7 A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand.
He loves to defraud. 8 Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich,
I have found myself wealth.
In all my wealth they won’t find in me any iniquity that is sin.” 9 “But I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt.
I will yet again make you dwell in tents,
as in the days of the solemn feast. 10 I have also spoken to the prophets,
and I have multiplied visions;
and by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables. 11 If Gilead is wicked,
surely they are worthless.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls.
Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field. 12 Jacob fled into the country of Aram,
and Israel served to get a wife,
and for a wife he tended flocks and herds. 13 By a prophet Yahweh brought Israel up out of Egypt,
and by a prophet he was preserved. 14 Ephraim has bitterly provoked anger.
Therefore his blood will be left on him,
and his Lord will repay his contempt.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Hosea 12:7-14
Commentary on Hosea 12:7-14
(Read Hosea 12:7-14)
Ephraim became a merchant: the word also signifies a Canaanite. They carried on trade upon Canaanitish principles, covetously and with fraud and deceit. Thus they became rich, and falsely supposed that Providence favoured them. But shameful sins shall have shameful punishments. Let them remember, not only what a mighty prince Jacob was with God, but what a servant he was to Laban. The benefits we have had from the word of God, make our sin and folly the worse, if we put any slight upon that word. We had better follow the hardest labour in poverty, than grow rich by sin. We may form a judgment of our own conduct, by comparing it with that of ancient believers in the like circumstances. Whoever despises the message of God, will perish. May we all hear his word with humble, obedient faith.