At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall”
Proverbs 16:18
There is likely an inverse ratio between how well known this proverb is, and how closely it is followed.
Everybody hates pride and conceit . . . in other people. And the reason we don’t like to see it manifested anywhere else, speaking frankly here, is because we don’t like the competition. Ambrose Bierce once defined a boor as someone who talks when you wish them to listen, which is a definition that kind of puts a finger right on the sore spot.
The interesting thing about pride, also defined here as a haughty spirit, is that what it delivers is very different that what was expected. Pride, or haughtiness, claims to be able to see, and to be able to see better than anyone else. All the signs, all the warnings, all the cautions from friends . . . what do they know?
This proverb tells us that destruction lies straight ahead. A fall is coming. Not only so, but this destruction, this fall, is predicted beforehand. The person walking straight toward it is blind to the realities of his situation, while at the same time claiming to be in full control of his situation.
This is what happened to Haman in the book of Esther. Mordecai was descended from Kish, the father of Saul, the first king of Israel. Haman was descended from Agag, the one that Saul had failed to execute. The two men are rivals from the opening of the book, and the rivalry goes back generations. Now Haman was exactly the kind of man that this proverb speaks of. He was conceited and vain, and when the king asked him how best to honor a man, Haman, believing himself to be that man, lavished semi-royal honors on him. The honor then went to Mordecai, with Haman having to lead him around as he received that great honor. This was his harbinger of doom. And when he went home and told his family about it, his wife saw the meaning immediately. But it was not the kind of thing that Haman was able to see. And so he went to the banquet, where he would receive his condemnation, and then he was hanged on the gallows that he had built for Mordecai.
Pride truly does go before destruction.
