Psalm 119:85

Psalm 119:85

The pits of the arrogant

We’ve met the arrogant before. According to the author of Psalm 10, the arrogant are wicked men or women who hunt down the weak, boast about their passions and cravings, revile the Lord, have no room for God in their thoughts, pursue wealth, reject God’s laws, believe that no one can touch them, speak endless lies and threats, murder the innocent, and abuse, threaten and crush their victims. This verse of Psalm 119 describes them as trap-diggers! We’re all familiar with the ancient practice of catching wild animals when men dig a pit in the floor of a forest, cover it with foliage that resembles the surroundings, and then wait for their prey to stumble upon the trap and fall in! 

The pits that are mentioned here were obviously not deep holes in the forest floor, they were more likely to be slanderous accusations, gossiped amongst the people until our victim was ridiculed and ignored by friends, colleagues and the community in general. One obvious source of these accusations would be the physical and emotional suffering he was clearly undergoing, it would be easy for his enemies to suggest that he must be a vile, evil man to have suffered so! Such accusations were indeed contrary to God’s Law, the 9thCommandment clearly states, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.” Exodus 20:16. Anything that falsely violated the testimony of another and deprived them of their rights was considered a sin by the Lord and would be punished. And that has not changed!

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