¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood, ¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their paths, ¹⁷ And the path of peace they have not known.” ¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Staccato-like fashion—Paul in rapid fire laying out four more charges. The first three come from the prophet Isaiah (59:7-8). He was no stranger to the sins of Israel, for much of his writing blasted the Jews of his day. In his description, the Jews were quite eager to kill (again a metonymy, a figure of speech, is invoked where the feet are used for the whole person). This is like saying, “They were fleet of foot,” and that for the purpose of murdering one another. In the context of Isaiah 59, “the hands, finger, lips and tongue are all active in murder and lying” (as one commentator points out).

Life degrades as one moves away from God, with the result being a reversion to a fall-inspired Darwinism, where survival goes to the strongest. The sin of Cain rears its ugly head and continually wars against the image of God. That is the very nature of the Serpent’s continual efforts, as Jesus pointed out to His Jewish retractors: “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

The result is nothing but destruction, misery and complete lack of peace. The great irony is that God had promised the Jews peace in their own land, one that would be flowing with milk and honey, as it were. Upon entering the land, they had it made—yet they blew it all, thinking they could live their own way and manipulate God’s laws as they saw fit. They ended up living continually in survival mode. The reason is simple: they had “no fear of God before their eyes.” They had forgotten that “[t]he fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…” (Prov 1:7, Job 28:28, Ps 111:10, Eccl 12:13).

The Jews’ self-righteous approach to God displayed a cavalier attitude, as though they could waltz into their Sovereign’s court with a sense of entitlement. In the words of their own holy Scriptures this was absolutely reprehensible. They, of all people, fell under the indictment of what Paul wrote earlier: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness…” (1:18). “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God … professing to be wise, they became fools” (1:21-22).

Lord, as I read of Israel’s failure when they had the clear Word of God, I don’t ever want to take You for granted by losing my fear of You.