Proverbs 6:16-19

These six things doth the Lord hate.

The seven abominable things

A catalogue of evils specially odious to the Infinite One.

I. Haughty bearing. “A proud look.” Pride is frequently represented in the Bible as an offence to the Holy God. Haughtiness is an abomination, because it implies--

1. Self-ignorance.

2. Unkindness.

3. Irreverence.

II. Verbal falsehood. “A lying tongue.”

1. Falsehood always implies a wrong heart. A pure heart supplies no motive for falsehood. Vanity, avarice, ambition, cowardice are the parents and patrons of lies.

2. Falsehood always has a bad social tendency. It disappoints expectations, shakes confidence, loosens the very foundations of social order.

III. Heartless cruelty. “Hands that shed innocent blood.” Cruelty implies--

1. An utter lack of sympathy with God’s creatures.

2. An utter lack of sympathy with God’s mind. He who inflicts pain is out of sympathy both with the universe and with his Maker.

IV. Vicious scheming. “A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations.” There are some hearts so bad that they are ever inventing some evil thing. Illustrate by antediluvian man.

V. Mischievous eagerness. “Feet swift in running to mischief.” They not only do mischief, but they do it eagerly, with ready vigilance; they have a greed for it.

VI. Social slander. The slanderer is amongst the greatest of social curses. He robs his fellow-creature of his greatest treasure--his own reputation, and the loving confidence of his friends.

VII. Disturbing strife. “And he that soweth discord among brethren.” He who by tale-bearing, ill-natured stories, and wicked inventions produces the disruptions of friendship, is abhorrent to that God who desires His creatures to live in love and unity. This subject serves to show three things--

1. The moral hideousness of the world. These seven evils everywhere abound.

2. The immaculate purity of God. He hates these things. Therefore they are foreign to himself.

3. The true mission of the godly--to endeavour to rid the world of the evils offensive to Heaven. (D. Thomas, D. D.)