(only in the dual) a pair of scales · noun, common masculine dual construct
deceit
מִרְמָ֖הmir.Mah
H4820
fraud · noun, common feminine singular absolute
hand
בְּיָד֛וֹbe.ya.Do
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
loveth
אָהֵֽב'a.Hev
H157
to have affection for (sexually or otherwise) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
oppress
לַעֲשֹׁ֥קla.'a.Shok
H6231
to press upon · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 11:1 A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.
Amos 8:5-6 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the…
Micah 6:10-11 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
Leviticus 19:35-36 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.
1 Samuel 12:3 Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom ha…
Proverbs 16:11 A just weight and balance are the LORD’s: all the weights of the bag are his work.
Isaiah 3:5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the…
Ezekiel 16:3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mot…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hosea 12:7–end
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 (Hos 12:6); 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 I…
merchant--a play on the double sense of the Hebrew, "Canaan," that is, a Canaanite and a "merchant" Eze 16:3 : "Thy birth is . . . of Canaan." They who naturally were descendants of pious Jacob had become virtually Canaanites, who were proverbial as cheating merchants (compare Isa 23:11, Margin), the greatest reproach to Israel, who despised Canaan. The Phœnicians called themselves Canaanites or merchants (Isa 23:8).
oppress--open violence: as the "balances of deceit" imply fraud.
Adam Clarke on Hosea 12:7
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.
John Gill on Hosea 12:7
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…
The Church Fathers
"Canaan in his hand deceitful balance, he loved calumny, and Ephraim said: Nevertheless, I have become rich, I have found myself an idol, all my labors will not find me the iniquity which I have sinned." LXX: "Canaan in his hand is the weight of iniquity, he loved to oppress through power, and Ephraim said: But I have become rich, I have found rest for myself, all his labors will not find him, for the iniquities in which he sinned." Judah had been warned to turn to the Lord his God, to keep mercy and judgment, and to hope in the Lord always, whether he approached him constantly. Now the discourse is turned to Ephraim, that is, to the ten tribes, which he calls Canaan, according to what Daniel speaks to the elder who was certainly of the seed of Judah: 'The seed of Canaan and not of Judah has deceived thee.' And in Ezekiel we read that it is said to Jerusalem: 'Thy father was an Amorite and thy mother a Hethite.' And in Isaiah it is said to the tribe of Judah: 'Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.' In the last verse of Zechariah we read: "And there shall be no more Canaanite in the house of the Lord" ((or "in the city")) (Zech. XIV, 21). But the Scripture says that Canaan, that is Ephraim, holds a deceitful or unjust balance in his hand, commanding, "Thou shalt have Just balances" (Leviticus XIX); not only does he have an unjust and deceitful balance, but he loves calumny and oppresses men by his power. And in case we might think Canaan referred to someone else, the Scripture more clearly shows who this Canaan is. Ephraim said: "Nevertheless, I have become rich;" and the meaning is: It does not matter where I possess, as long as I possess. Many suffer from this disease, about which it is written: "Wealth gathered unjustly will be vomited up again" (Job 20:15) "For the ransom of a life is costly, no payment is ever enough" (Proverbs 13:8). Hence we are commanded to make friends for ourselves with wicked mammon, who can receive us into eternal dwellings (Luke 16:9). But Ephraim, who boasts and says, "Nevertheless, I have become rich, I have found myself an idol," or, "useless," that is, Aven, which will not profit the possessor, has sweated in vain labor. But just as the gluttonous and luxurious belly is a god, so the greedy person worships the idol of gold, and says in his heart: 'I have found…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Balances — Reference to balances is found in (Leviticus 19:36) They were in common use, gold and silver being paid out and received by weight. Reference is also made in (Micah 6:11; Hosea 12:7) to the dishonest…
Balances · False balance used — False balance used
Commerce · Evil practices connected with — Evil practices connected with
Dishonesty · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Israel, Prophecies Concerning · .Of — .Of
Merchant · 10:15,28; — 10:15,28;
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Hosea 12:6-7
6. Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgement, and wait on thy God continually.
6. Et tu ad Deum tuum convertere; bonitatem et judicium custodi; et spera in Deo tuo semper.
7. He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
7. Chanaan! In manu ejus statera fraudis (vel, dolosa;) praedari diligit.
The Prophet is now here urgent on the people. Having referred to the example of the patriarch, he shows how unlike him were his posterity, with whom God could avail nothing by sound teaching, though he was constantly solicitous for their salvation, and stirred up his Prophets to bring back the lost and scattered to the way of safety. Si…
"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 Kena‛an, 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 cheati…
During the reign of Jeroboam II (793–753 BC), Israelite merchants became fabulously wealthy, often by using deceitful business practices like dishonest scales (see Amos 8:5-6). • The Hebrew term translated merchants is kena‘an (“Canaan”). Canaanite traders were notorious in the ancient world for their crafty dealings. The Israelites had imitated their pagan neighbors not only in religion but also in commerce.
Rashi on Hosea 12:7
And you shall return by your God On His promise and His support, which He promises you, you can rely, and return to Him. Only... keep loving-kindness and justice and you may be assured to hope for His salvation always.
