Matthew Henry Commentary Hosea 12:7-14

"[He is] a trafficker, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress. 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. 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. I have also spoken unto the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets have I used similitudes. Is Gilead iniquity? they are altogether false; in Gilgal they sacrifice bullocks; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field. And Jacob fled into the field of Aram, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept [sheep]. And by a prophet Jehovah brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. Ephraim hath provoked to anger most bitterly: therefore shall his blood be left upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him." — Hosea 12:7-14 (ASV)

Ephraim became a merchant: the word also signifies a Canaanite. They carried on trade on Canaanite principles, covetously and with fraud and deceit. Thus they became rich, and falsely supposed that Providence favored 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 slight that word. We had better follow the hardest labor 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 similar circumstances. Whoever despises the message of God will perish. May we all hear His word with humble, obedient faith.