The Wicked Will Fall by his own Wickedness

Solomon could have been writing the history of the USSR when he said, “The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright, But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness” (Proverbs 11:5). Our Lord Jesus Himself put the same truth in very summary terms when He said that those who live by the sword die by the sword (Matt. 26:52). Well, long before the KGB and its predecessors gave us the lovely examples of Yezhov the Bloody Dwarf and his friends, the Northern kingdom of Israel presented a similar revolting spectacle. Here, in rapid succession, four kings in three dynasties fall by their own wickedness. We must come away from this gruesome story appalled by the depths to which evil reaches, but comforted by the fact that God is in control and that His word rules the evil of wicked men. We see this in the life of each of these four kings.