A Picture of Spite
E. Johnson Proverbs 6:12-15 A naughty person, a wicked man, walks with a fraudulent mouth.… I. THE SPITEFUL MAN DEFINED GENERALLY. (Ver. 12.) He is "naughty," the old English word being expressive; otherwise "a thing of naught," a "slight man" (Shakespeare); in German heilloss, "unsound," "unworthy," and so worthless. Gather up the sense and force of these adjectives, and we get the idea comprehensively of badness, the sensuous counterpart of which is rottenness, corruption. II. HIS CHARACTERISTICS. (Vers. 13, 14) 1. In mien and gesture and language. His mouth is twisted to a false expression, and utters false things. There is an obliquity and uncertainty in his glance (comp. Proverbs 10:10). He is full of shy tricks and hints - the thrust of the foot, nudges and signs with his fingers. "The shrug, the 'hum!' the 'ha!' those petty brands that calumny doth use" (Shakespeare). 2. In spirit perverse. It is a nature awry, inwardly deformed. Busily inventive, scheming mischief, breeding quarrels (comp. on Proverbs 3:29). It is a mind naturally active and curious, which, disabled from good, swings inevitably to the other extreme. III. HIS DESTINY. An overthrow, sudden, utter, irremediable. 1. This is described constantly as the common doom of all kinds of wickedness. 2. The Bible makes sharp distinctions, and opposes characters in an absolute manner. Fine distinctions would run into the infinite. But we must make them in every particular case. 3. The doom ever stands in the relation of correspondence to the guilt. - J. Parallel Verses KJV: A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. WEB: A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth;