Unequal Weights and Measures:
A Critique of the Methodology of the Anti-Missionaries

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The biblical injunction against false weights and measures is repeated throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, elaborated in the Talmud, treated under three separate headings in the rabbinic literature on the 613 commandments, and codified by Maimonides in his Mishneh Torah (taking up two whole chapters), by Yaakov Ben Asher in his Arba‘ah Turim and by Yoseph Karo in his Shulhan Arukh (the entry in Hoshen Mishpat including 28 subdivisions).

The first occurrence of this important command is at the close of the holiness precepts in Lev. 19 (vv. 35-37):

“You shall not falsify measures of length, weight, or capacity. You shall have an honest balance, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I the Lord am your God who freed you from the land of Egypt. You shall faithfully observe My laws and all My rules: I am the Lord” (NJV).

The fact that these words follow vv. 33-34, which enjoin the people of Israel to love the stranger who resides among them as they love themselves, was not missed by the rabbis.

More fully, the injunction is repeated in Deut. 25:13-16: “You shall not have in your pouch alternate weights, larger and smaller. You shall not have in your house alternate measures, a larger and a smaller. You must have completely honest weights and completely honest measures, if you are to endure long on the soil that the Lord your God is giving you. For everyone who does those things, everyone who deals dishonestly, is abhorrent to the Lord your God.”...

...But what has all this got to do with the anti-missionaries? Simply everything. Their whole practice of using one canon of criticism when treating the New Testament, while using an entirely different canon of criticism when treating the Tanakh and the Talmud, smacks of the practice of false weights and measures.

It is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord, and it can only bring disgrace to the anti-missionaries. Let me explain.

When attacking the New Testament — that is exactly what the anti-missionaries do — they often use a three-pronged approach: hyper-literality, alleged contradictions, and alleged misquotations...

Read the Full Article (with citations) on RealMessiah.com

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