Proverbs 6:12-15

The Worthless Man (Proverbs 6:12).

This first part, defining the worthless man, may be seen chiastically,

A A worthless person, a man of iniquity (Proverbs 6:12 a).

B Is he who walks with a perverse mouth (Proverbs 6:12 b).

C Who winks with his eyes, who scrapes/stamps with his feet, who makes signs with his fingers (Proverbs 6:13).

D In whose heart is perverseness (Proverbs 6:14).

C Who devises evil continually (Proverbs 6:14 b).

B Who sows discord (Proverbs 6:14 c).

A Therefore will his calamity come suddenly, suddenly he will be broken, and that without remedy (Proverbs 6:15).

In A the man is a worthless and iniquitous person, and in the parallel he is therefore doomed to calamity. In B he walks with a perverse mouth, and in the parallel he sows discord. In C he makes rude and deceitful gestures with eyes, feet and fingers, and in the parallel he devises evil continually. Centrally in D his heart is perverse.

Proverbs 6:12

‘A worthless person, a man of iniquity,

Is he who walks with a perverse mouth,

Who winks with his eyes, who scrapes/stamps with his feet,

Who makes signs with his fingers.'

Note that he describes the man without addressing him. He does not expect any response from such a man, for he is ‘a man of belial', a worthless person. Such ‘worthless men' seek to lead others into idolatry (Deuteronomy 13:13). The sons of Eli were ‘sons of belial', worthless sons who defiled the worship of YHWH (1 Samuel 2:12). Those who imagined evil against YHWH counselled worthlessness (belial) (Nahum 1:11). Those who rejected YHWH's chosen king and despised him were called ‘sons of belial' (1 Samuel 10:27; 2 Samuel 20:1). Those who bore false testimony against Naboth were characterised as ‘men of belial, and were chosen because they were ‘sons of belial' (1 Kings 21:10; 1 Kings 21:13). ‘Sons of belial' demanded the right to have homosexual relations against his will with the Levite in Judges 19:22. So a man of belial is totally worthless, takes no account of YHWH, despises justice, and sinks to the lowest level of deed.

The characteristics of this ‘worthless man' are now described. In his walk he speaks perversely. As he goes on life's way he has a perverse mouth. A perverse mouth was something which Solomon in Proverbs 4:24 had told his ‘son' to put away. Nothing such a man says can be relied on (he has ‘a lying tongue'- Proverbs 6:17). Thus he will happily bear false testimony on oath (Proverbs 6:19; Proverbs 19:28; 1 Kings 21:10). He uses his words to cause dissension and trouble (he ‘sows discord among brothers' (Proverbs 6:19; Proverbs 16:27). He is a troublemaker and peace disturber.

‘He winks with his eyes.' Winking with the eye is an indication that he is involved in deceit, and wants others to know it, apart possibly from his victim. (This is not ‘a cheeky wink'). He is someone not to be trusted. Even his actions are deceitful. Thus elsewhere we learn that a man who winks with his eye can be relied on to cause sorrow (Proverbs 10:10). He is one who is confident that he will get away with his misdeeds (Psalms 35:19). In early Jewish tradition he who winked with the eye was seen as ‘a contriver of evil things' (Sir 27:22).

‘He scrapes/stamps with his feet.' (The meaning of the verb is uncertain. The Targum translates as ‘stamped', but elsewhere it indicates scraping). Like the wink with the eye the scraping of the feet was intended to be a rude or threatening gesture, possibly not noticed by the person whom he was insulting. (In the list of abominations the feet are swift in running to mischief - Proverbs 6:18). He was thus an insolent and unpleasant man. Middle easterners regularly used their feet as indicators. Thus, for example, they use them to point the way, in the same way as we would point with the finger. The scraping of the foot may well have indicated that he wanted to humiliate the person and grind him into the ground. Or stamping the foot may have indicated displeasure or an intention to do harm. Coming immediately after ‘eyes' the idea may also be that ‘he reveals his insulting and deceitful nature from eye to foot', in other words with every part of his anatomy.

‘Who makes signs with his fingers.' His fingers too were used for making secret but insulting, and possibly threatening, gestures which were intended to be seen by others but not the person in question. He was deceitful, unpleasant and possibly dangerous.

With regard to these signals we should notice that, in contrast to the list of abominations, there is no specific suggestion in this part that the worthless man is violent. And yet previously violence has been seen as a prominent sin (Proverbs 1:11; Proverbs 3:25; Proverbs 3:31; Proverbs 4:17). This might be seen as indicating that these signals in some way indicated violence.

Proverbs 6:14

‘In whose heart is perverseness,

Who devises evil continually, who sows discord.

Therefore will his calamity come suddenly,

Suddenly he will be broken, and that without remedy.'

Not only is his mouth perverse, but his heart is too. And this is revealed by the way in which he continually plans evil. He is without scruples. And one of the ways in which he does this is by sowing discord, stirring people up to rebel against authority, or against each other. But like those who refused to hear the voice of wisdom in Proverbs 1:22, calamity will eventually come upon him, and he will be broken in such a way that there will be no remedy. One point being made in all these examples is that the way of the transgressor ends up in judgment.