A worthless person, a wicked man,
Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,
Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
Who points with his fingers;
Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil,
Who spreads strife.
Therefore his calamity will come suddenly;
Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.
There are six things which the LORD hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
A false witness who utters lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.
Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
Who points with his fingers;
Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil,
Who spreads strife.
Therefore his calamity will come suddenly;
Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.
There are six things which the LORD hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
A false witness who utters lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.
Today's Thought Questions:
- Reread verses 16-19. In your own words, what are the things the Lord hates and detests?
- Solomon says that the Lord hates these things. How can a loving God feel this way? Can you find Biblical examples supporting the fact that God expresses His hatred about certain things?
Verses 12 through 14 describe an individual with a heap of troubling attributes. "Worthless," "wicked," and a "perverse mouth." He "winks with his eyes." Did you know that means "to roll one's eyes"? It's just that our expression is not the same as that of Old Testament times.
"The act or habit of winking was evidently considered to be evil both in its motives and in its results. The idea of its facetiousness, prevalent in our day, is nowhere apparent in the Scriptures. It is mentioned frequently, but is always associated with sin, in the OT, especially in the sense of conceit, pride, and rebellion against God...."
And the description continues. "Signals with his feet," or as the King James says "speaketh with his feet," which all points to what our walk looks like. I'm thinking we're not walking or talking the walk! "Points with his fingers," which suggests there is no talking and merely gesturing. Does that put a picture in your head? Do you like being gestured at?
No surprise, then, that verse 14 says there is perversity in the heart. Based on what we have read, we understand, now, how great a role the heart and its health play in every single thing we do. In a heart that is perverse, devises evil, creates strife, no wonder he carries other issues from head to toe.
The consequences? He will be broken. His distress, sudden and sure. There is no healing, no remedy, no deliverance. Do we want to end up as this worthless, foolish person? Part of why Solomon wrote the book for us, undoubtedly. Knowing what the Lord "hates" and steering clear of such things is part of that wisdom that we need to acquire:
Haughty eyes--Haughty means proud. In the King James, the verse says "a proud look." Proud implies that it's all about us. If that's true, then it's not about God.
A lying tongue--Satan is the father of lies. Enough said.
Hands that shed innocent blood--"You shall not murder." That is a commandment of God.
A heart that devises wicked plans--The Hebrew root for the word wicked, used here, refers to nothingness, vanity and idols. "You shall not make unto Thee any graven image...."
Feet that run rapidly to evil--All we need do is turn a foot in the direction of evil and we will have sinned! God shows grace to those who make a step in the wrong direction. But to those whose feet run and run rapidly...to evil?!
A false witness who utters lies--Speaking lies is bad. Being a witness to an event and choosing to lie is kind of a double whammy, don't you think?
And one who spreads strife among brothers--I like the King James verbiage: "he that soweth discord." There are so many lovely passages of Scripture referring to sowing seeds--the beginnings of the Good News of Jesus Christ that gives us a clean heart and point us to the guiding light of God's Word. Jesus' commandment to us is to love one another, which is a long way away from sowing discord amongst our brothers.
Our study authors ask us to consider how God can "hate" anything, being Him who created love and who loves us with a love that sent His Son to die in our place. The short answer is that God can have nothing to do with sin, thus anything that would take us away from Him would be something God would despise. There is an interesting note in my S.B. regarding verse 16, "Seven [things] which are an abomination to Him." My Bible has a literal translation reading "abomination of His soul." (emphasis mine)
That is so much deeper. We're talking about the soul of God, and what we do is regarded, in the Hebrew understanding, as "morally disgusting" [Strong's].
Photo: http://cdntn.madison.com/images/articles/tct/2009/05/22/109365.jpg
"The act or habit of winking was evidently considered to be evil both in its motives and in its results. The idea of its facetiousness, prevalent in our day, is nowhere apparent in the Scriptures. It is mentioned frequently, but is always associated with sin, in the OT, especially in the sense of conceit, pride, and rebellion against God...."
--International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
And the description continues. "Signals with his feet," or as the King James says "speaketh with his feet," which all points to what our walk looks like. I'm thinking we're not walking or talking the walk! "Points with his fingers," which suggests there is no talking and merely gesturing. Does that put a picture in your head? Do you like being gestured at?
No surprise, then, that verse 14 says there is perversity in the heart. Based on what we have read, we understand, now, how great a role the heart and its health play in every single thing we do. In a heart that is perverse, devises evil, creates strife, no wonder he carries other issues from head to toe.
The consequences? He will be broken. His distress, sudden and sure. There is no healing, no remedy, no deliverance. Do we want to end up as this worthless, foolish person? Part of why Solomon wrote the book for us, undoubtedly. Knowing what the Lord "hates" and steering clear of such things is part of that wisdom that we need to acquire:
Haughty eyes--Haughty means proud. In the King James, the verse says "a proud look." Proud implies that it's all about us. If that's true, then it's not about God.
A lying tongue--Satan is the father of lies. Enough said.
Hands that shed innocent blood--"You shall not murder." That is a commandment of God.
A heart that devises wicked plans--The Hebrew root for the word wicked, used here, refers to nothingness, vanity and idols. "You shall not make unto Thee any graven image...."
Feet that run rapidly to evil--All we need do is turn a foot in the direction of evil and we will have sinned! God shows grace to those who make a step in the wrong direction. But to those whose feet run and run rapidly...to evil?!
A false witness who utters lies--Speaking lies is bad. Being a witness to an event and choosing to lie is kind of a double whammy, don't you think?
And one who spreads strife among brothers--I like the King James verbiage: "he that soweth discord." There are so many lovely passages of Scripture referring to sowing seeds--the beginnings of the Good News of Jesus Christ that gives us a clean heart and point us to the guiding light of God's Word. Jesus' commandment to us is to love one another, which is a long way away from sowing discord amongst our brothers.
Our study authors ask us to consider how God can "hate" anything, being Him who created love and who loves us with a love that sent His Son to die in our place. The short answer is that God can have nothing to do with sin, thus anything that would take us away from Him would be something God would despise. There is an interesting note in my S.B. regarding verse 16, "Seven [things] which are an abomination to Him." My Bible has a literal translation reading "abomination of His soul." (emphasis mine)
That is so much deeper. We're talking about the soul of God, and what we do is regarded, in the Hebrew understanding, as "morally disgusting" [Strong's].
Photo: http://cdntn.madison.com/images/articles/tct/2009/05/22/109365.jpg
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Tomorrow's Scripture Focus and Thought Questions:
Proverbs 6: 20-35
Tomorrow's Scripture Focus and Thought Questions:
Proverbs 6: 20-35
- What are the promises in verse 22 if we keep the teachings of the Bible in our hearts forever?
- Proverbs 6:23 tells us of the importance of discipline. Read Hebrews 12:11. Are you able to recognize the Lord's discipline?
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Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation, specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB). I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (with notes from the King James Version).
Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation, specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB). I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (with notes from the King James Version).
