Proverbs 16:27-30, Some Types of Bad Men!

November 3, Proverbs 16:27-30

Matt. 26:47-63; 1 Pet. 4:14-15 “If the way to heaven is narrow, the way of the transgressor is hard.”

Some Types of Bad Men!

What descriptive words are used here! Such men are said to be ungodly, evil; sons of Belial. They are forward, perverse. They are violent, fierce, cruel. You have met such, no doubt, for they are everywhere. They are the people who delight to snap the links of friendship and sow strife broadcast.

1. Mr. Blame Digger: An ungodly man digs up evil (27a). This worthless person delights to dig, not for silver but for skeletons in other people’s closets. Blessedly, time heals, but old wounds, long forgotten, are the graves opened up by this son of Belial (Ps. 7:15). He goes to a deal of trouble to dig up bones, from which, like an evolutionist, he can create an imaginary creature! He also is like the demoniac who had his dwelling among the tombs (Mk. 5:3). He too revels in the morbid darkness as he searches for another grave to open. He is in his element only when he is digging pits, and growing thornes and thistles.

2. Mr. Flame Thrower: In his lips there is as a burning fire (27b). Here is a fire-spouting dragon of a man. Wherever he goes he leaves nothing but scorched earth. The fires of jealousy and envy burn within him. Every trust and confidence falls victim to his scathing attacks. His very words are as bad as his deeds; they blight and wither everything in their path. He burns reputations, and anything that is good as well. He is inflamed with an evil passion. Unlike verse 24, there is no honey from these lips, only fuel to ignite the fires of hell (Jas. 3:6-8). How tragic that one could love evil more than good (Ps. 52:3).

3. Mr. Shame Slanderer: He delights to sow broadcast his seeds of wrath heedless of whose reputation his poison arrows may hit.

a. He Suggests. A froward men sows strife and a whisperer separates chief friends (28). He sends out perversities (v.30). We had this word before. It means not only perverse utterances, but also perverse thoughts and devices. His whisper is louder than the thunderclap. Thus he suggests something terrible that even words cannot utter aloud. By innuendo he destroys a reputation, wrecks a friendship, leaves an innocent heart broken.

b. He Seduces. A violent man entices his neighbour, and leads him into the way not good (29). By his seductive speech he attempts to lead his neighbour into the way not good (Pr. 1:10-19). Plausibility is his characteristic pose. He is a man of violence who seduces the innocent to join a gang of crooks.

c. He Schemes. He shuts his eyes,… moving his lips (30). He closes his eyes and tightens his mouth the better to concentrate and mature his next evil design. Thus “one may be sure he is brewing mischief” (Maclaren). His “body language” is the danger-signal that his mind and mouth are united to bring about his neighbour’s ruin, if he can.

Thought: “Whisperers ought to be shut up in the Whispering Gallery.”

Prayer: “Lord, make my words tender, for tomorrow I may have to eat them.”