Wealth (Hosea 12:7-14)

⁷ The merchant uses dishonest scales and loves to defraud. ⁸ Ephraim boasts,  “I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.” ⁹ “I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of your appointed festivals. ¹⁰ I spoke to the prophets, gave them many visions and told parables through them.” ¹¹ Is Gilead wicked? Its people are worthless! Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Their altars will be like piles of stones on a plowed field. ¹² Jacob fled to the country of Aram; Israel served to get a wife, and to pay for her he tended sheep. ¹³ The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt, by a prophet he cared for him. ¹⁴ But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger; his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt.

This passage begins with a fictional merchant (the word can also be translated as a Canaanite and in this case refers to the entire nation of Israel) who rejoices in his wealth. He is very pleased with himself, but he has made his money by cheating others. As we will see, Amos also criticizes the northern kingdom for the same sin, for cheating others by falsifying the scales so the country may have been known for this. Obviously, those who suffered most from the fraud would be the poor. The merchant is also a personification of Israel itself which was prosperous but the poor did not share in this wealth. The entire nation, then, is fundamentally unjust.

In spite of this, the merchant thinks that he has not committed any sin and is someone virtuous. There was a belief that simply by being a descendant of Abraham and doing temple worship the “correct” way that one was vindicated. It’s probably worth noting that the prophet doesn’t attack being wealthy as such but rather cheating others in order to be wealthy. Throughout the Old Testament, God through his prophets, criticizes though who take advantage of the poor for their own benefit. God also warns against complacency and happily enjoying our wealth without thought of others.

God announces that Israel will be punished by having everything taken from them. They will live in tents again as they did after the Exodus and as they do during the feast of tabernacles every year (9). If they’re living in tents, they won’t have any excess wealth and comfortable living standards to gloat over. And, as we already know, this will come about because Assyria will overrun the country and take all their wealth from them. In verse ten, God insists that they have no excuse for their sins because he has warned them over and over again through the prophets. He has told them to take care of the poor, not to worship other gods and in general to keep the covenant with him. They have repeatedly ignored those warnings.

In verse 11, Gilgal and Gilead are mentioned. Both were known for iniquity with Gilgal being a worship center where sacrifice was often offered to Baal. Gilead seems to have had some type of ritual murder in which the priests took part. In verse 12, Hosea returns to the difference between Israel, the current nation, and Jacob/Israel their ancestor. He was willing to act as a servant and take good care of his sheep. God sent the prophets to care for them, and, in particular, he sent Moses, greatest of prophets, who led them from slavery (13). And ultimately of course God is the true shepherd of Israel. The people have refused to repent, in spite of many efforts and so they must face the consequences. Certainly, we all want to live comfortable lives and may become too enamored of accumulating wealth in order to do so. God may be warning us but he speaks to us in many ways. The difficulty is to hear his voice.