A hypocrite …
[Proverbs 26:23-28]
Have you ever been troubled by the hypocrisy seen when you look at yourself in front of God and reflect yourself before the word of God? Especially, a pastor like me who peach His word is compelled to worry about my onw hypocrisy that is revealed while preaching and teaching His word. Sometimes, after proclaiming His word, when the indwelling Spirit reveals that I am not living according to the word that I proclaimed and when I am conscience-stricken, I am saddened and discouraged by my own hypocrisy. I reread the late Pastor Han-eum Ok's book, ‘Pastor Han-eum Ok to the Pastor’: ‘In fact, no job is as easy to become a hypocrite than a pastor. No one is more likely to be a hypocrite than a pastor. And if that hypocrisy becomes a bad habit to the body, the conscience will disappear. So you need to know how terrifying you are on the edge of a cliff. Keep this in mind.’ I think this is something to keep in mind and keep in mind. The word comes to my heart that hypocrisy becomes the bad habit to the body, and conscience will disappear. How dangerous is it to become a pastor with a paralyzed conscience or a pastor without a conscience? This is what John Calvin said about hypocrites: 'The hypocrites plausibly conceal their pride with a mask of zeal.’ We must be vigilant and alert about the hypocrisy that hides one's pride with a mask of zeal.
In Proverbs 26:24, the Bible says, “A hypocrite hides hate behind flattering words” (Good News Translation). Today, focusing on this word, I would like to receive a lesson given by meditating on only one thing, focusing on today's text Proverbs 26:23-28 under the heading “A hypocrite”.
One thing about the hypocrite that I want to meditate on is that the hypocrite’s lips is different from his heart. What does the word “hypocrite” mean? The Old Testament Hebrew meaning is 'the one who conceals himself'. In other words, the hypocrite is the one who hides himself. In the New Testament, it was originally referred to an actor who wore a mask on the stage, and later used the word ‘Hipokrites’, which means hypocrite. This word refers to a false attitude that has the form of godliness, especially used by religious people, but lacks the power of godliness. Hypocrisy is a suitable expression when he is a very godly Christian on the outside, but full of lies and hypocrisy on the inside. The representative hypocrites in Jesus' day were the Pharisees. As they had high social status in the Jewish society at the time, their desire to show off their faith was great, and they were seen as typical of hypocrisy, showing off, and pretending. They were hypocrites who disguised themselves as lies and showed off their self-righteousness. Augustine said that just as actors pretend to be someone other than themselves, and that they are hypocrites or actors who want to pretend not to be who they are in the Church and in all human life (Internet). Thomas Watson, a 17th-century British Puritan preacher, theologian, and writer, said this in his book "Repentance": ‘Repentance is necessary for a hypocrite. Hypocrisy is to disguise holiness, and the hypocrite or the stage performer is worse than a moralist by dressing up in religious costumes. He asserts himself in the form of godliness, but denies its power (2 Tim. 3:5). The hypocrite looks like a house with a beautiful exterior, but every room is dark. He is a beautifully gilded, rotten pillar, and hides the wounds of his plague under the mask of his profession of faith. The hypocrite opposes makeup on his face, but wears makeup to decorate holiness. He can be really evil because he is outwardly good. The hypocrite seems to have nailed his eyes to the kingdom of heaven, but his heart is filled with impure flesh. He lives in secret sin against his conscience. He listens, but only through ears. He is zealous for church devotion and in that respect others look at him and praise him, but neglects home and closet prayer. The hypocrite pretends to be humble, but this is in order to succeed in the world. He claims to have faith, but rather than using it as a shield, he uses it as a mask. He carries the bible under his armpit, but doesn’t carry it in his heart. Take the candlestick of the word and examine your heart and see if you can find any repentance there’ (Internet).
Then, I would like to think about how the hypocrite's lips and hearts are different in six ways:
First, the hypocrite’s lips are meek, but his heart is evil.
Look at Proverbs 26:23 – “Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart.” Do you know crispy cream donuts? When I first heard a rumor about that donuts, I remember hearing that eating that donuts will melt my mouth. So, after hearing that rumor, I went to a crispy cream donuts shop and tried the original glazed donuts that were just made, and it tasted really good. I still remember that after my wife edited my Master of Theology (Th. M.) thesis, I asked her what she wanted and she said she wanted 12 crispy cream donuts (dozen). So I bought the dozen crispy cream donuts for her. Of course, there are many types of donuts in that donuts shop. But what I'm going to mention for a moment here is glazed donuts. The term “glaze” is a thin layer of donuts made with sugar. By the way, "glaze" doesn't necessarily exist in donuts only. Fish are also “glazed”, and glaze refers to ‘a film of ice that is covered with fish to prevent drying or deterioration when the fish is frozen and stored’ (Naver Dictionary). Glaze is usually used to color the wood as well as fish. But if you glaze the wood, it looks shiny and looks good. Not only that, but glaze is also applied to earthenware. Glazed earthenware looks shiny and looks better. Glazing the earthenware like this is called “coating”.
In Proverbs 26:23, the Bible says, “Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart”. Here, the phrase “a coating of glaze over earthenware” means ‘the earthenware was glazed.’ That is what it means to be like “an evil heart with fervent lips”. Just imagine it. Although the heart is evil, how would you feel if you painted “fervent lips” on that evil heart? Isn’t this hypocrisy? You have an evil heart, and you wrap it up with kind words. One thing we need to mention here is “fervent lips”. Fervent lips mean “smooth talk”, “flattering speech” or “burning” lips (Swanson). This means that the hypocrite, while having an evil heart toward the other person, speaks smoothly with his lips, ingratiate himself with other person, but disguises his evil heart with words of very warm (passionate) love (Gesenius). Dr. Yoon-sun Park said: ‘This indicates that the hypocrite (the flatterer) speaks unpleasant words, yet expresses it with a passionate kindness’ (Park). Can you imagine the words of the hypocrite who speaks unpleasant words and expresses them with a kindness?
When I thought a person in the Bible who had an evil heart but had wrapped it up with words of passionate and kind love, I first remember a person who poorly wrapped it up. He is none other than Laban, Jacob's maternal uncle. In Genesis 31:1-2, Jacob hears that Laban's sons say, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth.” When Jacob saw the attitude of Laban, it wasn’t friendly toward him as formerly. Looking at this story, I think that Laban wasn’t well wrapped up his heart. The reason I think so is because, even to Jacob, Laban’s attitude wasn’t the same as before. I think the same goes for Laban's sons. I think they also couldn’t hide their feelings toward Jacob well. The reason I think so is because they met with each other to the extent that Jacob heard them. And when they talk about Jacob, they say, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s," and by means of that possession, ‘He has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father’ (v. 1). Of course, they didn't know that Jacob would listen to them. But I think those who really hide their bad heart will be more careful not letting other person to listen to them. In this way, Laban and his sons could not hide their feelings and hearts well. Laban wasn’t able to wrap up (hide) his changed attitude, and his sons could not hide their words about Jacob. So I thought about it a little more. When I wondered who in the Bible could have wrapped up his evil heart with warm, kind words, I remembered the serpent who deceived the first woman of mankind in Genesis 3. Listen to the words of the serpent that deceived her. Listen to their conversation once again:
Serpent: “Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?” (Gen. 3:1)
Woman: “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the
tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’” (vv. 2-3).
Serpent: “You will not surely die, … For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and
you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (vv. 4-5).
How sweet are these words of the serpent. After hearing those sweet words, the woman who shouldn’t see the tree of the good and evil, “saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom” (v. 6). So “she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (v. 6). In this way, Satan paints and wraps his evil heart with kind (meek) words. The best example is the story of the devil testing Jesus in Matthew 4. After fasting 40 days and nights, the devil came to Jesus, who was hungry, and said:
Devil the tempter: “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” (v. 3).
Jesus: “It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of
God” (v. 4).
“Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple” (v. 5) and said: “If you are the Son of God, … throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone’” (v. 6).
Jesus: “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test” (v. 7).
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” and said: “All this I will give you, … if you will bow down and worship me” (v. 9).
Jesus: “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’”(v. 10).
The heart of the hypocrite is evil. But the hypocrite hides his evil heart and wraps it up well. How does he wrap it up well? Just as earthenware is polished with silver, the hypocrite wraps his evil heart with burning lips to make it shiny. In particular, he expresses kindly the other person with warm words of love, so he wraps up his evil heart in a shiny way. What should we do?
(1) We must look at ourselves before God.
In self-examination, if the holy God reveals our hypocritical appearances with his holy Word, we must confess and repent of our hypocrisy.
(2) If there is such hypocrite around us, we should not trust what he says.
No matter how gentle and kindly he speaks, we must not listen to his words. Even if we don't feel love through his earnest words, we shouldn't believe that person's words.
(3) Like Jesus, we must overcome the word of the hypocrite with the word of God.
To do this, we must be filled with the Word and the Holy Spirit. Then the Holy Spirit will enable us to discern the words of the hypocrite. In addition, the Holy Spirit will remind us of the Word of God and make us triumph with how to answer the hypocrite's words and overcome those sweet words of temptation.
As I meditated on this word, I wrote this: ‘Satan's bright red lie, which sounds really sweet, seems to be biblical, but in reality it is 99% the word of the Bible and added 1% to it or minus 1% t it and it is unbiblical. Without the biblical mindset at 100%, everyone will be deceived ....’ Let's yearn for the word of God even more so that we can all have a 100% biblical mindset. May we all be filled with His word so that we can discern his evil heart even through the burning lips of the hypocrite. Therefore, let's not be fooled by that hypocrite's burning, warm, and kind words.
Second, the hypocrite hides his feelings of hate with flattery.
When you feel that someone hates you, do you well hide those feelings of hate? Can you still have a comfortable conversation with that hated person? I don't think it's easy. A good example is Joseph's brothers. Look at Genesis 37:4 – “When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.” Joseph's brothers hated Joseph when they saw that their father, Jacob, loved Joseph more than them. Thus, they could not speak a kind word to Joseph. In the end, Joseph's brothers couldn't hide their hatred toward Joseph. Then Joseph had a dream and talked to his brothers, and the brothers hated him all the more (vv. 5, 8). Eventually, Joseph's brothers didn’t hide their hatred toward Joseph and even tried to kill him (v. 18). Another example is that Amnon, the son of King David, loved Absalom's sister Tamar (2 Sam. 13:4) and raped her (v. 14), and then he hated her with intense hatred “more than he had loved her” (v. 15). This feeling of hate for hating someone is so strong that it is easy to be expressed in any way. This feeling of hate is scary.
Look at Proverbs 26:24 – “A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but in his heart he harbors deceit.” The Bible says that the hypocrite hides this murderous feeling of hate with flattering words. How scary is this? How amazing is it that the hypocrite can hide his feelings of hatred while speaking flattery to the person he hates? Here, the meaning of the original Hebrew word for hypocrite “feeling” means open hostility and conflict (problem) with another person, which means to become enemies with that person (Swanson). In other words, the hypocrite has a feeling of hating the enemy inside, but hides that feeling of hate with flattering words. The hypocrite always cheats in his heart, thinking repeatedly about betraying the enemy (Spence-Jones). Yet, with his lips, he speaks flattery to the enemy. As I meditated on this word, I remembered Judas Iscariot, who sold Jesus. In Matthew 26:49, a large crowd sent from the chief priests and elders of the people came to Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed, with Judas Iscariot and with swords and clubs (v. 47). At that time, Judas Iscariot told the crowd that “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him” (v. 48) and then immediately came to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi,” and kissed Jesus (v. 49). What a cunning hypocrite look and behavior of Judas Iscariot, who came to Jesus with the large crowd sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people to sell Jesus in his heart, and said, "Hail, Rabbi," and kissed Jesus. At that time, Jesus said to Judas Iscariot: “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Lk. 22:48) The author Matthew wrote in Matthew 26:50 - “Friend, do what you have come for.” Jesus knew his desire to sell Jesus hidden behind the hypocritical word and hypocritical kiss of Judas Iscariot. Nevertheless, Jesus said to Judas Iscariot, “Friend, do what you have come to do.” If we look at the LXX, Proverbs 26:24 is written like this: “An enemy weeping promises all things with his lips, but in his heart he contriveth deceits” (Spence-Jones). In other words, the hypocrite hides his feelings of hatred toward a person he hates like an enemy, and he sheds tears to trick him and speaks a word of promise. So, wouldn't anyone be fooled by the hypocrite’s tears? How can we know the hypocrite who deceives his hatred feelings with his tears?
We should not be flatterers like this hypocrite, trying to hide our feelings of hatred. What is the reason? The reason is that the Bible Psalms 12:3 says, “May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaks great things.” We should rebuke rather than flatter. The reason is because “He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor Than he who flatters with the tongue (Prov. 28:23). We must be wary of the flattering words of the hypocrite. In particular, we must carefully discern the flattering words on his lips to hide his feelings of hatred. I wrote this while meditating on the words of Proverbs 26:24 – ‘I think a person who hides his feelings with flattering words is a very scary person even though he must be able to express his feelings of hate toward the other person in any way. Furthermore, I think that it is a very dangerous person who can hide his feelings of hate with tears. We should not be fooled by such hypocrite’s flattering words and tears. In particular, we must stop deceiving ourselves in our own hypocritical flattery prayers and tears before God.’
Third, even though the hypocrite’s speech is charming, his heart is filled with abominations.
When someone speaks to you something good for you to hear, do you feel that person's sincerity in the words? For some reason, I don't really feel that person's sincerity when someone speaks to me something good for us to hear. There are many times when I feel like he says that just for the sake of politeness. In particular, if I know that the other person has bad feelings toward me, no matter how good it sounds to my ears, I will not be able to take it sincerely. How about you?
Look at Proverbs 26:25 – “Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart.” Proverbs 26:25 says that no matter how good the hypocrite sounds, it is because his heart is full of abominations. In fact, as we have already meditated on in verse 24, the reason why the hypocrite flatters us to hear us is to hide their feelings of hatred towards us, so no matter how good the person speaks in our ears, how can we trust his words? Especially if we know that the hypocrite's heart is full of abominations, how can we trust that person's good words? We can never believe his words. If we believe the hypocrite's good words, we are fools.
As I meditated on this word, I remembered such a foolish people. The first fool is Ahab, king of Israel in 2 Chronicles 18. The reason I think King Ahab is a fool is because he hated the true prophet Micaiah “because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad” (v. 7). Instead, he liked to hear the false prophecy of the 400 false prophets favorably saying, “Attack Ramoth Gilead and be victorious … for the LORD will give it into the king's hand” (v. 11). The background of the story is before King Ahab went with Jehoshaphat king of Judah against Ramoth Gilead (v. 3), King Jehoshaphat said to King Ahab, “First seek the counsel of the Lord” (v. 4). After they heard the good-spoken prophecies of 400 prophets (v. 5), Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?” (v. 6) Then Ahab said, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad” (v. 7). Jehoshaphat replied, “The king should not say that” (v. 7). Another foolish people are the Israelites in the days of the prophet Jeremiah. They didn’t listen to the words of the true prophets (Jere. 26:5) whom God sent again and again, but rather the words of false prophets who foretold a lie (27:10, 14-16). In other words, they didn’t hear the word of the God's calamity (26:3, 13, 19) spoken by the true prophet, but rather the word of peace (28:9) spoken by the false prophets. Despite the fact that there was never a situation where there would be peace, the people of Judah heard and believed (28:15) the false prophets crying, “Peace, peace” (6:14, 8:11). The false prophets not only prophesied to them, “Peace, peace”, but also falsely prophesied that “You will not serve the king of Babylon” (27:9, 14). Obviously, the people of Judah heard that God didn’t send those false prophets, but they prophesied a lie in God's name (vv. 10, 14, 15, 16). What a foolish people they are.
I don't think there's anything different now. Even now, as the apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:3, we, who are not wise and foolish, don’t listen to the sound doctrine, but rather want to have our ears tickled, accumulating for ourselves teachers in accordance to our own desires. Even though we know that the teachers are hypocrites, we say “amen” and believe their words that please our ears. How foolish is this. The Bible Proverbs 26:25 tells us not to believe the words of those hypocrites, no matter how good they sound. The reason is because their hearts are full of abominations (v. 25).
We must listen to the sound doctrine. Although the sound doctrine doesn’t please our ears and doesn’t sound good, we must be quick to listen to the sound doctrine. Even we must listen to the words of truth, like the sword of the Holy Spirit that rebuke us. Regardless of whether the word of truth sounds good to our ears or not, we must listen to the word of truth that makes our souls rich since it is the word of God. We can believe in His word because the countless thoughts of God toward us are truly precious (Ps. 139:17-18).
Fourth, even though the hypocrite may conceal his hatred by deception, his wickedness will surely be exposed in the congregation.
Look at Proverbs 26:26 – “His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.” We have already meditated on the words in Proverbs 26:24 that the hypocrite hides his emotion with flattering words. Here, emotion refers to feelings of hate. In other words, the hypocrite hides his feelings of hate as flattery. But when we look at Proverbs 26:26, the hypocrite hides his feeling of hate not with flattering words (v. 24), but by deception (v. 26). d
My personal opinion is that people who don’t express their hate feelings in any form are scarier and more dangerous than those who don’t hide their feelings of hate well and deceive the other person. When I looked for such people in the Bible, I remembered King Saul and David's son Absalom, who were trying to kill David. King Saul, who tried to kill David, was jealous of David with a murderous jealousy, so he made a great effort to kill David. In this way, King Saul was unable to hide his hatred feeling that really wanted to kill David and expressed it to the extent that others knew it. Esau also expressed his feeling of hate without hiding it when considering that he hated his brother Jacob and even tried to kill him (Gen. 27:41). However, compared to King Saul, Absalom hid his feeling of hatred for two years without expressing it. He hated Amnon in his heart when his sister, Tamar, was raped by him. But he didn’t show his feeling of hate and naver say a word to Amnon, either good or bad for two years. He hid his feeling of hatred (2 Sam. 13:22-23). Then two years later, Absalom opened a feast and invited Amnon and all the princes and eventually killed Amnon (vv. 23-29). The feeling of hate hidden in our hearts is scary and very dangerous. If we hate someone, as time goes by, that feeling of hate builds up and we don’t know what greater sin we will commit to that person we hate.
This is what the Bible 1 John 3:12 says: “not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous.” The Bible Genesis 4:4-5 says: “But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.” I remember when Joseph's brothers saw that their father Jacob loved Joseph more than themselves, they hated Joseph and could not speak a kind word to him (Gen. 37:4). Eventually Cain struck his brother Abel and killed him (4:8). At that time, one of the words that God said to Cain was “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it” (v. 7). Cain was not doing what was right in the eyes of God, so sin was crouching at the door of his heart. Like a tiger holding sharp claws and aiming for prey, the devil was lurking in front of the door of Cain’s heart to deceive him and make him do evil. And Cain couldn’t overcome sin and made sin to control him, and eventually committed murder, killing his own younger brother Abel.
Now the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Therefore, the Bible tells us, “Be self-controlled and alert” (1 Pet. 5:8). Particularly, it is the hatred that Satan instills in our hearts that we must be alert. And Satan makes us refuse to forgive those whom we hate. In other words, Satan makes us sin against God by making us disobey His word to forgive others and by making us to disobey His word to love them. And Satan keeps on making us to hate people. What is the result? This is what the Bible 1 John 2:11 says: “But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” After all, Satan is constantly trying to blind us by making us continue to live in darkness. As a result, we don’t even know where we are going, and in confusion we are guilty of violating God's word. But we must keep in mind. Our holy God, who sees our hearts, is the God who reveals even our hate feelings that are hidden by deception in our hearts. Look at Proverbs 26:26 – “His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.” Our sinful instinct is to conceal and hide our sins and wrap and cover them up. But our God is the God who reveals and exposes our hidden sins. Look at Ephesians 5:11-13: “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible.” Doesn't the light reveal everything? Likewise, when God's holy light shines on us, not only the things we secretly do, but all the sins that are hidden in us are bound to be exposed and revealed. Do you remember David secretly slept with Uriah's wife, Bath-sheba and killed Uriah in order to cover up her pregnancy? But God sent the prophet Nathan to David and said: “You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel” (2 Sam. 12:12).
Why does God reveal our secret sins? Why does God expose to the public even the hatred of the other person hidden in our hearts? No matter how much we hide our feelings of hatred deep in our hearts by deception, why does God make our wickedness visible before the congregation? (Prov. 26:26) I looked for the reason in 1 John: (1) The first reason is to help us realize that if we say we love God and hate our brothers, we are liars. Look at 1 John 4:20 – “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (2) The second reason is to help us realize that if we hate our brothers, we are murderers, and those who murder don’t have eternal life in them. Look at 1 John 3:15 – “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” In the end, God reveals even the hateful feelings we have hidden in our hearts before the congregation in order first to reveals His holiness and also gives us an opportunity to confess and repent of our lies and our murderous sins. When given such an opportunity, we must confess and repent our sins before our holy God and before the congregation. Of course, our nature is to hide and cover up our sins even when they are revealed. But we must immediately confess and repent our sins like David, who was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22).
Fifth, the hypocrite digs a pit, but he will fall into it.
I remember singing the Korean gospel song called ‘Oh, our souls are escaped’ long time ago. The lyric goes like this: ‘Oh our souls have escaped like a bird from the snare of the hunters/ Oh our souls have escaped like a bird in the snare of the hunters/ Oh the snare is broken, we are freed, Our help is the Lord’s name (2x).’ When I was a child, I remember often singing this song at the Church's Children Sunday School. Perhaps, in my memory, there was also dance to this song. I didn’t know that the lyric of this song is based on the words of the Bible until later. That word of God is Psalms 124:7-8: “We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” This word is about the psalmist speaking to the Israelites as he went up to the temple: “If the Lord had not been on our side” (v. 1), then the enemies of Israel would have swallowed the Israelites alive (v. 3), the flood would have engulfed them (v. 4) and would have swept them away (vv. 4, 5) when they attacked the Israelites (v. 2). That is, when the Israelites were in the midst of incompetence to do nothing in extreme tribulation, they cried out to God. Then God, who made the heavens and the earth, delivered the Israelites and freed them, like a bird freed from the snare of a hunter. The God who helps us is the God who delivers us and sets us free. Even though Satan puts a snare on us like a hunter and makes us trapped in a cage, the God who made the heavens and earth to help us is the God who breaks the snare and frees us. Therefore, God allows us to enjoy freedom in the Lord.
This God's salvation was not only experienced by the Israelites as spoken in Psalms 124. Looking at Acts 23, the apostle Paul also experienced God's salvation. According to the words of the book of Acts 23, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul and there were more than 40 men who were involved in this plot (Acts 23:12-13). They were all hiding and preparing to kill Paul (v. 21). However, God informed Paul of the conspiracy through Paul's nephew, and Paul asked one of the centurions to lead his son to the commander (vv. 16-17). As a result, the commander called two of his centurions and ordered them to get ready a detachment of 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen to go to Caesarea (v. 23). As a result, Paul was able to safely arrive in Caesarea (v. 33). Although the people who were against the Lord and against the servant of the Lord even tried to kill the servant of the Lord Paul, God who helped the servant of the Lord delivered Paul from their hands.
Satan and his people don't know how determined they are to take us out of the faith. As if the 40 people who were allied to kill Paul didn’t eat or drink until Paul was killed, Satan and his people don’t know how determined to kill our faith. They are planning a strategy and even ambush, and their only purpose is to disengage us from our faith in Jesus, betray the Lord and try to make us leave Him. One of their operations is a trap. They dig traps and, outwardly, wrap them up to cover them up and place them on our journey of faith. At that time, if we aren’t self-controlled and alert and pray, we will fall into the Satan’s trap and sin against God since our spirit is willing but our body is weak. But even in the midst of that, our God works for the good, making us to hope for the God of salvation and pray for it with faith. In the end, He rescues us from the trap and makes the Satan’s people who set the trap to fall into it.
Look at Proverbs 26:27 – “If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it; if a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him.” Here the word “pit” means the original Hebrew word for a pit that was dug to catch a lion (Brown). When I thought of the meaning of this word, I thought of Daniel's lion's den. When Darius the Medite was king, he had three administrators, one of whom was Daniel. However, because Daniel was so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom (Dan 6:1-3). At that time, the other two administrators and officials who were jealous of Daniel throw Daniel into the lions' den. However, the result is that Daniel is delivered without any injury to his body from the lion's den by believing in his God (v. 23). But do you know what has happened since then? “The king then gave orders, and they brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel, and they cast them, their children and their wives into the lions' den” (v. 24). As a result, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones even before they had reached the bottom of the den (v. 24). Eventually, they fell into the lion's den, a pit they had dug, according to Proverbs 26:27.
There is a Korean proverb saying ‘You dig your own grave.’ What it means is a metaphor for doing foolish things that ruin yourself (Internet). When I think of this word, I think of Jeremiah 2:13 – “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” The people of Judah in this word dug their own graves. The people of Judah have committed a foolish sin of ruining themselves. God is saying two things about the foolish sin of digging their own graves: (1) They forsook God, the spring of living water and (2) They dug their own cisterns. The people of Judah, who were digging their own cisterns, forsook God and pursued “worthless idols” (vv. 5, 8, 11). That worthless thing was to serve a god other than God that was idolatry. The people of Judah turned their backs to God, and their faces turned to the gods they made (vv. 27-28). To the apostate and rebellious people of Judah, God said through the prophet Jeremiah: “Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me," declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty” (v. 19). God said to the people of Judah who forsook God and chose idols, it is evil and bitterness that there is no awe of God in them (v. 19). The people of Judah, who dug their own cisterns, chose the path of suffering for themselves.
In Psalms 35:7, the Bible says that those who plot to ruin David (v. 4) hid their net for David and dug a pit to capture David without cause (v.7). When I think about the David's adversaries, who for no reason hid their net and dug the pit to capture David, the hypocrite hides his feeling of hatred and even digs a trap to harm those he hate. However, the Bible says that they will fall into the trap they have made. The Bible says that even if a man rolls a stone and tries to hit the other person, he will be hit by the stone (Prov. 26:27; Ref.: Ps. 35:7). Think about it. To roll a stone down, you must first roll it up the hill and climb it. But what if an accident happens while rolling the stone up the hill? Wouldn't the stone be rolled down on him rather than hit someone he hates? What does it mean? The hypocrite acts to destroy others, but because of that behavior, he finally ruin himself (Park).
What should we do? We must look to God. Like the prophet Jonah, who was in the deep sea in a great fish, yet looed again toward God’s holy temple (Jonah 2:4), we must look to God again in the pit like the deep cisterns. The reason is because “Salvation comes from the Lord” (v. 9). Even though our eyes may see that the situation we are facing has no hope of being saved (Acts 27:20), so even if we want to give up our lives, we must look to the God who made the heavens and the earth. And we must cry out to God. We must ask God to keep us from the snares they have laid for us, from the traps set by evildoers (Ps. 141:9). In the midst of that, we must hear God's voice and have hope and assurance of salvation (Acts 27:23-25). We must pray with the faith that God will deliver us from the hypocrite who hates us and laid the trap. Then God will deliver us from the trap and put the hypocrite who wants to harm us into that trap.
Sixth and last, the hypocrite lies.
Don’t you think that hating the other person in your heart but being kind to that person outwardly is a lie? According to Proverbs 26:23, this is to hide (conceal) one's feelings of hatred by deception. Isn't this a lie? We must first be honest with ourselves before a holy God. If we hate someone in our hearts but smile and talk kindly to hide our feelings of hate on the outside, we are not only fooling the other person, but also ourselves as well. This is far from being honest. We Christians must be honest. We should have no lies or embellishments in our hearts. We must be truthful. First we must be truthful to God, and also be truthful to ourselves before God. In the meantime, we must be truthful to our neighbors as well. To do that, we must obey God's word of truth. Therefore, our hearts must be made true. In doing so, we can prevent lies from penetrating our hearts.
Look at Proverbs 26:28 – “A lying tongue hates those it crushes, And a flattering mouth works ruin.” The Bible says, “A lying tongue hates those it crushes ….” What does it mean? The liar has someone whom he hates, and he hurts (harms) the person whom he hates. Usually the liar hates someone and hurts that person. How does he hurt that person? The liar usually hurts his reputation by slandering the person he hates (Walvoord). Have you ever actually experienced this? Has anyone who hated you ever hurt you by blaming you for absurd lies or spreading bad rumors? If the liar hates someone like this, he will do anything to harm the one whom he hates. Would he just lie? Even if the liar flatters, he will try to deceive and harm someone he hates (v. 28).
The more we are hypocrites, the more our conscience becomes paralyzed. And the more our conscience becomes paralyzed, the more we are bound to become liars by hypocrisy (1 Tim. 4:2). But the Bible tells us not to lie to one another (Col. 3:9). It is an act of the old self (v. 9). Therefore, we must hate lies (Prov. 13:5). We must not lie against truth (Jam. 3:14). In particular, we must not commit lies by not keeping the commandments of God while saying that we know God (1 Jn. 2:4). One of God's commandments is to love your neighbor. But when we say that we love God and hate our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we are lying (4:20). We must not be false witnesses who tell lies not only with our lips, but also with our actions and lives (Prov. 14:5). Rather, we must be true and faithful witnesses of God. We must testify that Jesus is the Christ. Not only we must preach the gospel of Jesus Christ with our lips, but also with our lives that are worthy of the gospel. Therefore, I hope and pray that all of us live the life of God's sincere and faithful witnesses who give glory to God.
Under the heading “The hypocrite…,” we meditated on six ways how the lips and hearts of the hypocrite are different: (1) The hypocrite’s lips are meek, but his heart is evil, (2) The hypocrite hides his feelings of hate with flattery, (3) Even though the hypocrite’s speech is charming, his heart is filled with abominations, (4) Even though the hypocrite may conceal his hatred by deception, his wickedness will surely be exposed in the congregation, (5) The hypocrite digs a pit, but he will fall into it, and (6) The hypocrite lies. This is what Jesus said in Matthew 23:25 – “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.” Also, the hypocrite honors God with his lips, but his heart is far from God (Mk. 7:6). We should no longer practice this hypocrisy. We must confess and repent our sins. We should no longer be living in discord with different hearts and lips. Rather, we must be truthful. Our hearts must be truthful, of course, but our lips must also be truthful as well. Then, he who walks blamelessly will be delivered (Prov. 28:18).