He dug a pit and made it deep, but he fell into the pit he had prepared.
The image of the pit represents a trap secretly prepared in order to harm another. The evil man makes great effort to deepen it, yet in the end he himself falls into it. This is a clear picture of the self-destructive nature of sin. God can so arrange it that a person’s deceitful plan returns and is applied against him. This principle does not mean that every evildoer immediately receives a visible punishment. At times judgment is delayed, yet the way of evil is not ultimately safe. From this word the believer learns not to envy unjust success and not to respond with the same kind of schemes. We have no need to dig a pit for another, because God is the righteous Judge. The verse is also a call to personal self-examination. When we plan another’s fall, we are in fact destroying our own soul. Jesus calls us to bless, not to curse. True safety is not in deceit, but in walking in the Lord’s righteous way.