Midrash for Hosea 2:7

Rabbi asked Rabbi Betzalel: What is that which is written: “For their mother has committed harlotry” (Hosea 2:7)? Is it possible that Sarah our matriarch was a harlot? He said to him: ‘Heaven forbid; rather, when are matters of Torah rendered contemptible before the common people? It is when their owners debase them.’ Rabbi Yaakov bar Avdimi came and rendered it a [midrashic] dictum: When do matters of Torah become like harlots before the common people? When their owners debase them. Rabbi Yoḥanan derives it from here: “The poor man’s [misken] wisdom is contemptible” (Ecclesiastes 9:16). Was the wisdom of Rabbi Akiva, who was poor, contemptible? Rather, what is a misken? It is one who is contemptible in his words, like an elder who sits and teaches: “You shall not pervert justice” (Deuteronomy 16:19), and he perverts justice; “you shall not show partiality” (Deuteronomy 16:19), and he shows partiality; “you shall not afflict any widow or orphan” (Exodus 22:21) and he afflicts them. Samson followed his eyes, as it is stated: “Take her for me, as she is fitting in my eyes” (Judges 14:3). Gideon worshipped idols, as it is stated: “Gideon made it into an ephod” (Judges 8:27). Woe to a judge who shows partiality in judgment.
Rabbi Ḥiyya taught: “You shall not do injustice in judgment” (Leviticus 19:15) – this teaches that a judge who corrupts judgment is called by five names: unjust, hated, detestable, proscribed, abomination. The Holy One blessed be He calls him five: wicked, blasphemer, violator of the covenant, one who infuriates, and defiant. He causes five results in the world; he defiles the land, desecrates the Name, expels the Divine Presence, causes Israel to fall by the sword, and exiles them from their land. Woe to the generation that is corrupted in this way.
Rabbi Ḥiyya taught: “You shall not do injustice in judgment [in measure, in weight, or in volume]” (Leviticus 19:35) – in a judicial ruling. If it is about judicial rulings, it is already stated about judicial rulings!³⁵In the verse cited above, Leviticus 19:15: “You shall not do injustice in judgment.” If so, why is it stated, “…in judgment in measure [in weight, or in volume]”? It teaches that one who measures is called a judge, and if he falsifies, he is called five names and he causes five results. Woe is the generation whose measures are false, as Rabbi Benaya said in the name of Rabbi Huna: If you see a generation whose measures are false, a kingdom comes and besets that generation. What is the reason? “Scales of deceit are an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 11:1), and it is written: “Pride comes, shame comes” (Proverbs 11:2).
Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Abba: It is written: “Will I find merit with scales of wickedness, [or with a pouch of deceitful weights?]” (Micah 6:11). Is it possible that a generation whose measures are false will find merit? Rather, “in a pouch of deceitful weights.”³⁶They will be left with a purse filled with counterfeit coins. The midrash is reading the second half of the verse, “or with a pouch of deceitful weights” not as the continuation of the rhetorical question, but as the answer to “Will I find merit with scales of wickedness?” Rabbi Levi said: Moses indeed alluded this to Israel in the Torah: “You shall not have in your purse [alternate weights]” (Deuteronomy 25:13); “you shall not have in your house alternate measures” (Deuteronomy 25:13), and if he did so, ultimately, a kingdom will come and beset them, as it is written: “As it is an abomination to the Lord anyone who does [oseh] so, anyone who does [oseh] injustice” (Deuteronomy 25:16), and it is written: “Remember what Amalek did [asah] to you, on the way, as you were leaving Egypt” (Deuteronomy 25:17).

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