Unworthy as slothfulness is, bad and unwise for one to be idle, it is far worse to be active in evil; for this works mischief to others without end. The Holy Spirit first draws a portrait of the dangerous man in verses 12-15, and then presents the evils impersonally, save at the close, which are emphatically hateful to Jehovah in vers. 16-19.
“A man of Belial, a wicked person, walketh with a perverse mouth. He winketh with his eyes; he speaketh with his feet; he teacheth with his fingers. Deceits [are] in his heart; he deviseth mischief at all times; he sendeth out discords. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; in a moment shall he be broken, and without remedy. Six [things] Jehovah hateth, yea, seven [are] an abomination of his soul: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness breathing out lies, and he that sendeth out discords among brethren” (vers. 12-19).
The first term reveals the evil source, the second characterizes him humanly and in general, whatever his position. The tongue, given to praise God and to help our fellows, too surely indicates what he is: he walks with a froward and perverse mouth. It is not merely that he feels no affection, but he has only things awry to say. He likes to differ and to insinuate what is painful. Nor is there candor even in his perverse expression. “he winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers.” He plies his pertinacious and evil activity with the utmost skill. Not only practicing ill, but having pleasure in those that do it, he in an underhand way loves to make others his instruments: a wink of his eyes suffices for one; a shuffle with his feet influences another; and even his restless fingers give a signal to the third. The evil has a root deeper than his perverse mouth “deceits are in his heart.” Other bad men may seek money, pleasure, ambition. His heart has in it frowardness; and to gratify this perverse spirit is his business and life: “he deviseth mischief at all times.” His pleasure is to set people by the ears: “he sendeth out, or soweth, discords.” He that bows to the written word cannot doubt what will be the issue of a course so ungodly and malicious; but even now how often a blow falls on evil in this world! “Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; in a moment shall he be broken, and without remedy.” The day of the Lord will display this judicial dealing publicly, and far and wide; but from time to time there may be a witness that God is not mocked.
To impress the abhorrence with which Jehovah regards malignant iniquity we have specially evil qualities. They are set forth in a more abstract style, which might not be in the same person, that in the mouth of these two divine testimonies every word should be the more established. “These six Jehovah hateth, yea, seven [are] an abomination to him.” Haughty eyes are first, or a proud look; what a contrast with Him Who made heaven and earth, and all that in them is, when He deigned to become man here below! The dependent and obedient man, meek and lowly in heart, Who ever looked up and did only what pleased His Father, full of compassion toward suffering man, ready to forgive the sinful. “A lying tongue” comes next, Jesus was not true only but the truth; He alone. Far from Him “hands that shed innocent blood,” Himself the holy sufferer to the utmost. But in man there may be worse still, “a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,” in hateful and unmistakable resemblance to the evil one. What can be more opposed to Jehovah and His Anointed? “The counsel of peace shall be between them both.”
Do we read of men's “feet swift and running to mischief” The Son tells us of the Father running to meet the prodigal. But man under Satan's power, if he cannot kill or injure physically, may inflict a worse wrong as “a false witness breathing out lies.” The goodness of God Who discovers to us the truth about ourselves leads to repentance; and He is the God of peace, in the fullest contrast with him “that sendeth out discords among brethren.” “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” How hateful to Jehovah is he that soweth discords among brethren!