Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things does the LORD hate: yes, seven are an abomination to him:… I. WHAT IS AN ABOMINATION? The word (as a verb) is of Roman or pagan origin, and denoted the feeling of abhorrence for what was ill-omened. In the moral sphere all evil conduct is like a bad omen, exciting dread and aversion, because boding calamity. In the direct language of the Bible, referring all things immediately to God, abominations are defined as "things that Jehovah hates, and that are an aversion to his soul" (ver. 16). II. AS ENUMERATION OF THESE DIVINE AVERSIONS. The particular number is explained by the parallelism of Oriental poetry generally. It has no direct religious significance. 1. Proud eyes. Literally, lofty eyes. The grande supercilium, or haughty brow, of the Romans. The sensuous expression contains and implies in every case the inner mood. This Divine aversion for pride is deeply marked in the Bible and in ancient thought generally. Pride is an excess - the excess of a virtue of due self-valuation. Therefore it is a disturbing element in the moral world, or God's order. It tends to disjoint the social system. 2. A lying tongue. The liar is thus a solvent of society. It must break up were lying to become universal, and must decay so far as the vice of individuals becomes the custom of the multitude. 3. Hands of violence and injustice. The tyrant is a usurper of God's authority. He "plays such tricks... as angels weep at." The judicial murderer sets at naught the justice both of heaven and earth, the rights of God and of men. 4. The malicious, scheming heart. (See on ver. 14.) That quick "forge and working shop of thought" (Shakespeare) that we call the imagination may become a very devil's smithy, a manufactory of the newest implements of mischief, from the patterns of hell. 5. Feet that speed to mischief. All couriers of ill news, eager retailers of slander, all who cannot bear to be forestalled in the hurtful word, who are ambitious of the first deadly blow. 6. The "breather of lies. (Ver. 19.) The false witness, the lying informer; all who trade in falsehood, and breathe it as their atmosphere. 7. The mischief maker. The instigator of quarrels between brethren (see on ver. 14). All who partake of the leavened bread of malice, rather than of the pure, unfermented, and incorruptible bread of sincerity and truth. 1. Our aversions should be God's aversions. 2. The reasoning antipathy is the counterpart of improper sympathy. 3. Our love and our hate are liable to aberration if not governed by reason and religion. 4. Instinctive antipathy means only that we have found in another something that is opposed to our personal sense of well being; conscientious antipathy, that we have found that which is opposed to the order of God's world. - J. Parallel Verses KJV: These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:WEB: There are six things which Yahweh hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him: |
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