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Worthless people

I took a look at Proverbs 6:16, which says, "There are 6 things the Lord hates - no seven things he detests -"

It goes on to describe several things (I count 9 actually): Haughty eyes

A lying tongue; hands that kill innocent people; hearts that plot evil; feet that race to do wrong; false witnesses who pour out lies; a person who sows discord among friends.

Some of these need explanation, others are quite clear. Haughty eyes depicts someone who is too proud to be counted with the ordinary. They are a step above everyone else. But, think about this in your own life. Those who are proud and will not speak to you because you are too tiny to be taking up their time? You feel inferior to them in so many ways that it even amounts to fear of their reaction? They rush past you as thought they have more important things to do? Do you know some people like that? Or, the horrible question is, are you sometimes like that? Well, I think we can all agree that sometimes we are too proud and we do need to stop this attitude to others, for all people are made in God's image. Being proud is not a happy ending for anyone.

Another aspect of haughty eyes, is someone who may have mental issues and feel too important to share with anyone - or are they simply not willing to see the truth in their own lives - I think of a person who is a psychopath, one who has their own agenda without thinking for a moment about consequences. I once saw a documentary about a psychopath who lived with a person in a shared place. This proud looking person (he had haughty eyes) decided that the fellow renter was the problem and eventually killed that person to be rid of them (in his head). Now, that is closer to the meaning in this context, surprisingly. But, I feel the warning coming to anyone who thinks they are above all other folk in rank and importance and cannot bow down to the level of the normal man or woman. Can it be that this person will move into a very bad place one day if this attitude is not curbed and the person repents? From my own experience, we all need to take charge of our attitudes regularly, revising and changing ourselves in our heads to be less proud and more kind to others.

Eventually, this passage heads back to 6:12 in the deeper mode. The person in 6:12, is called a worthless person, which is a very denigrading title for any human being, but for the sake of Scripture and the translators, it is said. The word actually translates into Belial, the devil's man, so it is an 'evolving' description of someone who allows any of these hateful things to happen to their own character.

Lying tongue: we all know what this is. When I got hacked exactly one year ago, 3 Indian/Australian people literally lied to me in such a way that I was astounded by their horrible news and believed for a moment, a fateful moment when they whacked me and took all my living away (more than one year's income for me). That is a lying tongue in this context because of the following hateful things these people do and did to me.

That same person can go on to even worse things: hands that kill the innocent. That is murder. Taking another's life for no good reason is hateful to God and the person who loves to lie and thrives in an evil way will eventually murder someone.

The next verse displays how they do these horrible things, or how they escalate in their minds first of all.

6:18 A heart that plots evil. Remember, those 3 evil people who stole my living, well, they plotted the hack to the last detail and headed down that dark path until they ravaged my account and my heart as well. They literally tore my heart and trampled upon it to the point that I did not want to live any more. Is that not a warning for everyone who loves lying and getting away with it?

Also, in this verse (b) their feet run to do evil deeds. So these people, finding someone's livelihood and taking it away, feel jubilant as they run for the hills, hearts beating wildly because of their success in their own eyes.

Beware as this is a very bad sign. Remember, God detests this kind of attitude and behaviour and they must answer to their maker one day and that is not a very pleasant thought, but it is the truth. God knows our thoughts before we do because He made us and knows how we tick. God hates this pathway of the wicked as it leads to misery and disaster in all its phases, ending in broken families and death.

In verse 19, it says: A person who sows discord in a family. If you have made problems by whispering in the ears of family members to sow discord (cause trouble for others) and gain favour with someone within the family, for instance, then make amends immediately. This is a false pathway that will lead to your death! Sorry, but this is what God gave Solomon (The greatest king in Israel and in the world at that time), so we must all take notice of our whispering and talking evil about others. It too will lead to death and destruction if it is not curbed.

(Bible hub Cambridge commentary) 12. a naughty person] Lit. a man of Belial. The Heb. word Belial means, “of no profit,” “worthless,” and, according to the Heb. idiom, a man of, or a son of (Deuteronomy 13:13) Belial, is an unprofitable or worthless person. Here, however, the word “Belial” is in apposition with “man,” “a man (who is) worthless, a good-for-nothing fellow.” The word appears to have been personified by the later Jews, and is used in the form Belial, or Beliar, to denote Satan (2 Corinthians 6:15, where see note in this Series).

walketh] The R.V., following the Heb. pointing, is more abrupt and forcible:

A worthless person, a man of iniquity;

He walketh with a froward mouth. (A person who is difficult to deal with - contrary)