Hosea xii, 7: “He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hands; he loveth to oppress” (margin, to deceive). Here is the character of a dishonest trader drawn in few words. He is a merchant; therefore it is his business to live by traffic. He must compete with other merchants, or he will have no customers. To do this he must understand, and make use of, all the tricks of the trade. This is only, as he thinks, a necessary feature of the business. So he takes the balances of deceit in his hands. He deceives his customers in matters of dollars and cents; he deceives his own soul in matters of infinite consequence. But he does not deceive the Lord. Every deed is weighed by the angel of God, not in balances that have been perverted to make them give a result such as the sinner would desire, but weighed in balances that will detect the least grain or particle of dishonesty. He did not think while deceiving others that every deed was to be examined by one that could not be deceived. He loved to oppress, i. e., to get dishonest gain by deceit. He did it by balances of deceit, i. e., by balances that made his customers think him honest when he was not, and that enabled him to think thus of himself. To do all this it is not necessary to have the balance by which one weighs, or the measure by which he reckons a false balance, or a deceitful measure. Few persons could deceive their own souls if they dealt in this way. But they learn to deceive in the price, in the character, in the quality, of the article to be sold. And they think it all right because this is the way to carry on business. I am a business man, and these are business habits. They may, indeed, be such, and yet be dishonest deeds in the sight of Heaven. Hosea’s picture is a picture of a self-deceived man. He has arranged his balances to deceive others till he is himself deceived by their apparent truthfulness. How the verdict of the Judgment will surprise him!