Proverbs 21:7
"The violence of the wicked will drag them away, because they refuse to act with justice"
The word, translated violence, is the Hebrew word sod which means havoc, chaos, violence. The wicked person creates havoc and violence through their intimidation and impulsiveness.
It is this havoc, chaos, and violence that drag them into further wickedness and destruction. They are about imposing what they want. A wicked person is a person who has decided to live outside of God's moral boundary structure. They want what they want. They create chaos through sexual license, shouting, intimidation, cursing, stealing, lying. The wicked person seeks to maintain what they want through almost any means. This creates its own chaos and disorder.
The word justice is the word misphat which is the normal word for judgment, governmental order, and good decisions within a governmental structure. The idea here seems to be that the wicked person uses violence and intimidation to get what they want. They are not used to making measured decisions from objective criteria. It is this impulsive, selfish, intimidating – even violent – decision process that ends up destroying the life of the wicked.
It is important to note that Solomon puts this insight here to warn us about the end result of the people who live outside God's moral boundary structure but also to warn us from moving in this direction.
I have seen a number of people who are not wicked but are on their way. They allow anger and pride to drive them to bully others into getting what they want. They do not like to be told NO by a good decision-making process. I have seen families dragged into chaos because a husband won't allow his temper to be controlled by good decision-making. I have watched companies dragged into chaos because one or both of the top executives did not want to have their top idea stopped because a good process of decision making showed it to be a bad move at this time. I have watched parents fight, argue, and intimidate their children and then wonder why they don't have a loving family and why the children rebel and want to move away from them as soon as they can.
If you or I embrace the process of leadership through violence, intimidation, anger, or any other means just to get our own way instead of using a sound process of decision making to come to a good decision, we will drag our families, companies, and even churches and civic organizations into chaos and violence.
Good decision-making processes are essential for living a wise life. What process do you have that allows you to end up with a wise decision, not necessarily the one you want?
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz