Bird's-eye view
This brief but potent exhortation from a father to his son gets right to the heart of a perennial temptation for the righteous. When the wicked prosper, when their way seems easy and their laughter loud, the man of God can feel a twinge of a most dangerous sin, that of envy. This passage is a sharp, two-verse prophylactic against that spiritual disease. The prohibition is given first, a command not to envy or desire the company of evil men. The reason for the prohibition follows immediately, exposing the rotten core of the wicked man's life. His very heart is a workshop for destruction, and his mouth is the exhaust pipe for all the mischief manufactured there. It is a command to look past the glittering surface to the ugly reality beneath.
This is a call to spiritual realism. The world, the flesh, and the devil are constantly collaborating on a massive advertising campaign to make sin look attractive, successful, and fun. But wisdom, biblical wisdom, peels back that veneer. It teaches the son to see evil men not as objects of envy, but as objects of pity, for their entire enterprise is aimed at destruction, and ultimately, self-destruction. This is a foundational lesson in discerning the true nature of two ways of life that stand in stark contrast throughout all of Scripture.
Outline
- 1. The Prohibition Against Worldly Envy (v. 1)
- a. A Warning Against a Poisonous Desire (v. 1a)
- b. A Warning Against Corrupting Fellowship (v. 1b)
- 2. The Reason for the Prohibition (v. 2)
- a. The Inner Corruption of the Wicked (v. 2a)
- b. The Outward Expression of Corruption (v. 2b)
Context In Proverbs
This passage sits within a larger collection of "sayings of the wise" (Proverbs 22:17-24:34). These are nuggets of practical theology, designed to equip a young man to navigate the world in the fear of the Lord. A recurring theme in Proverbs is the stark contrast between the righteous and the wicked, the wise man and the fool. The righteous man builds his life on the foundation of God's revealed will, while the wicked man builds on the shifting sands of his own lusts and ambitions.
This particular saying directly echoes earlier warnings in Proverbs. For example, Proverbs 23:17 says, "Let not your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day." And Proverbs 3:31 commands, "Do not envy the oppressor, and choose none of his ways." This repetition underscores the seriousness of the temptation. Envy is not a minor character flaw; it is a fundamental misjudgment about the nature of reality. It is to look at a man on death row and envy his last meal. Proverbs consistently teaches that the end of the wicked is destruction, and therefore, to envy them is the height of folly.
Verse by Verse Commentary
Proverbs 24:1
"Do not be jealous of evil men, And do not desire to be with them;"
The first clause, "Do not be jealous of evil men," is a direct command aimed at the heart. The word translated "jealous" here is the common Hebrew word for envy or zealous passion (qana). It speaks of a burning desire for what another person has. The world sees the evil man's apparent success, his fine house, his flashy chariot, his harem of wives, and the world says, "I want that." But God says, "Do not." This is a command to govern the affections, to refuse to let the heart be seduced by the outward trappings of godless prosperity. Why? Because that prosperity is a mirage. Asaph wrestled with this very temptation in Psalm 73, seeing the wicked prosper until he went into the sanctuary of God and understood their end. Their feet are on slippery places, and their end is destruction. To envy them is to envy a man about to go over a cliff in a very expensive car.
The second clause, "And do not desire to be with them," moves from the internal disposition of the heart to the external association of one's life. The desire of the heart, if left unchecked, will inevitably lead to a desire for fellowship. You want what they have, so you start to want to be where they are. You want to be invited to their parties. You want to be in on their deals. But this is a command to maintain the antithesis. Light has no fellowship with darkness. To desire to be with them is to desire the very atmosphere in which sin flourishes. It is to want to stand in the counsel of the ungodly and sit in the seat of the scornful (Psalm 1:1). The father is telling his son that a desire for their stuff will lead to a desire for their company, and their company is poison.
Proverbs 24:2
"For their heart meditates on destruction, And their lips talk of mischief."
Here is the reason for the prohibition. The "for" connects this verse tightly to the previous one. Why should you not envy them? Because their inner world is a wasteland and their outer world is a toxic spill. The phrase "their heart meditates on destruction" reveals the true state of the wicked man's soul. While the righteous man meditates on the law of the Lord day and night, the wicked man's heart is a factory for violence and ruin (shod). He is not just a bumbling sinner; he is an architect of chaos. He schemes, he plots, he devises ways to tear down, to exploit, to ruin others for his own gain. The prosperity you see is funded by this internal engine of destruction. It is blood money, whether literal or metaphorical.
And what is in the heart inevitably comes out of the mouth. "And their lips talk of mischief." The word for mischief (amal) carries the idea of trouble, toil, and sorrow. Their conversation is not neutral. It is destructive. They gossip, they slander, they lie, they boast, they make crooked deals. Their speech is the soundtrack of their destructive hearts. To be in their company is to be marinated in this talk, to have your ears filled with the plans and boasts of men who are at war with God and with their neighbors. This is why you must not desire to be with them. Their fellowship is corrupting because their hearts are corrupt, and their mouths are the primary vehicle of that corruption. The son is being warned that the cool, attractive exterior of the wicked is a facade for a heart bent on ruin and lips that spread that ruin like a disease.
Application
The application here is as straightforward as it gets, and as difficult as anything you will ever do. We are commanded to crucify envy. In a world that is saturated with advertisements designed to make us envy, this is a full time job. We must constantly preach to ourselves that the world's definition of "the good life" is a lie from the pit of Hell. The man who gains the whole world and loses his soul has not made a shrewd bargain; he has made the most foolish trade in the history of the cosmos.
We must learn to see the world through gospel lenses. The wicked man is not to be envied; he is to be evangelized. He is not a role model; he is a cautionary tale. His heart is a storm of destruction, and he is headed for an eternity of it unless Christ intervenes. Our hearts, by nature, are just as capable of meditating on destruction. The only difference between the believer and the wicked man is the sheer, unmerited grace of God in Jesus Christ. It is Christ who has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.
Therefore, when you feel the serpent of envy begin to uncoil in your heart as you scroll through social media or drive through a wealthy neighborhood, you must crush its head with the heel of this proverb. Remind yourself of the inner reality of the wicked. Their hearts are full of violence and their mouths are full of trouble. And then thank God that He has given you a new heart, a heart that can meditate on His law, and new lips, lips that can sing His praise. Do not desire their company, but rather desire the fellowship of the saints, where the talk is of Christ, and grace, and the world to come.