“Pride comes before a fall”….

Well actually the scripture reads “Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall.”  Proverbs 16:18(NLT)

 So many times you hear people quote portions of that scripture versus relaying the complete verse.  (Please read scriptures in their entirety for yourself to ensure you are placing scriptures in your pocket whole and in context).  Now if you look at the words pride and haughtiness you would think they are one in the same, but I decided to look them up because if they were the same God would not have come up with two words to differentiate between the levels of a person’s demise.  I also decided to look up the words destruction and fall.

Pride, as seen in Proverbs 16:18, in the Hebrew is gâˀôwn (gaw-ohn’).  Now the interesting thing about this word is that it holds both a negative and positive connotation. 

The positive connotation= excellency and majesty.  It is found in the more poetic books of the bible.

The negative connotation ( and the way it is majorly used in the bible)= arrogance, evil behavior , and perverse speech.  It is a perversion of what God intended for it to be.  It entails one person or nation thinking that they elevated themselves to the level on which they currently stand or reside.

Destruction, in the Hebrew is shêber.  It means a fracture, ruin, breaking, affliction, bruise, crashing, broken footed or handed, or vexation. 

Haughtiness, as seen in Proverbs 16:18, in the Hebrew is gôbahh.  It means grandeur, high, height (as a noun),or  loftiness.

Fall, in the Hebrew is kishshâlôwn, which comes from kâshal (kaw-shal), means to stumble, stagger, totter, be thrown down.

So after I reviewed all of the meanings I realized that the A clause of the scripture was a less severe, for lack of a better term, check from God than the B clause.  In the A clause pride is shown in its negative state.  God never created something to be used in a negative, self serving manner.  He created pride so that there was a sense of majesty and an acknowledgement of some things/persons excellence in Him.  For example, my parents are proud of me not because they feel they can brag on what they did, or how they created me, but because of the grace they know God has bestowed upon them and myself for me to turn out ok.  When pride is perverted and used negatively it breeds arrogance and evil behavior.  A person dealing with pride can experience fractures in relationships, ruin in their finances and personal lives, and so much more.

But when a person in an elevated status continues to nurture pride it becomes haughtiness.  They esteem themselves highly, and we at times, can place these people on pedestals.   It is in this place of perceived superiority that a person can either stumble, stagger, and fall or they may be pushed by someone that has felt the slight of their hand. 

In this scripture God is warning us of the dangers of having a pride that says “look what I did” verses giving him honor and praise for having the grace to do the things you do, know the things you know, and have the things you have.  We must watch that perverse version of pride.  At the first sight of it, pluck it up from the root and sweep the seeds of it away.  For if left uncheck as you continue to move to higher levels, your pride will grow and produce haughtiness.  That haughtiness will inevitably lead you to a fall.  So I guess in reality the road of Pride does lead to the city of a Fall, but you have the opportunity to check yourself at the exits of Destruction an Haughtiness…The choice, as always, is yours.

Divine