Do Not Rejoice in The Suffering of Others (Proverbs 24:17-18)

 

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn his anger away from him. [Proverbs 24:17-18, ESV]

This proverb explains how we are to respond when we see our enemies stumble. The human response to seeing an enemy struggle with something is to celebrate, to mock, and to think to himself, “they deserved that”. However, we are Christians, and as Christians, we are called to be like Christ, not like the world. The book of James tells us that friendship with the world is enmity with God [James 4:4], and the book of Proverbs tells us all about the blessings that we will receive when we fear the Lord and keep His commandments.

With our duty to seek Christ and His righteousness in mind, let us break down this passage, examine each portion of it, and understand how to apply it to our lives.

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls

This part is fairly straightforward. When we see our enemy “fall”, we are not to rejoice. In other words, the aforementioned human response to seeing an enemy struggle would be a sinful way to respond to calamity coming upon our enemies. As Christians, we should be showing compassion to everybody, forgiving others, correcting them in love, and seeking to encourage them to seek the Lord. By rejoicing in the fall of an enemy, we are rejecting what Jesus tells us is the second most important commandment: “love your enemy as yourself” [Matthew 22:39].

and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles

This portion of this passage is especially interesting to me. We can suppress our desire to rejoice in the fall of our enemies, but this part of the passage tells us that we are not to let our hearts be glad. We are not only called to not rejoice in the suffering of our enemies, we are called to not let our hearts feel happy at the sight of our enemies’ suffering. How can we stop our hearts from feeling glad when we witness our enemies stumble? The heart of man is desperately wicked, but our God is perfect, righteous, and totally separate from sin. When we ask God for help in obeying His commandments, He will answer us. There are certain situations, certain illnesses, and certain problems that God will not deliver us from (according to His Will), but the Bible makes it clear that God does not want us to sin. If it is sinful for our heart to be glad when we see our enemies stumble (which it is), then we can ask God in confidence, knowing that He will honor our desire to repent. Ask God, ask Him to work in your heart, and spend time in His presence. He will help us overcome our sinful desires.

lest the LORD see it and be displeased

This portion of this passage warns us of what is to befall us if we rejoice in the suffering of our enemies. Our Father will be displeased when He sees us acting sinfully. When one is walking closely with the Lord, displeasing Him is often enough to dissuade him from partaking in sinful behavior. However, if the idea of displeasing the Lord is not enough, the final portion of this passage gives another reason why we are not to give in to our human desire to rejoice in the suffering of our enemies.

and turn away his anger from him

What happens when we rejoice in the suffering of our enemies? Proverbs 24:17-18 tells us that by rejoicing in the suffering of others, we will displease the Lord, and the Lord’s anger will be turned away from him [the enemy in question]. What does this passage mean when it describes the Lord turning His anger away from our enemies? There are two explanations:

1. The Lord will be displeased and not punish our enemies.

This is the first explanation, and I really do not think that this is the correct interpretation of the passage. I am including this explanation, since I am sure that others have interpreted the passage in this way, and I would like to address them. The Lord is righteous, and He must punish sin. Why would God overlook the sin of one because of the sinful behavior of another? If we continue the thought process behind this explanation, there is a larger issue that comes up:

If our rejoicing in the suffering of our enemies displeases the Lord, causing the Lord to avert His anger from our enemies, then what is our incentive to resist our sinful desires? For people like me, the thought of displeasing the Lord is enough for me to resist my sinful desires, but what about the person who does not know the Lord? Would one who does not know God want to resist his desire to rejoice in the suffering of his enemy, so that God punishes said enemy? How can one resist the desire to see his enemy suffer, hoping that he can see God punish said enemy? Would that not mean that he is rejoicing in the suffering of his enemy? This explanation is self-refuting.

2. The Lord will be displeased and turn His anger onto us.

This explanation is clearly the superior of the two explanations. When we witness our enemies suffering, and we rejoice in their suffering, we will displease the Lord, and the Lord will punish us for our sin. This explanation lines up with what the Bible tells us about God, about His righteousness, and about the way God punishes sin. The way that this passage describes the Lord’s anger being turned away from our enemies, in response to our rejoicing in the suffering of said enemies, implies that the Lord’s anger was once turned on the enemies in question. With the implication of this passage in mind, this explanation makes sense. God must punish sin. Therefore, when we sin by rejoicing in the suffering of our enemies, God will punish us.

In conclusion:

We must not rejoice in the suffering of our enemies, as our rejoicing will displease the Lord, and the Lord will punish us for the sinful desires of our heart. We can resist our sinful desires by studying the Word of God, asking the Lord for help, and by actively resisting the urge to sin.