Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 12:7
[He is] a merchant, the balances of deceit [are] in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
7. He is a merchant, &c.] Rather, Canaan! in his hand are deceitful balances; he loveth to extort. The geographical term ‘Canaan’ simply means ‘lowland’, and therefore might be, and was, applied to Phnicia (Isa 23:11) as well as to other lowland parts of Palestine; ‘Canaanite’ too became a synonym for ‘merchant’ (Job 41:6; Pro 31:24, comp. Zep 1:11; Eze 17:4), as ‘Chaldean’ was a synonym for ‘astrologer.’ Hosea uses the word collectively and metaphorically: his ‘Canaan’ is a degenerate Israel. The sarcasm derives its point from the low repute of the Phnician merchants for honesty (comp. Odyss. xiv. 290, 291).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He is a merchant – Or, indignantly, a merchant in whose hands are the balances of deceit! How could they love mercy and justice, whose trade was deceit, who weighed out deceit with their goods? False in their dealings, in their weights and measures, and, by taking advantage of the necessities of others, oppressive also. Deceit is the sin of weakness oppression is the abuse of power. Wealth does not give the power to use naked violence but wealthy covetousness manifoldly grinds the poor. When for instance, wages are paid in necessaries priced exorbitantly, or when artisans are required to buy at a loss at their masters shops, what is it but the union of deceit and oppression? The trading world is full of oppression, scarcely veiled by deceit. He loveth to oppress. Deceit and oppression have, each, a devilish attractiveness to those practiced in them; deceit, as exercising cleverness, cunning, skill in overreaching, outwitting; oppression, as indulging self will, caprice, love of power, insolence, and the like vices. The word merchant, as the prophet spoke it, was Canaan; merchants being so called, because the Canaanites or Phoenicians were the then great merchant-people, as astrologers were called Chaldeans. The Phoenicians were, in Homers time, infamous for their griping in traffic. They are called gnawers and money-lovers . To call Israel, Canaan, was to deny to him any title to the name of Israel, reversing the blessing of Jacob, so that, as it had been said of Jacob, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, he would in fact say, Thy name shall be called no more Israel, but Canaan; as being, through their deeds, heirs, not to the blessings of Israel but to the curse of Canaan. So Ezekiel saith, Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite Eze 16:3.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 12:7-9
He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress, etc.
Fortunes
I. Fortunes badly used.
1. Here there is no recognition of human co-operation. No man comes in possession of wealth without the efforts of some men either living or dead. Wealth, in most cases, is the result of the efforts of a large number of human workers But the possessor oftentimes takes no note of this. He thinks only of himself.
2. Here there is no recognition of Divine agency. All fortunes come of God. Out of His materials, out of His seasons, out of the activity of His creatures. Many fortunes are held and employed in a spirit of haughty egotism.
II. Fortunes badly made.
1. Here is fraud. There is deceit everywhere. In all fabrics, groceries, trade commodities. Deceit in making, deceit both in the buying and the selling.
2. Here is oppression. Fraud is oppression, in some form or other.
3. Here is cunning. Ephraim–this typical fortune-maker–took such care to conceal all that was unfair and nefarious in his operations that he was certain no wrong could be found in his doings. Many who have made a fortune by a swindle have so guarded the transaction that they have clapped their hands and said, None will ever find it out.
III. Fortunes badly ended. To all such fortune-holders and fortune-makers retribution must come sooner or later. (Homilist.)
And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance.–
I am rich
Literally, I am simply rich, in all my labours they shall find none iniquity that is sin. It was the custom of the trade; that is how it is. In forty pounds weight of calico put sixteen pounds weight of china clay–it is the custom of the trade: a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Sell for ten yards of cloth nine yards and seven-eighths. A man likes an eighth of a lie; a little fraction of falsehood is a kind of condiment in his supper; it is the custom of the trade. And especially if a man, after doing this, can take the chair at a missionary meeting, and speak lugubriously and tediously about the condition of the heathen he has never seen, but often cheated; he feels that there is none iniquity in him that is sin; he says, Business is business. He always says that when he wins; when he loses he says, There ought to be some morality in business after all. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
Keeping up appearances
I. The hiding of sin. Ephraim is in truth most unrighteous, but he contrives to sin in such a way that he appears innocent. And do we not attempt by many subtilties to hide the real qualities of our actions, to shelter ourselves from their just penalties?
1. Men sin deeply, and yet keep within the civil law. National and international law were scrupulously observed by Ephraim. Men still flatter themselves that they keep the law of the land. A man may do that and still be an infinite scoundrel. He may be guilty of gross dishonesty. He may keep the civil law with very little sense of generosity. We may be guilty of deep cruelty to our fellows, and the law of the magistrate takes no cognisance of our actions. Often the very worst escape, whilst those far less guilty are denounced and punished.
2. Men sin deeply, and yet keep within public opinion. A public opinion exists which is more strict and pervasive than the civil law. This public opinion we are bound to respect, we do respect it, and some of us are abundantly satisfied if we succeed in meeting its exactions. But how much personal, commercial, political immorality is yet untouched by public opinion! A man may be a rascal, and yet a gentleman. With a plausible tongue, a polished style, with fine phrases and fine manners, a man may be guilty of fraud, cruelty, uncleanness, and yet remain throughout popular in society! Rotten at the core, he is painted on the rind, and the world sees the skin and not the soul. Some of the handsomest butterflies have the strangest tastes–they turn aside from the most glorious flowers to sip filthiest messes.
3. We sin deeply, and yet maintain the sense of personal dignity. Ephraim hid the fact of his guiltiness by looking at his successfulness. Men still forget their sinfulness in their prosperity. A man may be a conqueror, and yet his glory be his shame; he may attain honour, and his scarlet robe be the fitting sign of his scarlet sins; he may grow rich, and every coin in his coffers witness against him. His honour rooted in dishonour stood. Proud, selfish, dishonest, sensual men flatter themselves in their own eyes until their iniquity is found to be hateful.
4. Men sin deeply, and yet keep within ecclesiastical discipline. Ephraim would do no iniquity that were sin from an ecclesiastical point of view. Yet all the while he was guilty of falsehood, robbery, injustice, uncleanness; he called himself Israel, but God called him a Canaanite. A man may be a terrible sinner, and yet observe all the ceremonial law.
II. Mark the inevitable exposure and punishment of sin. Cleverly disguised as sin may be, it will surely suffer detection. God knows nothing about appearances; He knows us as we think in our heart. And what stands revealed is bound to meet with just retribution. Then in all life let us–
1. Aim at the highest; and–
2. Test ourselves by the highest; let us judge ourselves in the sight of God, and by the absolute standard. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. He is a merchant] Or a Canaanite; referring to the Phoenicians, famous for their traffic. Ephraim is as corrupt as those heathenish traffickers were. He kept, as many in all ages have done, a weight and a weight; a heavy one to buy with and a light one to sell by.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He is a merchant; Ephraim, of whom here, is so far from being Jacob, or as Jacob, that you may call and account him a Canaanite, a subtle merchant.
The balances of deceit are in his hand; what he cannot gain by fair trading, he will by downright cheating; he is covetous, and very unjust.
He loveth to oppress; where violence, calumnies, and false accusations are needful to compass his covetous and cozening designs, he will not stick at them; this way of gain he loveth, his heart is upon it; though God hate the false balance, and false witness, and the violent man, yet Ephraim loves them all for his gain.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. merchanta play on thedouble sense of the Hebrew, “Canaan,” that is, aCanaanite and a “merchant” Eze16:3: “Thy birth is . . . of Canaan.” They whonaturally were descendants of pious Jacob had become virtuallyCanaanites, who were proverbial as cheating merchants(compare Isa 23:11, Margin),the greatest reproach to Israel, who despised Canaan. ThePhoelignicians called themselves Canaanites or merchants(Isa 23:8).
oppressopenviolence: as the “balances of deceit” imply fraud.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[He is] a merchant,…. Here is a change of person from “thou” to “he”, from Judah to Ephraim, who is said to be a “merchant”; and if that was all, there is nothing worthy of dispraise in it; but he was a cheating merchant, a fraudulent dealer, as appears by what follows: or he is Canaan, or a Canaanite y; more like a descendant of Canaan, by his manners, than a descendant of Jacob. But the Canaanites dealing much in merchandise, their name became a common name for a merchant, as a Chaldean for an astrologer; and as the children of Israel possessed their land, so they followed the same business and employment of life; which, had they performed honestly, would not have been to their discredit; but they were too much like the Canaanites, of whom Philostratus z says, they were covetous and fraudulent; and this was Ephraim’s character. The Targum is,
“be you not as merchants;”
the balances of deceit [are] in his hand; he used false weights and measures; made the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsified the balances by deceit; had wicked balances, and deceitful weights, and the scant measure, which is abominable, Am 8:5; they pretended to weigh everything exactly they bought or sold; but cheated either by sleight or hand, holding the balances as they should not; or had one pair of scales and weights to buy with, and another to sell by, contrary to the law of God, Le 19:35;
he loveth to oppress; instead of keeping and doing mercy and justice, they oppressed the poor, ground their faces, defrauded them of their due, and by secret and private methods cheated them in their dealings with them, and brought them to poverty and distress; and this they took delight and pleasure in, which showed a want of a principle of honesty in them, and that they were habituated to such a course of life, and were hardened in it, and had no remorse of conscience for it, but rather gloried in it.
y , Sept. “Chanaan”, V. L. Tigurine version; “Chanauaeum” refers, Munster. z Apud Grotium in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“Canaan, in his hand is the scale of cheating: he loves to oppress. Hos 12:8. And Ephraim says, Yet I have become rich, have acquired property: all my exertions bring me no wrong, which would be sin.” Israel is not a Jacob who wrestles with God; but it has become Canaan, seeking its advantage in deceit and wrong. Israel is called Canaan here, not so much on account of its attachment to Canaanitish idolatry (cf. Eze 16:3), as according to the appellative meaning of the word K e naan , which is borrowed from the commercial habits of the Canaanites (Phoenicians), viz., merchant or trader (Isa 23:8; Job 40:30), because, like a fraudulent merchant, it strove to become great by oppression and cheating; not “because it acted towards God like a fraudulent merchant, offering Him false show for true reverence,” as Schmieder supposes. For however thoroughly this may apply to the worship of the Israelites, it is not to this that the prophet refers, but to fraudulent weights, and the love of oppression or violence. And this points not to their attitude towards God, but to their conduct towards their fellow-men, which is the very opposite of what, according to the previous verse, the Lord requires ( chesed umishpat ), and the very thing which He has forbidden in the law, in Lev 19:36; Deu 24:13-16, and also in the case of ashaq , violence, in Lev 6:2-4; Deu 24:14. Ephraim prides itself upon this unrighteousness, in the idea that it has thereby acquired wealth and riches, and with the still greater self-deception, that with all its acquisition of property it has committed no wrong that was sin, i.e., that would be followed by punishment. does not mean “might” here, but wealth, opes , although as a matter of fact, since Ephraim says this as a nation, the riches and power of the state are intended. is not written at the head absolutely, in the sense of “so far as what I have acquired is concerned, men find no injustice in this;” for it that were the case, would stand for ; but it is really the subject, and is to be taken in the sense of acquiring = bringing in (cf. Lev 5:7; Lev 12:8, etc.).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Reproof for Sin; Judgment Threatened; Memorials of Divine Mercy. | B. C. 723. |
7 He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress. 8 And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin. 9 And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast. 10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. 11 Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. 12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. 13 And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. 14 Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
Here are intermixed, in these verses,
I. Reproofs for sin. When God is coming forth to contend with a people, that he may demonstrate his own righteousness, he will demonstrate their unrighteousness. Ephraim was called to turn to his God and keep judgment (v. 6); now, to show that he had need of that call, he is charged with turning from his God by idolatry, and breaking the laws of justice and judgment.
1. He is here charged with injustice against the precepts of the second table, Hos 12:7; Hos 12:8. Here observe,
(1.) What the sin is wherewith he is charged: He is a merchant. The margin reads it as a proper name, He is Canaan, or a Canaanite, unworthy to be denominated from Jacob and Israel, and worthy to be cast out with a curse from this good land, as the Canaanites were. See Amos ix. 7. But Canaan sometimes signifies a merchant, and therefore is most likely to do so here, where Ephraim is charged with deceit in trade. Though God had given his people a land flowing with milk and honey, yet he did not forbid them to enrich themselves by merchandise, and they succeeded the Canaanites in that as well as in their husbandry; they sucked the abundance of the seas and the treasures hidden in the sand, Deut. xxxiii. 19. And, if they had been fair merchants, it would have been no reproach at all to them, but an honour and a blessing. But he is such a merchant as the Canaanites were, who were honest only with good looking to, and, if they could, cheated all they dealt with. Ephraim does so; he deceives and thereby oppresses. Note, There is oppression by fraud as well as oppression by force. It is not only princes, lords, and masters, that oppress their subjects, tenants, and servants, but merchants and traders are often guilty of oppressing those they deal with, when they impose upon their ignorance, or take advantage of their necessity, to make hard bargains with them, or are rigorous and severe in exacting their debts. Ephraim cheated, [1.] With a great deal of art and cunning: The balances of deceit are in his hand. He uses balances, and delivers his goods by weight and measure, as if he would be very exact, but they are balances of deceit, false weights and false measures, and thus, under colour of doing right, he does the greatest wrong. Note, God has his eye upon merchants and traders, when they are weighing their goods and paying their money, whether they do honestly or deceitfully. He observes what balances they have in their hand, and how they hold them; and, though those they deal with may not be aware of that sleight of hand with which they make them balances of deceit, God sees it, and knows it. Trades by the wit of man are made mysteries, but it is a pity that by the sin of man they should ever be made mysteries of iniquity. [2.] With a great deal of pleasure and pride: He loves to oppress. To oppress is bad enough, but to love to do so is much worse. His conscience does not check and reprove him for it, as it ought to do; if it did, though he committed the sin, he could not delight in it; but his corruptions are so strong, and have so triumphed over his convictions, that he not only loves the gain of oppression, but he loves to oppress, sins for sinning-sake, and takes a pleasure in out-witting and over-reaching those that suspect him not.
(2.) How he justifies himself in this sin, v. 8. Wicked men will have something to say for themselves now when they are told of their faults, some frivolous turn-off or other wherewith to evade the convictions of the word. Ephraim stands indicted for a common cheat. Now see what he pleads to the indictment. He does not deny the charge, nor plead, Not guilty, yet does not make a penitent confession of it and ask pardon, but insists upon his own justification. Suppose it were so that he did use balances of deceit, yet, [1.] He pleads that he had got a good estate. Let the prophet say what he pleased of his deceit, of the sin of it and the curse of God that attended it, he could not be convinced there was any harm or danger in it, for this he was sure of that he had thriven in it: “Yet I have become rich, I have found me out substance. Whatever you make of it, I have made a good hand of it.” Note, Carnal hearts are often confirmed in a good opinion of their evil ways by their worldly prosperity and success in those ways. But it is a great mistake. Every word in what Ephraim says here proclaims his folly. First, It is folly to call the riches of this world substance, for they are things that are not, Prov. xxiii. 5. Secondly, It is folly to think that we have them of ourselves, to say (as some read it), I have made myself rich; what substance I have is owing purely to my ingenuity and industry–I have found it; my might and the power of my hand have gotten me this wealth. Thirdly, It is folly to think that what we have is for ourselves. I have found me out substance, as if we had it for our own proper use and behoof, whereas we hold it in trust, only as stewards. Fourthly, It is folly to think that riches are things to be gloried in, and to say with exultation, I have become rich. Riches are not the honours of the soul, are not peculiar to the best men, nor sure to us; and therefore let not the rich man glory in his riches,Jas 1:9; Jas 1:10. Fifthly, It is folly to think that growing rich in a sinful way makes us innocent, or will make us safe, or may make us easy, in that way; for the prosperity of fools deceives and destroys them. See Isa 47:10; Pro 1:32. [2.] He pleads that he had kept a good reputation. It is common for sinners, when they are justly reproved by their ministers, to appeal to their neighbours, and because they know no ill of them, or will say none, or think well of what the prophets charge them with as bad, fly in the face of their reprovers: In all my labours (says Ephraim) they shall find no iniquity in me that were sin. Note, Carnal hearts are apt to build a good opinion of themselves upon the fair character they have among their neighbours. Ephraim was very secure; for, First, All his neighbours knew him to be diligent in his business; they had an eye upon all his labours, and commended him for them. Men will praise thee when thou doest well for thyself. Secondly, None of them knew him to be deceitful in his business. He acted with so much policy that nobody could say to the contrary but that he acted with integrity. For either, 1. He concealed the fraud, so that none discovered it: “Whatever iniquity there is, they shall find none;” as if no iniquity were displeasing to God, and damning to the soul, but that which is open and scandalous before men. What will it avail us that men shall find no iniquity in us, when God finds a great deal, and will bring every secret work, even secret frauds, into judgment? Or, 2. He excused the fraud, so that none condemned it: “They shall find no iniquity in me that were sin, nothing very bad, nothing but what is very excusable, only some venial sins, sins not worth speaking of,” which they think God will make nothing of because they do not. It is a fashionable iniquity; it is customary; it is what every body does; it is pleasant; it is gainful; and this, they think, is no iniquity that is sin; nobody will think the worse of them for it. But God sees not as man sees; he judges not as man judges.
2. He is here charged with idolatry, against the precepts of the first table, with that iniquity which is in a special manner vanity, the making and worshipping of images, which are vanities (v. 11): Surely they are vanity; they do not profit, but deceive. Now the prophet mentions two places notorious for idolatry:– (1.) Gilead on the other side Jordan, which had been branded for it before (ch. vi. 8): Is there iniquity in Gilead? It is a thing to be wondered at; it is a thing to be sadly lamented. What! iniquity in Gilead? idolatry there? Gilead was a fruitful pleasant country (pleasant to a proverb, Jer. xxii. 6), and does it so ill requite the Lord? It was a frontier-country, and lay much exposed to the insults of enemies, and therefore stood in special need of the divine protection; what! and yet by iniquity throw itself out of that protection? Is there iniquity in Gilead? Yea, (2.) And in Gilgal too; there they sacrifice bullocks (ch. ix. 15), and there their altars which they have set up, either to strange gods in opposition to his own appointed altar, are as thick as heaps of manure in the furrows of the field that is to be sown, ch. viii. 11. Is there iniquity in Gilead only? so some. Is it only in those remote parts of the nation that people are so superstitious, where they border upon other nations? No; they are as bad at Gilgal. In Gilead God protected Jacob their father (of whom he had been speaking) from the rage of Laban; and will you there commit iniquity?
II. Here are threatenings of wrath for sin. Some make that to be so (v. 9), I will make thee to dwell in tabernacles as in the days of the appointed time, that is, I will bring thee into such a condition as the Israelites were in when they dwelt in tents and wandered for forty years; that was the time appointed in the wilderness. Ephraim forgot that God brought him out of Egypt and brought him up to be what he was, and was proud of his wealth, and took sinful courses to increase it; and therefore God threatens to bring him to a tabernacle-state again, to a poor, mean, desolate, unsettled condition. Note, It is just with God, when men have by their sins turned their tents into houses, by his judgments to turn their houses into tents again. However, that is certainly a threatening (v. 14), Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly. See how men are deceived in their opinion of themselves, and how they will one day be undeceived. Ephraim thought that there was no iniquity in him that deserved to be called sin (v. 8); but God told him that there was that in him which was sin, and would be found so if he did not repent and reform; for, 1. It was extremely offensive to his God: Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly with his iniquities, which were so distasteful to God, and to him too would be bitterness in the latter end. He was so wilful in sinning against his knowledge and convictions that any one might see, and say, that he designed no other than to provoke God in the highest degree. 2. It would certainly be destructive to himself; that cannot be otherwise which provokes God against him, and kindles the fire of his wrath. Therefore, (1.) He shall take away his forfeited life: He shall leave his blood upon him, that is, he shall not hold him guiltless, but bring upon him that death which is the wages of sin. His blood shall be upon his own head (2 Sam. i. 16), for his own iniquity has testified against him and he alone shall bear it. Note, When sinners perish their blood is left upon them. (2.) He shall take away his forfeited honour: His reproach shall his Lord return upon him. God is his Lord; he had by idolatry and other sins reproached the Lord, and done dishonour to him, and to his name and family, and had given occasion to others to reproach him; and now God will return the reproach upon him, according to the word he has spoken, that those who despise him shall be lightly esteemed. Note, Shameful sins shall have shameful punishments. If Ephraim put contempt on his God, he shall be so reduced that all his neighbours shall look with contempt upon him.
III. Here are memorials of former mercy, which come in to convict them of base ingratitude in revolting from God. Let them blush to remember,
1. That God had raised them from meanness. When Ephraim had become rich, and was proud of that, he forgot that which God (that he might not forget it) obliged them every year to acknowledge (Deut. xxvi. 5), A Syrian ready to perish was my father. But God here puts them in mind of it, v. 12. Let them remember, not only the honours of their father Jacob, what a mighty prince he was with God, v. 3 (an honour which they had no share in while they were in rebellion against God), but what a poor servant he was to Laban, which was sufficient to mortify those that were puffed up with the estates they had raised. Jacob fled into Syria from a malicious brother, and there served a covetous uncle for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep, because he had not estate to endow a wife with. Jacob was poor, and low, and a fugitive; therefore his posterity ought not to be proud. He was a plain man, dwelling in tents, and keeping sheep; therefore balances of deceit ill became them. He served for a wife that was not a Canaanitess, as Esau’s wives were; therefore it was a shame for them to degenerate into Canaanites, and mingle with the nations. God wonderfully preserved him in his flight and preserved him in his service, so that he multiplied exceedingly, and from that root in a dry ground sprang an illustrious nation, that bore his name, which magnifies the goodness of God both to him and them and leaves them under the stain of base ingratitude to that God who was their founder and benefactor.
2. That God had rescued them from misery, had raised them to what they were, not only out of poverty, but out of slavery (v. 13), which laid them under much stronger obligations to serve him and under a yet deeper guilt in serving other gods. (1.) God brought Israel out of Egypt on purpose that they might serve him, and by redeeming them out of bondage acquired a special title to them and to their service. (2.) He preserved them, as sheep are kept by the shepherd’s care. He preserved them from Pharaoh’s rage at the sea, even at the Red Sea, protected them from all the perils of the wilderness, and provided for them. (3.) He did this by a prophet, Moses, who, though he is called king in Jeshurun (Deut. xxxiii. 5), yet did what he did for Israel as a prophet, by direction from God and by the power of his word. The ensign of his authority was not a royal sceptre, but the rod of God; with that he summoned both Egypt’s plagues and Israel’s blessings. Moses, as a prophet, was a type of Christ (Acts iii. 22), and it is by Christ as a prophet that we are brought out of the Egypt of sin and Satan by the power of his truth. Now this shows how very unworthy and ungrateful this people were, [1.] In rejecting their God, who had brought them out of Egypt, which, in the preface to the commandments, is particularly mentioned as a reason for the first, why they should have no other gods before him. [2.] In despising and persecuting his prophets, whom they should have loved and valued, and have studied to answer God’s end in sending them, for the sake of that prophet by whom God had brought them out of Egypt and preserved them in the wilderness. Note, The benefit we have had by the word of God greatly aggravates our sin and folly if we put any slight upon the word of God.
3. That God had taken care of their education as they grew up. This instance of God’s goodness we have, v. 10. As by a prophet he delivered them, so by prophets he still continued to speak to them. Man, who is formed out of the earth, is fed out of the earth; so that nation, that was formed by prophecy, by prophecy was fed and taught; beginning at Moses, and so going on to all the prophets through the several ages of that church, we find that divine revelation was all along their tuition. (1.) They had prophets raised up among themselves (Amos ii. 11), a succession of them, were scarcely ever without a Spirit of prophecy among them more or less, from Moses to Malachi. (2.) These prophets were seers; they had visions, and dreams, in which God discovered his mind to them immediately, with a full assurance that it was his mind, Num. xii. 6. (3.) These visions were multiplied; God spoke not only once, yea, twice, but many a time; if one vision was not regarded, he sent another. The prophets had variety of visions, and frequent repetitions of the same. (4.) God spoke to them by the prophets. What the prophets received from the Lord they plainly and faithfully delivered to them. The people at Mount Sinai begged that God would speak to them by men like themselves, and he did so. (5.) In speaking to them by the prophets he used similitudes, to make the messages he sent by them intelligible, more affecting, and more likely to be remembered. The visions they saw were often similitudes, and their discourses were embellished with very apt comparisons. And, as God by his prophets, so by his Son, he used similitudes, for he opened his mouth in parables. Note, God keeps an account, whether we do or no, of the sermons we hear; and those that have long enjoyed the means of grace in purity, plenty, and power, that have been frequently, faithfully, and familiarly, told the mind of God, will have a great deal to answer for another day if they persist in a course of iniquity.
IV. Here are intimations of further mercy, and this remembered too in the midst of sin and wrath (as some understand v. 9): “I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, who then and there took thee to be my people, and have approved myself thy God ever since, in a constant series of merciful providences, have yet a kindness for thee, bad as thou art; and I will make thee to dwell in tabernacles, not as in the wilderness, but as in the days of the solemn feast,” the feast of tabernacles, which was celebrated with great joy, Lev. xxiii. 40. 1. They shall be made to see, by the grace of God, that though they are rich, and have found out substance, yet they are but in a tabernacle-state, and have in their worldly wealth no continuing city. 2. They shall yet have cause to rejoice in God, and have opportunity to do it in public ordinances. The feast of tabernacles was the first solemn feast the Jews kept after their return out of Babylon, Ezra iii. 4. 3. This, as other promises, was to have its full accomplishment in the grace of the gospel, which provides tabernacles for believers in their way to heaven, and furnishes them with matter of joy, holy joy, joy in God, such as was in the feast of tabernacles, Zec 14:18; Zec 14:19.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
But while the Prophet exhorted the Israelites to repentance, he adds, that such was their perverseness, that it was done without any fruit. Canaan! he says; I read this by itself; for what some consider to be understood is frigid, as, “He was assimilated to, or was like Canaan, in whose hand,” etc. . But, on the contrary, the Prophet here condemns the Israelites by one word; as though he said, that they were wholly aliens, and unworthy to be called the children of Abraham. And thus what we say is often abrupt, when we speak indignantly. The Prophet then calls them “Canaan” through indignation; which means this, “Ye are not the children of Abraham; ye falsely boast of his name, which cannot be suitable to you; for ye are Canaan.”
He afterwards adds In his hand is the balance of fraud, he loves to plunder, or to spoil. Literally it is, he loves to spoil. But the sense is clear, that they loved to plunder; that is, they were carried away with all greediness to acts of robbery. It must first be noticed, that the Prophet here exposes to infamy the carnal descendants of Abraham by calling them Canaan, and this imputation is often to be met with in the Prophets. And the reason why they were thus addressed was, that these senseless men were wont proudly to set up as their shield the distinction of their race. “What! we are a holy people.” Since by this pretence they rejected all the warnings of the Prophets, God casts back this reproach, “Ye are not the children of Abraham; but ye are Canaan:” as though he said, “Nothing in that nation has as yet changed, the Israelites are always like themselves.” The Lord had once cleansed the land of godless men: but when the descendants of Abraham became like the Canaanites, they were called the seed of Canaan; as though the same nation, which was there formerly, had still remained; for there was no difference in their manners, for they were equal or the same in depravity.
But the reason follows why he calls them the race of Canaan even because they carried in their hand a deceitful balance, and devoted themselves with all avidity to plunder. The deceitful balance may be extended to their dissimulations, fallacies, and falsehoods, by which God, as he had before complained, was surrounded; but as it immediately follows, He loves robberies, I prefer to understand here those two modes of doing injury which include almost every kind of wickedness; for men either craftily defraud when they injure others, or they do harm to their neighbours by open force. Since, then, they who wrong their neighbours do either openly injure them, or circumvent the simple by their frauds and crafty dealings, Hosea lays down here, in the first place, the deceitful balance, and then he adds their greediness in spoiling or plundering. It is then the same as if he had said that they were fraudulent, and that they were also robbers who proceeded with open violence. He means that they were, without law or any restraint, addicted to acts of wrong and injustice, and were so intent on doing mischief, as to do it either by craft or by open force. There is then no wonder that they were called an uncircumcised race. Why? Because they had nothing to do with God, inasmuch as they had thus departed from his law; yea, they abhorred kindness and mercy. It also follows that they were void of all piety, since they were thus unmindful of all equity towards their neighbours. This is the meaning.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Hos. 12:7. Merchant] Marg. a Canaanite, a heathen, unlike Israel, to whom Canaanites were a reproach (Eze. 16:3). Oppress] Lit. deceive. Men whose trade is deceit, whose balances are unjust, cannot love mercy and do judgment.
Hos. 12:8. Eph. said, in a spirit of disregard to the prophets, and in self-justification, I am become rich, God prospers me; this is a proof that he is not displeased, and that there is no iniquity in me. But these riches were not enjoyed on account of sin. Their attitude towards God and man was the very opposite of right.
Hos. 12:9. I] God meets their delusion by reminding them that he had been their guide, defence, and source of prosperity, from wandering in the wilderness, and to settlement in tents now. Others take this as a threat to reduce them to their ancient helpless condition.
PROSPERITY UNLAWFULLY GAINED AND ABUSED WILL BE TAKEN AWAY BY GOD.Hos. 12:7-9
Israel was not like Jacob, who wrestled with God, but like a merchant who sought to become rich by fraud and oppression. Instead of keeping judgment and mercy (Hos. 12:6), Ephraim prided himself in deceit, and justified his wickedness by its success. But God threatens to punish by stripping them of wealth, and throwing them into privation and distress.
I. Prosperity acquired by unlawful means. When men make haste to be rich, they rush into danger, and care nothing for the means, so that they accomplish the end. Trade is lawful, necessary, and advantageous. Prosperity is a cause for gratitude; but how many have become Canaanites in their character and conduct.
1. Deceit. The balances of deceit are in his hand. Fraud is sadly too common now. Short weight and short measure, trickery and false dealing, evading legal duties, taking advantage of the unwary, are a flagrant breach of the golden rule, and an abomination to the God of truth (Pro. 20:10). That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter.
2. Oppression. He loveth to oppress. Oppression assumes many forms. When artisans are compelled to buy at a loss at their masters premises, when their lawful wages are withheld, or their proper rights trampled upon, there is oppression. In all abuse of power and insolent treatment of others we see oppressive conduct. A bargain is sometimes unmerciful as a robbery, and wealth gained by oppression is of little value. Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without right.
II. Prosperity considered to justify wicked conduct. Ephraim said, Yet I am rich. I have succeeded; I must be right. If God prospers me, it is a proof that I am innocent, and that he is not displeased with me. Men have pleas for their sins, and excuses to ward off conviction from the word. Here we have
1. Prosperity defended in pride. I am rich. Wealthy men are apt to be proud, to forget God, and claim honour and reverence from their fellow-men. Oppressors are esteemed great by the world; but men are to be judged by Gods rule, not by mans rule. Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
2. Prosperity defended in self-righteousness. They shall find none iniquity in me. They protest their innocence, and declare none can find any sin in their buying and selling. None suspect themselves less than the self-righteous and the proud. They see fraud and deceit in other traders, but not in themselves. They glorify themselves, build up their fortunes, defend them by wickedness, and deceive their own souls. Thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
III. Prosperity abused will be taken away by God. God reminds them of forgotten mercy. In all their history he never left himself without witness of his goodness.
1. Past prosperity was the gift of God. In one brief sentence he reviews the past and comprehends the present. I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt. They were in bondage and slavery, and God delivered them. They depended upon him for food, clothing, and guidance in the wilderness. And they were grateful to God once, commemorated his goodness in feasts of tabernacles; but now these mercies are all forgotten. They boasted in their wealth, and sought it independently of God. God will therefore teach them dependence upon him.
2. Present prosperity is the gift of God. From Egypt up to the present time have I the Lord thy God taken an interest in thee. Israels possession of the land and deliverance from enemies, all their glory and wealth, had come from God. We have nothing that we have not received, and we should not boast as if we had not received it. Our skill and fortunes are from God, on whom we all depended. If we attribute all to self, and nothing to him, he will claim his own, and rob us of our enjoyments.
3. God who gives prosperity can easily take it away. He will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles as in the days of old. What a helpless people Israel were, when kings and nobles, rich and poor, left their palaces to dwell in booths! How unsettled their residence, and how slight the tenure of their worldly wealth which they held at the command of God! In God alone is power and stability, true riches and happiness. If we indulge in oppression, pride, and deceitdefend acts of injustice, and trust to unlawful gains, God will reduce us to poverty and want. Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished. Revenues without right can never be kept. When the judgment of God falls upon dishonest trades there will be no shelter. Riches profit not in the day of wrath.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos. 12:8. The shadow taken for the substance. I have found substance.
1. It is folly to take wealth and worldly honours as substance, for they are emptiness and vanity, things that are not (Pro. 23:5; Pro. 27:4).
2. It is wrong to think that we gain substance and prosperity by our own industry and skill. I have found it. We say concerning our houses and fortunes, Look what I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty.
3. It is selfish to think that all our substance is given for our own use merely. I have found me out substance. Wealth, time, talents, and all are given in trust, to be employed for the good of others and the glory of God.
4. It is deceptive to think that wealth sinfully acquired will increase our happiness and protect our souls. The love of ease and oppression, pride and dishonesty, ripen for destruction. The prosperity of fools shall destroy them. In all time of our wealth, good Lord, deliver us.
Find none iniquity in me. Characters innocent before men ungodly in the sight of God. Men considered successful, remarkable for business tact, and held up as examples, condemned and punished by God.
Honesty is the best policy.
1. As a matter of policy.
2. As a matter of principle. Character is property. A man may not be rich in this world, yet be rich towards God and in the general good will of men. As a man can never be truly honest unless he be religious, so, on the other hand, whatever show of religion he may make, he cannot be truly religious in Gods judgment unless he is honest in his conversation towards his neighbour [Bp Mant].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 12
Hos. 12:7-8. Rich. Endeavour to be honestly rich, or contentedly poor; but be sure that your riches be justly got, or you spoil all [Izaak Walton]. He that resteth upon gains certain, shall hardly grow to great riches; and he that puts all upon adventures, doth oftentimes break and come to poverty. It is good, therefore, to guard adventures with certainties that may uphold losses [Bacon].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
REQUITINGEPHRAIM HAS PROVOKED
TEXT: Hos. 12:7-14
7
He is a trafficker, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
8
And Ephraim said, Surely I am become rich, I have found me wealth: in all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that were sin.
9
But I am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt; I will yet again make thee to dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast.
10
I have also spoken unto the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets have I used similitudes.
11
Is Gilead iniquity? they are altogether false; in Gilgal they sacrifice bullocks; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field.
12
And Jacob fled into the field of Aram, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
13
And by a prophet Jehovah brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.
14
Ephraim hath provoked to anger most bitterly; therefore shall his blood be left upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
QUERIES
a.
How is Israel a trafficker?
b.
When did Israel again . . . dwell in tents?
c.
Why mention Jacobs servitude for a wife?
PARAPHRASE
Israel has become Canaan, seeking its advantage in deceit and wrong because, like a fraudulent Canaanite merchant, it has attempted to become great by cheating. Israel is even proud of its unrighteousness, rationalizing that the wealth they have acquired justifies the means taken to obtain it. Let Me remind you, I am the God who led you from Egypt and to this moment I have been the source of all your prosperity, It appears that the only way you will recognize My sovereignty is for Me once again lead you through a wilderness experience where you are totally dependent upon Me, I proved to you over and over that I am the source of your strength by sending prophets to make known My gracious will and exhort you to repentance. I have sent the prophets to preach and teach in every way possible to lead you back to My will. The whole land, from Gilead on the east, to Gilgal on the west, is rotten. Its spiritual worthlessness and wickedness will result in physical destruction and oblivion. I did not even make Jacobs lot as easy as I have made yours. Jacob became a fugitive, served virtually in slavery many years to obtain a wife, and worked at the menial task of tending cattle. Contrast Jacobs lonely flight with your being led by a prophet; contrast Jacobs guarding of the cattle with your being guarded by Me through the prophet Moses. Israel, your failure to remember this and your rebellion against My loving kindnesses has provoked Me to righteous anger against you. You stand guilty and condemned for all your violent, evil, bloody crimes. You will not repent. Therefore justice will be done. Your sentence will be hastily executed.
SUMMARY
Israels pride has caused her to delude herself. She has forgotten, deliberately, that Jehovah is the source of her very being and of her present wealth. God prepares to teach her again to trust in Him.
COMMENT
Hos. 12:7-8 HE IS A TRAFFICKER . . . AND . . . SAID, SURELY I AM BECOME RICH . . . FIND IN ME NO . . . SIN . . . The ASV has in the margin of Hos. 12:7, As for Canaan . . . and also in the margin, a Canaanite . . . The word translated trafficker is literally, merchant, which is the common, or appellative signification of the Hebrew word in the text here, Israel, far from being like the spiritually-minded Jacob, is like the crafty, cheating Canaanite (Phoenician) merchant or trader. The picture we get of Israel here and throughout the history of the northern kingdom is that her driving ambition was to become wealthy and powerful and she was not concerned with the ethics she used in attaining her goal. In fact, Hos. 12:8 represents Israel as an ethical relativist. She believes that the end justifies the means. She thinks she is rich and powerful, and this, after all, is what counts. So who would believe she has committed any wrong that could be called a sin. Alls fair in love and war and making moneyaccording to Israel; but not according to Gods commandments given to Israel. Cheating and robbery were strictly forbidden (cf. Lev. 19:36; Deu. 25:13-16; Lev. 6:2-4; Deu. 24:14).
Ethical relativism (sometimes known as Pragmatism) is the philosophy which says, Whatever works is true and right. Since one thing or one action may work profitably one day and not the next, truth and right can never be absolute. Truth may change at any moment. It becomes relative to every situation. Of course, if there is no absolute standard of right and wrong then each individual becomes the arbitrary judge of what is right and wrong for what may work for one person does not necessarily work for another. Furthermore, who makes the decision as to what works? In other words, is material prosperity the highest what works to aim for? This is what Israel had decided. What else can man conclude when he will not accept the divine revelation from God that there are spiritual things much more important? Actually, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ is not raisedif the apostolic message is not divinely authoritative, therefore falseman is silly to practice any religion or any code of ethics except hedonism (self-indulgence, self-interest). But, on the other hand, if the apostolic message (and we should include the entire Bible) is an authoritatively revealed will of an Omnipotent God, there are values much higher than things.
Israels problem is well summed up in the problem the church of Laodicea. Cf. Rev. 3:14 ff: . . . Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.
Hos. 12:9-10 . . . I WILL YET AGAIN MAKE THEE TO DWELL IN TENTS . . . The people have deluded themselves into believing they are responsible for their own prosperity. God reminds them, in the first phrase of this verse, that He has been Israels source of origin (when He formed them into a nation and rescued them from Egyptian slavery) and He has been the source of all their successes since that time until the present. Since they will not listen to mere words spoken by a prophet, God will cause them to experience once again a period of dislocation, wandering and testing through the captivity. This experience has as its goal calling Israel to penitent trust in Jehovah as they had in the wilderness under Moses, All their riches, power and even their land will be taken away. Perhaps then they will repent and turn to God in full trustsince they will have found there is no security in wealth or power. The dwelling in tents refers to the ceremonies connected with the Feast of Tabernacles (Num. 14:33) which was to call to their remembrance the shielding and sheltering care and protection of God in their wandering through the great and terrible wilderness (cf. Lev. 23:42-43).
In Hos. 12:10 God reminds them of all the intermediaries He sent to lead them, admonish them, teach them and care for them like shepherds tenderly caring for a flock of helpless sheep. The prophets, from Moses to Malachi, were given and used every means at Gods command to turn the people of Israel in Gods direction. Visions, miracles, predictions of the future and expositions of the Law were multiplied. Vividly arresting figures of speech, symbols, parables, metaphors, allegories, types, object-lessons were all used. These people could never claim lack of quantity or quality of communication as an excuse before Gods judgment bar. And, as the writer of the Hebrew epistle puts it, . . . if the message declared by angles was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will.
Hos. 12:11 IS GILEAD INIQUITY? . . . IN GILGAL THEY SACRIFICE BULLOCKS . . . Gilead and Gilgal represent the two halves of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Gilead represents the land to the east of the Jordan which belongs to Israel and Gilgal represents the land to the west of the Jordan. The word translated iniquity is literally worthlessness. The moral decay of the whole nation, brought on by idolatry, will lead to physical disruption and destruction. The predictive present is used in this verse. The prophet looks into the future and sees it as presenttheir altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field. This is what is to happen to their altars to idolatry.
Hos. 12:12 JACOB FLED INTO THE FIELD OF ARAM . . . Earlier Jacob was used as an example of the diligence for spiritual things which God expected Israel to imitate. Now Jacobs long years as a fugitive, slaving away at such menial tasks as herding cattle, all the distress and affliction he suffered in those years, in made to contrast with the many years of prosperity, peace and security the nation of Israel has enjoyed under the protection of God. Jacob had endured his affliction and served the Lord faithfully and in gratitude. Israel, the nation, instead of thanking the Lord for their comfort and prosperity by lave and faithful devotedness to Him, spurned His love, and went after other gods.
Hos. 12:13 . . . AND BY A PROPHET WAS HE PRESERVED . . . No such helpers were given to Jacob. God sent prophets to light the paths of Israel, the nation, by the proclamation of His Word. God demonstrated visibly, many times over, by miracles and predictions through the prophets, His power and His purposes. But it was not given to Jacob, to such an extent, to have the power and purpose of God demonstrated visibly. The nation had privileges and possibilities far beyond those of their father Jacob. God had every right to expect of the nation at least as much faithfulness as Jacob had manifestedeven more. To whom soever much is given, of him shall much be required.
Hos. 12:14 EPHRAIM HATH PROVOKED TO ANGER MOST BITTERLY . . . Israels indifference to Gods love gave provocation to Gods righteous indignation. Unrequited love justly deserves anger. The perfect love of God, when spurned and mocked, merits perfect justice and righteous retribution. If men are moral, if God is moral, if the universe is governed by moral principles, then to repudiate the loving, protecting, sustaining will of the omnipotent God is to morally and justly deserve and deliberately choose the only reasonable and logical alternativethe indignation and wrath of the One spurned. A deliberate, moral choice of wrong can only result in deliberate, moral rejection of good. The crucial question is: Has it been sufficiently demonstrated, historically and pragmatically, or empirically, that God exists, that the Bible is His inerrantly recorded Will for man, that Jesus Christ is His Son, and does the Bible claim to be the exclusive and ultimate Good? The answer is now, and was then, unequivocally, YES! Therefore, man, the moral creature, must make his own decision. He is master of his fate. If man decides against the empirically demonstrated and exclusively ultimate Good, his blood shall be left upon him. If man will not, by faith and obedience toward God, allow God to forgive his sins, then man must pay the penalty for his own sins. If man chooses evil and rebellion against God (which makes man to be in disharmony with his created purpose) then this is what God will permit man to havefor all eternity.
QUIZ
1.
Why use the word trafficker in place of Canaanite? in Hos. 12:7.
2.
What was Israels ethical philosophy?
3.
What is ethical relativism? Do people practice this today?
4.
Why is ethical relativism impractical?
5.
How and why did God intend to make them to dwell in tents again?
6.
How extensive were the opportunities for Israel to know the will of God?
7.
Does the person who deliberately chooses evil deserve the wrath of God? Why?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(7) He is a merchant.The vivid and fierce light of the prophets words is obscured in the English version. The rendering he is a merchant originates from the fact that Canaan (rendered merchant) is often used predominantly of Phnicia, and Canaanites of Phnicians, the great trading race (Isa. 23:11; Job 40:30). Translate: As for Canaan, in his hand are false balances. He loves cheating. The descendants of Canaan (the son of Ham, the abhorred son of Noah) became in their whole career a curse and a bye-word in every religious and ethical sense. The princes of Tyre, the merchandise of Phnicia, were, perhaps, then in the prophets mind. (Comp. Ezekiel 27)
Moreover, the prophet hints that Ephraim had imbibed Phnicias love of gain and habits of unscrupulous trade. The literature of this period contains frequent references to these tendencies in Israel (Amo. 2:6; Amo. 8:5; Mic. 6:10).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
ISRAEL’S UNHOLY AMBITION AND BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT, Hos 12:7-14.
Israel’s sole ambition had been to accumulate material wealth, even by the use of the most shameful means. This ill-gotten gain, the prophet says, will avail nothing, for Jehovah is about to reduce Israel to poverty (7-9). The latter part of the section is obscure, due perhaps to a disarrangement of the verses. They seem to contain a complaint of Jehovah because the people disregarded and rejected the prophets whom he had raised up. This obstinacy makes the judgment inevitable (10-14).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
7. He is a merchant [“trafficker”] Literally, Canaan, without “he is”; hence margin of R.V., “As for Canaan, the ,” is preferable. Addressed to the degenerate Israel. Because of the commercial habits of the Canaanites, including the Phoenicians, Canaan became a synonym of merchant (Job 41:6; Pro 31:24; compare Zep 1:11; Eze 17:4), just as Chaldean, at a later period, became a synonym of astrologer. “Instead of seeking high gifts from heaven, like its progenitor, Israel strives after money and goods, like the huckstering nation of the Canaanites.” Israel adopted also the fraudulent ways of the Canaanites (compare Odyssey, 14: 290, 291).
Balances of deceit Balances with which deceit is practiced. They “doctored” the scales in order to take advantage of the buyer (Amo 8:5).
Oppress Better, with margin, R.V., “defraud.” It is significant that the prophet condemns as strongly the people’s attitude toward one another (compare Hos 4:1) as he condemns that toward Jehovah.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘A trafficker (a Canaanite), the balances of deceit are in his hand, he loves to oppress.’
But Hosea had no illusions about what Israel really were at that time, and he adds the terse comment above, which was a reminder to them of the sins that they must deal with. It indicated that they were unscrupulous dealers, carrying and using false weights, and filled with oppression. They got their way by deceit and bullying, rather than by covenant love (which is totally true and honest) and justice. The stark contrast between Hos 12:6 and Hos 12:7 is deliberate. He wants them to be in no doubt concerning the truth about themselves (compare Isaiah’s ‘we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy (menstrual, and therefore totally ‘unclean’ and abhorrent) rags’ – Isa 64:6).
There is a double entendre here for the word for ‘trafficker’ also means ‘Canaan’ or ‘Canaanite’. They were not only dishonest traffickers but had also proved themselves to be perverted Canaanites at heart, that is, to have Canaan in their hearts.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Another Serious Reproach
v. 7. He is a merchant, v. 8. And Ephraim said, v. 9. And I that am the Lord, thy God, from the land of Egypt, v. 10. I have also spoken by the prophets, v. 11. Is there iniquity in Gilead? Surely they are vanity, v. 12. And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep, v. 13. And, v. 14. Ephraim provoked Him to anger most bitterly,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Hos 12:7. He is a merchant, &c. Canaan holds the balances of deceit in his hands; Ephraim is so called, because he imitates the practice of fraudulent merchants.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Hos 12:7 [He is] a merchant, the balances of deceit [are] in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
Ver. 7. He is a merchant ] Heb. He is Canaan that is, a mere natural man, Eze 16:3 , money merchant, who, so he may have it, careth not how he comes by it; he is more like a Canaanite than a Jacobite. Jacob said, “I have enough, my brother”; but Ephraim is sick of the plague of unsatisfiableness; and instead of keeping mercy and judgment, as in the former verse, he keepeth false balances in his hand and false weights in his bag, Deu 15:13-15 Lev 19:36 Pro 11:1 ; Pro 16:11 ; Pro 20:10 See Trapp on “ Pro 11:1 “ See Trapp on “ Pro 16:11 “ See Trapp on “ Pro 20:10 “ He that hath his hands full of the balances of deceit, and will not loose them to take hold of God, will not part with his fat and sweet (as the vine and olive in Jotham’s parable), though it be to reign in heaven how can it be expected that he should turn to God, or that he should love to be his servant in Isa 56:6 .
When he loveth to oppress
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
He is a merchant. Supply the Ellipsis (App-6): [He, Ephraim, is] a merchant. This is the first of two provocations. See the Structure above; and Compare Hos 12:14.
the balances of deceit = unjust balances. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 19:36).
he loveth to oppress. Money was obtained by oppression. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 6:2; Lev 19:13). App-92.
oppress = defraud.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Hos 12:7-14
REQUITING-EPHRAIM HAS PROVOKED
TEXT: Hos 12:7-14
Israels pride has caused her to delude herself. She has forgotten, deliberately, that Jehovah is the source of her very being and of her present wealth. God prepares to teach her again to trust in Him.
Hos 12:7 He is a merchant,H3667 the balancesH3976 of deceitH4820 are in his hand:H3027 he lovethH157 to oppress.H6231
Hos 12:8 And EphraimH669 said,H559 YetH389 I am become rich,H6238 I have found me outH4672 substance:H202 in allH3605 my laboursH3018 they shall findH4672 noneH3808 iniquityH5771 in me thatH834 were sin.H2399
Hos 12:7-8 HE IS A TRAFFICKER . . . AND . . . SAID, SURELY I AM BECOME RICH . . . FIND IN ME NO . . . SIN . . . The ASV has in the margin of Hos 12:7, As for Canaan . . . and also in the margin, a Canaanite . . . The word translated trafficker is literally, merchant, which is the common, or appellative signification of the Hebrew word in the text here, Israel, far from being like the spiritually-minded Jacob, is like the crafty, cheating Canaanite (Phoenician) merchant or trader. The picture we get of Israel here and throughout the history of the northern kingdom is that her driving ambition was to become wealthy and powerful and she was not concerned with the ethics she used in attaining her goal. In fact, Hos 12:8 represents Israel as an ethical relativist. She believes that the end justifies the means. She thinks she is rich and powerful, and this, after all, is what counts. So who would believe she has committed any wrong that could be called a sin. Alls fair in love and war and making money-according to Israel; but not according to Gods commandments given to Israel. Cheating and robbery were strictly forbidden (cf. Lev 19:36; Deu 25:13-16; Lev 6:2-4; Deu 24:14).
Zerr: Hos 12:7. Merchant is from KENAAN and Strong defines it, “Kenaan, a son of Ham; also the country inhabited by him. The thought of the verse is an accusation that the people of the land had become deceitful, especially their leaders. Hos 12:8. Ephraim (Israel) had become prosperous, and it caused him to be vain and rebellious. (See Deu 32:15.) It was bad enough for Israel to become disobedient in his prosperity, but he even used his condition as a basis for denying that he had any guilt.
Ethical relativism (sometimes known as Pragmatism) is the philosophy which says, Whatever works is true and right. Since one thing or one action may work profitably one day and not the next, truth and right can never be absolute. Truth may change at any moment. It becomes relative to every situation. Of course, if there is no absolute standard of right and wrong then each individual becomes the arbitrary judge of what is right and wrong for what may work for one person does not necessarily work for another. Furthermore, who makes the decision as to what works? In other words, is material prosperity the highest what works to aim for? This is what Israel had decided. What else can man conclude when he will not accept the divine revelation from God that there are spiritual things much more important? Actually, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ is not raised-if the apostolic message is not divinely authoritative, therefore false-man is silly to practice any religion or any code of ethics except hedonism (self-indulgence, self-interest). But, on the other hand, if the apostolic message (and we should include the entire Bible) is an authoritatively revealed will of an Omnipotent God, there are values much higher than things.
Israels problem is well summed up in the problem the church of Laodicea. Cf. Rev 3:14 ff: . . . Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.
Hos 12:9 And IH595 that am the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 from the landH4480 H776 of EgyptH4714 will yetH5750 make thee to dwellH3427 in tabernacles,H168 as in the daysH3117 of the solemn feast.H4150
Hos 12:10 I have also spokenH1696 byH5921 the prophets,H5030 and IH595 have multipliedH7235 visions,H2377 and used similitudes,H1819 by the ministryH3027 of the prophets.H5030
Hos 12:9-10 . . . I WILL YET AGAIN MAKE THEE TO DWELL IN TENTS . . . The people have deluded themselves into believing they are responsible for their own prosperity. God reminds them, in the first phrase of this verse, that He has been Israels source of origin (when He formed them into a nation and rescued them from Egyptian slavery) and He has been the source of all their successes since that time until the present. Since they will not listen to mere words spoken by a prophet, God will cause them to experience once again a period of dislocation, wandering and testing through the captivity. This experience has as its goal calling Israel to penitent trust in Jehovah as they had in the wilderness under Moses, All their riches, power and even their land will be taken away. Perhaps then they will repent and turn to God in full trust-since they will have found there is no security in wealth or power. The dwelling in tents refers to the ceremonies connected with the Feast of Tabernacles (Num 14:33) which was to call to their remembrance the shielding and sheltering care and protection of God in their wandering through the great and terrible wilderness (cf. Lev 23:42-43).
Zerr: Hos 12:9. From the land of Egypt. God has always existed, but Israel as a people first knew Him at the time they left Egypt. At the time they left that country they had to begin living in tents, and the fact was commemorated by a special feast designated by the name. Yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles is a prediction of the return from the captivity, at which time they were to resume their festivities of services towards the Lord. (See Nehemiah 8:17.) Hos 12:10. These various methods of communicating with His people are referred to in Heb 1:1. The present purpose of mentioning this is for a reminder that the people of the land of Canaan were without excuse in their unlawful conduct. Also, when the calamity of exile comes against them, they will have no ground of complaint as if they had been taken unawares.
In Hos 12:10 God reminds them of all the intermediaries He sent to lead them, admonish them, teach them and care for them like shepherds tenderly caring for a flock of helpless sheep. The prophets, from Moses to Malachi, were given and used every means at Gods command to turn the people of Israel in Gods direction. Visions, miracles, predictions of the future and expositions of the Law were multiplied. Vividly arresting figures of speech, symbols, parables, metaphors, allegories, types, object-lessons were all used. These people could never claim lack of quantity or quality of communication as an excuse before Gods judgment bar. And, as the writer of the Hebrew epistle puts it, . . . if the message declared by angles was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will.
Hos 12:11 Is there iniquityH205 in Gilead?H1568 surelyH389 they areH1961 vanity:H7723 they sacrificeH2076 bullocksH7794 in Gilgal;H1537 yea,H1571 their altarsH4196 are as heapsH1530 inH5921 the furrowsH8525 of the fields.H7704
Hos 12:11 IS GILEAD INIQUITY? . . . IN GILGAL THEY SACRIFICE BULLOCKS . . . Gilead and Gilgal represent the two halves of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Gilead represents the land to the east of the Jordan which belongs to Israel and Gilgal represents the land to the west of the Jordan. The word translated iniquity is literally worthlessness. The moral decay of the whole nation, brought on by idolatry, will lead to physical disruption and destruction. The predictive present is used in this verse. The prophet looks into the future and sees it as present-their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field. This is what is to happen to their altars to idolatry.
Zerr: Hos 12:11. This verse is a general statement of the national corruptions of the people of God. Gilead was a large area in the vicinity of Palestine that was supposed to produce healing articles; but it had become tinctured with the germs of a false religion. They are vanity means that all of the devotions to false gods would prove to be empty of any value. The emptiness of the idol worship is likened to the demolished condition of an altar whose stones have been scattered over the ground.
Hos 12:12 And JacobH3290 fledH1272 into the countryH7704 of Syria,H758 and IsraelH3478 servedH5647 for a wife,H802 and for a wifeH802 he keptH8104 sheep.
Hos 12:12 JACOB FLED INTO THE FIELD OF ARAM . . . Earlier Jacob was used as an example of the diligence for spiritual things which God expected Israel to imitate. Now Jacobs long years as a fugitive, slaving away at such menial tasks as herding cattle, all the distress and affliction he suffered in those years, in made to contrast with the many years of prosperity, peace and security the nation of Israel has enjoyed under the protection of God. Jacob had endured his affliction and served the Lord faithfully and in gratitude. Israel, the nation, instead of thanking the Lord for their comfort and prosperity by lave and faithful devotedness to Him, spurned His love, and went after other gods.
Zerr: Hos 12:12. We know that Jacob went into the country far beyond what is commonly understood as Syria. The subject will be clarified by a quotation, from a reference work as follows: Aramaic Languages are so called from AHAM, a geographical term which In old Semitic usage designates nearly the same district as the Greek word, Syria. Aram, however, does not include Palestine, while it comprehends Mesopotamia (Hebrew, Aram of two rivers), a region which the Greeks frequently distinguish from Syria proper. Thus the Aramaic languages may he geographically defined as the Semitic dialects originally current in Mesopotamia and the regions extending S. W. from the Euphrates to Palestine,”-Britannica, Volume 2, page 307. He is called Israel at the time he was serving Laban, although that name was not given to him until he returned to his home land (Gen 32:28); but it had become history at the time that Hosea wrote his book. The Significance of mentioning this was to remind the people of the humble estate of the man from whom they received their name.
Hos 12:13 And by a prophetH5030 the LORDH3068 broughtH5927 (H853) IsraelH3478 out of Egypt,H4480 H4714 and by a prophetH5030 was he preserved.H8104
Hos 12:13 . . . AND BY A PROPHET WAS HE PRESERVED . . . No such helpers were given to Jacob. God sent prophets to light the paths of Israel, the nation, by the proclamation of His Word. God demonstrated visibly, many times over, by miracles and predictions through the prophets, His power and His purposes. But it was not given to Jacob, to such an extent, to have the power and purpose of God demonstrated visibly. The nation had privileges and possibilities far beyond those of their father Jacob. God had every right to expect of the nation at least as much faithfulness as Jacob had manifested-even more. To whom soever much is given, of him shall much be required.
Zerr: Hos 12:13. The dependence of the people upon the Lord is still the thought in the passage. The prophet referred to was Moses, who was given divine power in his leadership of the people, else they never could have escaped from the land of Egypt, and been preserved after escaping and going through the wilderness with all its perils.
Hos 12:14 EphraimH669 provoked him to angerH3707 most bitterly:H8563 therefore shall he leaveH5203 his bloodH1818 uponH5921 him, and his reproachH2781 shall his LordH113 returnH7725 unto him.
Hos 12:14 EPHRAIM HATH PROVOKED TO ANGER MOST BITTERLY . . . Israels indifference to Gods love gave provocation to Gods righteous indignation. Unrequited love justly deserves anger. The perfect love of God, when spurned and mocked, merits perfect justice and righteous retribution. If men are moral, if God is moral, if the universe is governed by moral principles, then to repudiate the loving, protecting, sustaining will of the omnipotent God is to morally and justly deserve and deliberately choose the only reasonable and logical alternative-the indignation and wrath of the One spurned. A deliberate, moral choice of wrong can only result in deliberate, moral rejection of good. The crucial question is: Has it been sufficiently demonstrated, historically and pragmatically, or empirically, that God exists, that the Bible is His inerrantly recorded Will for man, that Jesus Christ is His Son, and does the Bible claim to be the exclusive and ultimate Good? The answer is now, and was then, unequivocally, YES! Therefore, man, the moral creature, must make his own decision. He is master of his fate. If man decides against the empirically demonstrated and exclusively ultimate Good, his blood shall be left upon him. If man will not, by faith and obedience toward God, allow God to forgive his sins, then man must pay the penalty for his own sins. If man chooses evil and rebellion against God (which makes man to be in disharmony with his created purpose) then this is what God will permit man to have-for all eternity.
Zerr: Hos 12:14. Ephraim (Israel) provoked him (the Lord) with his many acts of rebellion. Therefore shall he (the Lord) leave his (Ephraim’s) blood upon him, meaning that the people of Israel were to be chastised for their iniquity.
Questions
1. Why use the word trafficker in place of Canaanite? in Hos 12:7.
2. What was Israels ethical philosophy?
3. What is ethical relativism? Do people practice this today?
4. Why is ethical relativism impractical?
5. How and why did God intend to make them to dwell in tents again?
6. How extensive were the opportunities for Israel to know the will of God?
7. Does the person who deliberately chooses evil deserve the wrath of God? Why?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
a merchant: or, Canaan, Eze 16:3, Zec 14:21, Joh 2:16
the balances: Lev 19:35, Lev 19:36, Pro 11:1, Pro 16:11, Amo 8:5, Amo 8:6, Mic 6:10, Mic 6:11, 1Ti 6:9, 1Ti 6:10
he loveth: Isa 3:5, Eze 22:29, Amo 2:7, Amo 3:9, Amo 4:1, Amo 5:11, Mic 2:1, Mic 3:1-3, Mic 7:2, Mal 3:5, Jam 5:4
oppress: or, deceive, 1Sa 12:3
Reciprocal: Psa 10:3 – and blesseth Psa 36:2 – For he Psa 52:7 – strengthened Psa 73:12 – they Pro 20:14 – It is naught Pro 20:23 – a false balance Isa 10:14 – And my Isa 23:11 – against the merchant city Isa 23:17 – and she shall Jer 5:27 – so are Jer 17:11 – he that Eze 18:12 – oppressed Eze 28:5 – and by Eze 28:16 – the multitude Hos 11:12 – compasseth Zep 1:11 – all the Mar 11:17 – a den Luk 19:46 – General Act 19:25 – ye know Act 24:26 – hoped Rev 18:15 – which
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 12:7. Merchant is from KENAAN and Strong defines it, “Kenaan, a son of Ham; also the country inhabited by him. The thought of the verse is an accusation that the people of the land had become deceitful, especially their leaders.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hos 12:7-8. He is a merchant, &c. Bishop Horsley renders this verse thus: Canaan the trafficker! The cheating balances in his hand! He has set his heart upon over-reaching! On which the bishop observes, God says to the prophet, Instead of turning to me, and keeping to works of charity and justice, he is a mere heathen huckster. Thou hast miscalled him Jacob: he is Canaan. Not Jacob the god1y, the heir of the promise: Canaan the cheat, the son of the curse. The Hebrew word , rendered merchant, is both a proper name and an appellative. And to preserve the ambiguity in his translation, the bishop joins the appellative and the proper name together. Without this, as he justly observes, the whole spirit of the original would be lost to the English reader. All the ancient versions, except the Chaldee, give the proper name. The first words of the verse, He is, not being in the Hebrew, some interpreters, without supplying any thing, render the clause, The balances of deceit are in the hand of the merchant; that is, instead of practising just and fair dealing, which was the way to please God, they made use of unjust weights and measures, and practised frauds, deceits, and cunning, in buying and selling; depreciating those things they wanted to buy, below what they knew they were really worth; and setting a greater value on, and saying more in praise of, those things they wanted to sell, than they really deserved. These deceits in buying and selling are but too much used among us now, though God has so strongly declared his abhorrence of them in the Scriptures. He loveth to oppress The Hebrew rather signifies, He loveth to defraud; to use the arts of cozenage. And Ephraim said Rather, Nevertheless Ephraim said, I am become rich
I have gotten riches, however, by my cunning and deceit, and as that is the case, I have no need to concern myself; for, so I have but riches, none will ask how I came by them. In this description of Ephraim, we may see but too like a picture of many in our times; for riches are too generally and too much the pursuit of mankind, and are generally too much prized; so that if men have but riches, they think they have every thing that is to be desired. Bishop Horsley presents us with a different interpretation of this verse, thus: Nevertheless, Ephraim shall say, that is, the time will come when Ephraim will repent, and say, Although I became rich, I acquired to myself [only] sorrow; all my labours procured not for me what may expiate iniquity. Thus interpreted, the words contain the penitent confession of the Ephraimites in the latter days, wrought upon at last by Gods judgments and mercies.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
12:7 [He is] {g} a merchant, the balances of deceit [are] in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
(g) As for Ephraim, he is more like the wicked Canaanites than godly Abraham or Jacob.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The pride of Israel that needed humbling 12:7-11
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
A merchant who used dishonest scales loved to oppress his customers. Similarly Israel’s oppression of others was traceable to pride in her riches. Much of Israel’s dealings with the nations involved trading that deceit had contaminated. The Israelites considered their wealth a blessing from God that they interpreted as due to their cleverness and His approval of their lifestyle. Really it was due to His grace in spite of their sins.