Thursday, March 3, 2016

Who are the "wicked"?

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” (Psalm 10:4)
It is significant that the word “wicked” ....is essentially synonymous with “ungodly” and the Hebrew word (rasha) used here is often so translated. This tenth psalm provides a graphic summary of their real character. They are:



  1. Proud. “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God” (v. 4).
  2. Fawning. “For the wicked . . . blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth” (v. 3).
  3. Atheistic, at least in behavior. “He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: . . . he will never see it” (v. 11).
  4. Stubborn. “He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity” (v. 6).
  5. Profane. “His mouth is full of cursing . . . : under his tongue is mischief and vanity” (v. 7).
  6. Hurtful. “In the secret places doth he murder the innocent” (v. 8). This surely applies to character assassination, when not to actual killing.
  7. Deceptive. “His mouth is full of . . . deceit and fraud: . . . He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den” (vv. 7, 9).
It is significant that the apostle Paul cited verse 7 (“full of cursing”) as descriptive of most of the ancient pagans in his day, and it can sadly be applied to many modern pagans as well."
ICR