Please Help Us Keep These Thousands of Blog Posts Growing and Free for All

$5.00

Righteousness Is a Safeguard

Proverbs 13:5 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
⁵A righteous man hates falsehood,
but a wicked man acts shamefully and disgracefully.

A righteous man hates falsehood: A righteous (Heb. tsedeq) man refers to one who is in a righteous standing before God, who is characterized by righteous actions and morals in accordance with God’s moral standards. (Gen. 18:23-24; Prov. 3:33; Zeph. 2:3) Hate (Heb. sane) means to abhor, detest, loathe, to dislike intensely, to feel apathy for or hostility for someone or something. Falsehood: (Heb. debar sheqer) The sense of a brief statement or word of falsehood. A misleading falsehood that causes a mistaken belief, deception, lies.

But a wicked man acts shamefully and disgracefully: A wicked (Heb. rasha) man is the unrighteous one, who are evil, being guilty of willfully and purposely violating the standards of God. In the Old Testament, it refers to the one who refuses to acknowledge or obey God. In the book of Proverbs explicitly, it refers to the foolish one who ignores or refuses to follow the divine teachings of God. It is a state or condition of evil that focuses on the violating of God’s laws or standards. (Prov. 3:33; 18:3) Shamefully, to act: (Heb. (yabish) A sense of acting odiously, to behave in an odious manner. A person who smells badly stinks. He has such a bad odor, so he is loathsome and difficult to be around. (7:15, 21; 8:10; 16:20; Isa. 50:2) Disgrace; disgracefully: (Heb. chaphar) This means to feel ashamed, to feel dishonor or guilt, to be disgraced. – (Psa. 34:6; Isa. 1:29; 24:23; Jer. 15:29; 50:12; Mic. 3:7) Here in this context shamefully and disgracefully have a similar meaning. That is, both words are referring to one who acts in such a way that is disapproved of, so as to bring dishonor and disgrace on himself, causing offense.

A righteous person develops godly qualities and always speaks the truth. He is well aware that not only is lying against God’s law (Proverbs 6:16-19; Colossians 3:9) but it is something that He detests as well. (Prov. 12:22) The righteous person does not simply avoid lying because it violates God’s law; he actually hates lying. He knows from God’s Word that no matter how small or innocent a lie may appear to be, lies will destroy human relationships. Moreover, the one who lies will lose all credibility and even if telling the truth, he will not be believed. The wicked one, on the other hand, acts shamefully, relishing in his dishonesty, and thus he brings dishonor and disgrace on himself, causing offense.