The Ungodly Man Digging Up Evil with Relentless Malice

Proverbs 16:27 portrays the ungodly man—a ben Belial (son of Belial)—as one who "diggeth up evil." This vivid metaphor encompasses two destructive labors.

First, the wicked man takes deliberate pains to devise evil, much as a miner searches for treasure in concealed depths. Evil becomes his treasure, the object upon which he sets his heart. He digs and searches with astonishing persistence, especially when motivated by pique or malice toward another. The Victorian preacher R. Wardlaw observed the "marvellous assiduity" with which such a man strains every nerve to produce mischief—plodding, plotting, mining, and undermining in every direction, often discovering schemes no honest person could conceive, then exulting with savage delight in his diabolical discoveries.

Second, he labors to revive evil long buried and forgotten. He descends into the grave of old quarrels, exhuming them afresh and injecting new life into sleeping grudges. He severs reconciliations painstakingly established over years, setting people at enmities again who had abandoned their feuds and lived in peace.

Like a prospector examining ground for coal or precious metal, the son of Belial discovers the slightest hopeful symptoms and proceeds to drill, bore, and excavate. The smallest probability of success encourages him to toil and harass himself night and day until he extracts something destructive. His relentless ingenuity serves only malice.