Rooting Out Evil

(Proverbs 21:12 KJV)  The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness.

What does the “righteous” (6662) do when he “considers” (7919a) the “wicked” (7563)?   The word has many translations in wisdom literature.  It’s basic meaning is being prudent.  Believers need to be aware of the wicked and what they do.  We cannot live in la-la land and assume that everyone has the best motives in the world.  Even if they have good motives there is that old saying the “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”  If you were to talk to a jihad terrorist he would tell you that blowing up a market full of women and children was a way to bring about the destruction of God’s enemies.  I once knew and worked with a Palestinian who claimed to be a Roman Catholic.  He very calmly stated that all Israelis needed to be killed.  The women because they would have more babies, the children because they would grow up to be soldiers.  He was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet, unless you were a Jew from Israel.  We Americans do not understand this type of mindless hatred and evil.  We want to ignore it and act like it is just a misunderstanding.

The second part of this would be even more controversial.  Is this a call to work actively against the “wicked” (7563)?  How do we go about “overthrowing" (turning NASB) (5557) the wicked to “wickedness" (ruin NASB) (7451b)?  You will notice that the KJV has “but God” inserted and saying that this is something God would be doing by Himself.  That would make it seem right to ignore the evil.  The problem is that “but God” is not in the Hebrew.  Look at the page.  Those two words are in italics.  That tells you it was not in the original language.  This was editorializing by the translators.  Some translation do this, others don’t.  We are not talking about vengeance.  We are talking about curbing evil.  This responsibility is not given to us for revenge but to the government to deal with evil.

(Romans 13:4 KJV)  For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

So?  Be a personal pacifist.  You have grounds for that.  But don’t act like the government is in the wrong when it goes after evil.  Support that responsibility which was given to them.  Of course you want to elect and appoint people who have a Biblical view of evil.