Human Evil - Cruelty, Malice, and Oppression
Introduction:
This study will examine three specific manifestations of human evil as depicted in Scripture: cruelty, malice, and oppression. By exploring biblical references and examples, we aim to understand the nature of these evils and their consequences.
I - Cruelty:
Cruelty is characterized by a callous indifference to suffering and a deliberate infliction of pain or distress on others.
• General references:
◦ Genesis 49:5: "Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords." This verse describes the violent nature of Jacob's sons, foreshadowing acts of cruelty.
◦ Psalm 27:12: "Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence." David expresses fear of the cruelty of his enemies.
◦ Proverbs 11:17: "A man of kindness does good to himself, but the cruel man does harm to his own flesh." Cruelty is presented as ultimately self-destructive.
◦ Exodus 21:20: "When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be surely punished." This law addresses the cruel treatment of slaves.
◦ Deuteronomy 25:18: "[how Amalek] met you on the road and attacked your weary and exhausted rear guard, and he did not fear God." Amalek's attack on the vulnerable Israelites demonstrates cruelty.
◦ 2 Kings 15:16: "At that time Menahem sacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah onward, because they did not open it to him. He sacked it, and he ripped open all the pregnant women in it." This recounts an extreme act of cruelty in warfare.
◦ Daniel 2:5: "The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, ‘The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.’" Nebuchadnezzar's threat reveals his capacity for extreme cruelty.
◦ Matthew 21:35: "And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another." This parable illustrates the cruel treatment of those sent by the vineyard owner.
• Examples:
◦ Genesis 37:24: "[The brothers] took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it." Leaving Joseph to die in a pit was a cruel act by his brothers.
◦ Exodus 1:22: "Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, ‘Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.’" Pharaoh's decree to kill Hebrew male infants was an act of immense cruelty.
◦ Judges 1:6: "But Adoni-bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes." This act of mutilation was a cruel display of power.
◦ Judges 9:49: "And all the people likewise threw down every man his bundle of sticks and put them against the stronghold and set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the men and women in the Tower of Shechem died, about a thousand people." The burning alive of a thousand people was a horrific act of cruelty.
◦ 1 Samuel 11:2: "And Nahash the Ammonite said to them, ‘On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus bring disgrace on all Israel.’" Nahash's demand was a cruel and humiliating condition for peace.
◦ 2 Samuel 12:31: "[David] brought out the people who were in it and put them to work with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them toil at the brick kilns. And thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites." The harsh forced labor imposed on the Ammonites could be considered cruel.
◦ 2 Kings 25:7: "They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon." This describes the brutal and cruel punishment of King Zedekiah.
◦ Jeremiah 38:6: "So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud." Leaving Jeremiah to die in a muddy cistern was a cruel act of abandonment.
◦ Daniel 3:20: "And he commanded the most mighty men in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace." Throwing innocent men into a fiery furnace was an act of extreme cruelty.
◦ Acts 16:24: "Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks." The harsh imprisonment of Paul and Silas demonstrates cruelty.
◦ Acts 27:42: "The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should escape by swimming away." The soldiers' intention to kill defenseless prisoners was a cruel measure.
• With animals:
◦ Numbers 22:27: "When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff." Balaam's beating of his donkey, though perhaps not on the same scale as human suffering, demonstrates a lack of compassion.
◦ 2 Samuel 8:4 (cf. 1 Chronicles 18:4): "And David took from him 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses but saved enough of them for 100 chariots." Hamstringing horses, while a military tactic, involved inflicting pain on animals.
◦ Proverbs 12:10: "Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel." This proverb contrasts the righteous person's care for animals with the inherent cruelty of the wicked.
II - Malice:
Malice is a desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another; ill will or spite.
• Condemned:
◦ 1 Corinthians 5:8: "Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Malice is identified as a corrupting "leaven" to be avoided.
◦ 1 Corinthians 14:20: "Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature." Believers are exhorted to be innocent of malice.
◦ Ephesians 4:31: "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice." Malice is listed among destructive attitudes to be eradicated.
◦ Colossians 3:8: "But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth." Malice is part of the "old self" to be discarded.
◦ 1 Peter 2:1: "So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander." Malice hinders spiritual growth and should be actively rejected.
• Examples:
◦ Esther 3:6: "[Haman], disdaining to lay hands on Mordecai alone, sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus." Haman's desire to annihilate an entire people group stemmed from malice.
◦ Psalm 140:3: "They make their tongue sharp as a serpent, and under their lips is the poison of asps. Selah." The malicious words of enemies are likened to deadly poison.
◦ Proverbs 30:14: "There is a generation whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind." This describes the malicious exploitation of the vulnerable.
◦ Isaiah 59:5: "They hatch adders' eggs; they weave the spider's web. Whoever eats their eggs dies, and if one is crushed, a viper is hatched." This imagery portrays the malicious schemes of the wicked, producing deadly results.
◦ Matthew 27:23: "And he said, ‘Why? What evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Let him be crucified!’" The crowd's relentless demand for Jesus' crucifixion, despite His innocence, was driven by malice instigated by religious leaders.
◦ John 12:10: "So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus." The chief priests' plot to kill Lazarus was motivated by malice and a desire to protect their power.
◦ Acts 7:54: "Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him." The Sanhedrin's furious reaction to Stephen's sermon, culminating in his stoning, was fueled by malice.
III - Oppression:
Oppression is the unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power, often involving the subjugation and exploitation of others.
• 713 - 1. Forbidden:
◦ Exodus 23:9: "You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." Israel is commanded not to oppress foreigners, remembering their own experience of oppression.
◦ Deuteronomy 24:14: "You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or a sojourner who is in your land within your towns." Oppressing vulnerable workers is forbidden.
◦ Psalm 12:5: "Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise," says the Lord; "I will place him in safety for whom he yearns." God promises to act against oppressors of the poor.
◦ Psalm 62:10: "Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them." Oppression is linked to unjust gain.
◦ Proverbs 3:31: "Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways." Association with violent oppressors is discouraged.
◦ Proverbs 14:31: "Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him." Oppressing the poor is an affront to God.
◦ Proverbs 22:16: "One who oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty." Oppression for personal gain leads to ruin.
◦ Proverbs 28:3: "A poor man who oppresses the poor is a beating rain that leaves no food." Even the oppressed can become oppressors, causing further harm.
◦ Ecclesiastes 5:8: "If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them." Oppression is a systemic issue that God observes.
◦ Zechariah 7:10: "do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart." Specific vulnerable groups are to be protected from oppression.
• Examples:
◦ Exodus 1:14: "[The Egyptians] made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them serve." The Egyptians' enslavement of the Israelites was oppressive.
◦ Exodus 5:8: "You shall assign them the same tale of bricks as before, and you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’" Increasing the workload without providing resources was a form of oppression.
◦ 2 Kings 4:1: "Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, ‘Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.’" Debt leading to forced servitude was a form of oppression.
◦ Nehemiah 5:1: "Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers." The wealthy Jews were oppressing the poorer ones through usury and demanding repayment during famine.
◦ Ecclesiastes 4:1: "Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them." Solomon observes the widespread nature of oppression and the helplessness of the oppressed.
◦ Isaiah 5:7: "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry!" God expected justice but found oppression instead.
◦ Ezekiel 22:29: "The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery; they have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice." This describes the widespread oppression in Israel.
◦ James 2:6: "But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who are dragging you into court?" James points out the oppression faced by the poor from the wealthy.
◦ James 5:4: "Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts." Withholding just wages from laborers is a form of oppression.
- Preaching on Care - Why Should We Take Care of Ourselves?
- Preaching on Bible Inspired by God: Transformative Power of Scripture
- Preaching on Food for the Soul
Conclusion:
These biblical passages reveal the multifaceted nature of human evil. Cruelty demonstrates a heart devoid of compassion, inflicting pain for its own sake. Malice is a deep-seated ill will that seeks to harm others. Oppression is the abuse of power, unjustly subjugating and exploiting the vulnerable. Scripture consistently condemns these behaviors, highlighting their destructive impact on individuals and society, and contrasting them with God's character of justice, love, and mercy. As believers in USA, reflecting on these truths should compel us to actively resist these forms of evil in our own hearts and to advocate for justice and compassion in our communities. How can we, guided by God's Word, work to alleviate cruelty, overcome malice, and stand against oppression in our context?
www.thegospelcoalition.org
watchmakerspulse.com
www.universityreformedchurch.org
