Two Grocers

Sam Drucker
Green Acres - Drucker's General Store


Two Grocers
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2, by Os Hillman

"You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you" (Deut 25:15).

A few hundred years ago there were two Christian grocers in London. One of them said to the other, "You know, as Christians, we're supposed to have honest scales. It says so in the Bible. So how should we do that?" "Well, I'll tell you what, I'll come and check your scales on Wednesdays to make sure they're accurate and you come on Sundays and check mine. We'll make sure they're accurate." The two grocers developed a list of twelve principles that they felt should guide the way they were to do business.

People preferred to buy from them because they knew they would get a good product, at a fair price, with honest scales. Other grocers who were Christians decided to join in and they formed an association of Christian grocers. In those days it wasn't called exactly that, but was actually called the Most Worshipful Company of Livery Merchants. The name is very odd and peculiarly British.

This group led to other industries adopting a similar idealism known as Livery Companies in the City of London. There are now 300 companies in the City of London registered as Livery Companies. The latest one was the Most Worshipful Company of Information Technologists. Everybody that joins one of the companies in the City of London, even today, receives a list of the principles they have to agree to. The list contains 36 biblical principles to guide your life. And they call the book, Some Rules for the Conduct of Life to Which Are Added A Few Cautions.

The rulers of the nation in Britain began to see the affect of these companies and said 'What we need to do is make it a law for the whole nation. So instead of just these grocers having their honest scales, every scale in Britain needs to weigh accurately." The government Weights and Measures Department, which is in existence today, can trace its history back to the day when these two grocers decided to keep themselves accountable for biblical principles."*

Are you operating based on honest weights and measures?

*Article written by Mark Markiewicz provided to Os Hillman 2004

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Things We Leave Behind - Michael Card

"Fruitless the wisdom of him who has no knowledge of himself." Desierius Eramus

"Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom." Thomas Jefferson

"I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man." George Washington

"An honest man's the noblest work of God." Alexander Pope

"You shall not cheat in measuring length, weight, or quantity. You shall have honest balances, honest weights, and honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." Leviticus 19:35-36