Proverbs 2:12

GOD'S MAN IS DELIVERED FROM EVIL

"To deliver thee from the way of evil,

From the men who speak perverse things;

Who forsake the paths of righteousness,

To walk in the ways of darkness;

Who rejoice to do evil,

And delight in the perverseness of evil;

Who are crooked in their ways,

And wayward in their paths:"

This paragraph speaks of the seditious and subversive enemies that form the bottom layer of every society. "They wish to subvert the state of things, whether or religious; they are seditious themselves and wish to make others so; they speak much of liberty, oppression, injustice, etc., endeavoring especially to corrupt the youth."[14] Such men are totally destructive, rebellious and critical; and they are bankrupt of any worthwhile purpose.

"To walk in the ways of darkness" (Proverbs 2:13). Christians are specifically warned against the ways of darkness. Much of the world's evil is perpetrated in darkness, due to men's instinctive desire to hide their evil deeds. "The word darkness carries with it two ideas (1) ignorance, and (2) error."[15] To walk in darkness is therefore to reject the true light of wisdom and to practice iniquity. The apostle Paul has commanded us to, "Cast off the works of darkness" (Romans 13:12): and in the same breath he mentioned among those works such things as, "Reveling, drunkenness, debauchery, licentiousness, quarreling and jealousy" (Romans 13:13).

"Who rejoice to do evil" (Proverbs 2:14). This fingers an amazing trait of wicked men; they rejoice in evil! "A malignant joy lights up the countenance of any abandoned sinner at the very prospect of some wicked deed. This is Satanic wickedness; and such men may exclaim with Milton's Satan, `Evil, be thou my good'!"[16]