The Nuclear Option
Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; I will not endure one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart. Psalm 101:5 NASB
Destroy – This psalm makes an incredible claim. God will totally eliminate those who slander others in secret. It’s hard to miss the audacity of this statement. The Hebrew verb, ṣāmat, used only fourteen times in the Tanakh, is always about extermination. “It describes the intense desire of one to obliterate completely his enemies. . . God seeks to cut off from his city those who slander the righteous and those who possess an arrogant heart.”[1] Virtually every translation communicates this theme.
“Whoso slandereth his neighbor in secret, him will I destroy.”[2]
I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors. I will not endure conceit and pride. NLT
Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not tolerate. NIV
We might say that secret slander initiates God’s nuclear option: erasure. Nothing left but the dust. But all of these English renditions raise the same question: “Do you believe this is true?” If you say “Yes,” then I will ask you to provide the evidence. When did God nuke the secret slanderers? Where did it occur? Who was eliminated? Answering those questions is quite a bit more difficult. All our experience today, and all of our past history, seems to indicate that secret slander does not result in divine destruction. In fact, if anything, those who engage in this reprehensible behavior appear to get away with it. The evidence from politics alone suggests that the Psalmist’s citation of God’s words is just wrong. Evil triumphs. More so every day. Why?
Perhaps God’s statement requires our cooperation. “Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.”[3] Maybe what God means is that He is willing to destroy those who secretly slander but in this world His will is involved with ours, and human “tolerance” for evil acts interferes with God’s intentions. Choice, and the delay of its consequences, seems to be the operating mode of the present created world. That will all change someday, but not yet. For now here’s what we do know. When we stand up against secret slander, when we hold men accountable for their false and malicious statements against others, God is on our side. Reputation matters to Him. It should matter to us too. In the Psalmist’s citation, the verb is a Hif’il imperfect. This suggests that God makes this happen indeterminately, that is, without a fixed time conclusion. It’s an ongoing process, and as an ongoing process it involves us. If you want to see God’s nuclear option, stop sitting on your hands. Or did you think there was nothing you could do about it?
Topical Index: destroy, ṣāmat, slander, John Stuart Mill, evil, Psalm 101:5
[1] Hartley, J. E. (1999). 1932 צָמַת. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 771). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, Mesillat Yesharim: The Path of the Upright, p. 132.
[3] John Stuart Mill, inaugural address, University of St. Andrew, 1867.
