12 A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,
13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet,
points with his finger,
14 with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;
15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
The word “worthless” in the above verse (A worthless person ...) is defined by one commentators as follows:
The אד֨ בליעל, "man of Belial," is given a full description. He is a scoundrel; the phrase means more than "worthless," and less than "devilish." He is described as evil in 16:27, where he is certainly in bad company (16:27-30), and in 19:28 he is associated with unjust and false witness.
The word is used three times in Proverbs. The term, in context of Proverbs, is speaking about a person who has rejected God’s Wisdom and becomes a “fool.” A “foolish” man is one who rejects God and His Wisdom (see Psalm 14:1). The context of the above verses shows us that what is in the belief structure of a person will come out in the behavior of the person. You can’s separate behavior from belief. This “scoundrel” rejects truth and, therefore lives a life that injures and harms truth. Notice the area’s where this person’s life demonstrates his/her rejection of truth:
1. Crooked speech - no matter what they say you can’t trust their words.
2. Winks with eyes - they use non-verbal deception to get what they want.
3. Signals with his feet - this is a metaphor for more deception. They take “steps” as though they are changing course or going in a great course, but they return to their old ways, sooner than later.
4. Points with finger - they never go wrong. They “point fingers” at everyone else and never take responsibility.
5. Heart devises evil - they are always (ALWAYS) possessed with evil and planning evil things (see Proverbs 1).
6. Continually sowing discord - they always try to have and make discord. They never want harmony. They might step toward harmony. They may wink at harmony. They might point fingers that others are destroying harmony and not them. But, it is them.
But, they will get their fruit at the end of sowing all this discord. Calamity will overtake them ... suddenly. They will end up “broken, beyond repair.” People who reject God’s truth all end up the same. No matter who they are or what they see. Their behavior, over time, will demonstrate who they are. We are to not listen to them. We are not to give them power in our lives.
In this section Solomon is giving us the "qualities" of a useless or "worthless" man. Solomon wants us to beware of such men and wants us to know how to recognize them. In verse twelve we see that worthliness is first revealed by the tongue ... out of the heart the mouth speaks (Proverbs 4:23). If you hang out with people long enough and listen to their words it doesn't take long for their lips to convey the soils of the heart. What's in the well comes up in the bucket. So, it is important to listen to the mouth if you want to recognize the quaility fo the person you are with. Solomon lists other identifiers in the next few verses but the first he lists is the tongue. He wants us to listen. This is in stark contrast to the Words of Truth that are found in God's Word and in the life of those who seek wisdom. Those who pursue wisdom have different language than those who pursue their own selfish ends. God revelas the character of the heart though the conduit of the tongue. Just listen.
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