JAMES A.E. MACLELLAN: The Sayings of the Wise

Friday, November 3, 2017

The Sayings of the Wise – Part 24

THIRTY SAYINGS OF THE WISE

SAYING NUMBER TWENTY-THREE

Proverbs 24:8–9 (ESV)

⁸ Whoever plans to do evil will be called a schemer. ⁹ The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

The key word in this couplet is the word “schemer” and the conclusion is summed up in the word “abomination”. This “deviser of evil” plans his evil schemes and is repulsive to mankind everywhere. “Those who plan to do evil (v. 8) quickly get a reputation for it.”^{^[1]} “His coldly calculated actions to defraud society shows he is neither intellectually dull nor emotionally impulsive.”^{^[2]} This activity is called for what it is: sin.

The premeditated engineering of evil, devoid of any moral compass except personal desire is sin. It is seen for what it is and it is seen by the community at large. Paul describes those who have turned from God and are therefore given to such wicked minds as: “slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,” (Romans 1:30, ESV). Note “inventors of evil”. Where does evil come from? James 1:14–15 (ESV) defines the process this way:

¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Matthew Henry comments: “We contract guilt, not only by the act of foolishness, but by the thought of it, though it go no further; the first risings of sin in the heart are sin, offensive to God, and must be repented of or we are undone.”^{^[3]}

This person does not repent, but rather is a “mocker”. They speak boastfully. They are proud of their sinful scheming. There is a warning here. The Scriptures speak of a better way:

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1–2, ESV)