It’s clear then, that human beings don’t simply dislike evil; they often hate excellence, fruitfulness, favor, and blessing in another because those things expose what is lacking or disordered in themselves. For many, the greatest crime is another person’s success.

There is a proverb, but none of Solomon’s, “Every man for himself, and God for us all” But where every man is for himself, the devil will have all.
—William Secker

I recently watched Stolen Baby on Netflix. If you haven’t watched it, it tells the true story of two best friends, Heidi Broussard, who had just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, and her friend Magen. Magen, who had been faking her own pregnancy, became deeply envious, angry, and embittered by Heidi’s joy and success as a new mother. She called Heidi one morning, claimed her boyfriend was being mean and that they were fighting, then lured her into her car under the pretense of “going to get coffee.” Once they were alone, Magen killed Heidi, placed her body in the trunk, and stole her newborn baby to raise as her own.

As I was reflecting on Proverbs 1:10–19 this week, it became very evident that this passage is not naïve about the world around me nor is it ignorant of stories like Heidi Broussard’s. The Bible doesn’t describe life according to our wishful thinking. No, it describes and matches life as it truly is. Indeed the greatest characteristic of wisdom is that it understands reality because it knows God.

The passage is blunt, realistic, and deeply disturbing because it shows how evil works, not only through obvious violence, but through social dynamics, recruiting, grievance, and even shared resentment (many of these things I witnessed as I watched the movie Stolen Baby). We watch Wisdom, in this passage, firmly embrace reality as it truly is and we watch Folly live in denial.

I think that’s why the father in Proverbs doesn’t begin by talking to his son about abstract concepts. Instead he tells him the truth about the kind of world he is entering. He points out that sinners entice and evil always comes with an inviting attitude. Indeed there’s such a thing as what one writer called a kind of “reverse-evangelism,” where fools don’t just want to sin alone but invite others into their dead-end lives.

“Come with us,” they say.

They embrace the language of this kind of shared destruction.

And I think the main purpose of that destruction isn’t always literal murder (though it’s easy to leave it there as you briefly read the passage and this kind of living has a tendency to lead to murder). But sometimes it’s deeper and hits closer to home than that.

As I was studying this passage, one writer asked this question: Are you happy when other people succeed, or are you happy when they get their comeuppance?

That’s a good question.

Asking ourselves a question like that will reveal a lot about where we are headed.

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