Hosea 12:1-14: a reflection

1Ephraim feeds on wind, and chases the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and desolation. They make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt. 2The LORD also has a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his deeds he will repay him. 3In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he contended with God. 4Indeed, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us— 5even the LORD, the God of Armies. The LORD is his name of renown! 6Therefore turn to your God. Keep kindness and justice, and wait continually for your God. 7A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud. 8Ephraim 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 the LORD your God from the land of Egypt. I will yet again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast. 10I have also spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables. 11If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field. 12Jacob fled into the country of Aram. Israel served to get a wife. For a wife he tended flocks and herds. 13By a prophet the LORD brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved. 14Ephraim has bitterly provoked anger. Therefore his blood will be left on him, and his Lord will repay his contempt.

Amid Hosea's charges against Israel is a pointed portrait of a self-deceived prosperity. Ephraim is pictured as a dishonest merchant, with false scales in his hand, who loves to defraud. And yet, grown wealthy by such means, Ephraim says: Surely I have become rich; I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they will find in me no iniquity that is sin. His very prosperity has blinded him: he takes his wealth as proof of his innocence, unable to see the dishonesty that gained it.

Notice the self-deception at work. Ephraim's wealth, dishonestly gained, has become in his own mind the evidence that he has done nothing wrong. Success has silenced his conscience; because things are going well, he assumes he must be in the right. He cannot see his own sin because his prosperity persuades him there is none. Wealth has become a blindfold.

That is a subtle danger prosperity carries. When things go well for us, when we are successful and comfortable, we are tempted to take our success as proof that we are living rightly, to let prosperity silence the conscience and blind us to our own sin. But going well is not the same as being right; wealth and success can coexist with real wrong, and even conceal it. Do not let your prosperity persuade you of your innocence. Success is no proof of righteousness. Examine yourself honestly, especially when things are going well, and heed Hosea's call: return to your God, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for him.

Lord, Ephraim, grown rich by dishonest means, took his wealth as proof of his innocence, unable to see the sin that gained it; his prosperity had blinded him. Guard me from that self-deception. When things go well for me, when I am successful and comfortable, keep me from taking my success as proof that I am living rightly, from letting prosperity silence my conscience and hide my sin. Going well is not the same as being right. Help me examine myself honestly, especially in good times, and to heed your call: to return to you, to hold fast to love and justice, and to wait continually for you. Let no comfort blind me to my need of you.