, may not be what we do under duress.

An important core value is honesty. Specifically, I want to talk about honesty in the context of our economic dealings.

I’d like to turn to 2 passages in the Old Testament that articulate God’s view point on honesty in business-customer relations. It would seem strange that a lofty God would be concerned with the mundane economic issues of life. He is. In fact there are many passages in the bible that give instructions on honesty in our economic dealings. We will look at 2, one in Leviticus and the other in Deuteronomy.

Leviticus 19:35-36
“You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. 36 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.

Jacob Milgrom in his book titled Leviticus writes:

“Values are what Leviticus is all about. They pervade every chapter and almost every verse.”
When I read that first statement in Jacob Milgrom’s book, my first reaction was “what, that can’t be”. And I’m sure that most of you who are familiar with the Old Testament book of Leviticus would probably think of it as containing specific instructions on performing rituals, sacrifices and even handling cases of religious impurity.

However, Jacob Milgrom suggests that as we read Leviticus we should keep an open ear to the subtext of every ritual or sacrificial instructions.

In his words, Leviticus contains “an intricate web of values that purports to model how we should relate to God and to one another.”

Leviticus 19:35-36, then, conveys an ageless principle of fairness. A 10 lb bag should be 10 and not 8lbs. I think most importantly, in the context of an Employer-employee relation, we should always be attuned to doing a fair days labour. We should never play hide-and-seek, but step up to the plate and give what is right.

Deuteronomy 25:13-16 echoes similar principles with a twist.

13 “You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. 15 A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy labels individuals who act dishonestly as an abomination to the Lord. That’s a very strong word.