Pathological Arrogance

The wicked, in his haughtiness, does not seek Him.  There is no God in all his schemes.  Psalm 10:4  NASB electronic web edition

Haughtiness – Haughty is not a common word in modern usage.  We associate it with 19^th Century English Romantic literature (like the book Pride and Prejudice).  The synonym “proud” still finds a place in our speech, but perhaps only in private conversation since we have been taught to be politically sensitive to others.  Why that is the case is another investigation.  But the Bible doesn’t share this personal/political sensitivity.  According to Scripture, gōbah is a mark of man’s arrogance, his defiance of his subservient role under the one true God.  In fact, haughtiness is an abomination as far as God is concerned.  It is the summary word of all the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Ezekiel is particularly clear about the affront of gōbah.  In 5:7 he “describes the hierarchy of those who hinder justice even when the person being oppressed is not able to see this.”[1]  Perhaps we need to restore gōbah to daily, public conversation.  We certainly seem to live in a world that exhibits pathological arrogance.

The Bible has two paths for dealing with this evil.  The first is repentance.  This is God’s preferred option.  Unfortunately, men who exhibit gōbah also fit the Psalmist’s observation about their view of God.  NASB translates the phrase as “There is no God in all his schemes,” but the Hebrew is a bit more terse.  Eyn Elohim kol-mezimotav.  “There is no God” is how he thinks.  And since there is no God, he does what he wants and what he can get away with.  The lesson for society is simple: remove the divine Commander and suffer the consequences.  The second biblical solution is just as simple: destruction.  At some point, God has had enough.  He ends it.  Since the wicked don’t believe there is a divine Commander, they can’t imagine this solution.  They never see it coming.  The righteous, however, are able to read the handwriting on the wall.  This is, unfortunately, of little comfort since the handwriting confirms that destruction will sweep it all away.

“When God consigns the whole world to destruction, with the words, ‘I have decided to put an end to all flesh’ (6:13), Rashi comments: ‘Whenever you find sexual sin and idolatry, andralamousia comes to the world and kills good and bad (indiscriminately).’

Andralamousia is the term, borrowed from the Greek, for summary mass execution, the same notion as was indicated by the word shetef, ‘flood.’  Rashi here draws on the acknowledgement in many sources that there may indeed be a disaster in which individual merits are entirely ignored.”[2]

The longer we allow the wicked their pathological arrogance, the more we court the danger of andralamousia.  It’s not a happy solution.

Topical Index:  andralamousia, gōbah, haughty, arrogance, Psalm 10:4

[1] Richard Hentschke, gābah, TDOT, Vol. 2, p. 360.

[2] Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, p. 44.