The Lord warns me through this proverb and in other Biblical passages about the danger of pride and arrogance. (3:34, 19:25, 29. 21:11) Biblical pride is undue confidence in and attention to one’s own skills, accomplishments, state, possessions, or position. The proud are haughty and conceited. The arrogant person expresses their pride.
God gives the proud and arrogant a name, “Mocker.” (3:34) God treats them with scorn and ridicule. He declares, “To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.'” (Psalm 75:4) Why? Because God is in charge. He directs in the way one should go. (21:1; Isaiah 48:17) When trouble and calamity come as it does to all, they will have nothing to boast about. Their pride vanishes like the due in the morning. Their boasts are proved wrong. They are no different than others.
Then, “the righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at him, saying, ‘Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!’ But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love forever and ever.” (Psalm 52:6-8) I acknowledge like Moses, “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” (Exodus 15:2)
