“They close their hearts to pity; with their mouths they speak arrogantly. They have now surrounded our steps; they set their eyes to cast us to the ground. He is like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking in ambush.” -Psalm 17:10–12
Note the manner in which David describes his (and God’s) enemies. These are not empathetic people. They have no pity for the injury done to others. “They close their hearts to pity” can also be translated “enclosed their own fat.” Though potentially strange to our Western ears, the idiom conveys the idea that their hearts are clogged with pride. They are arrogant not only in heart, but in speech as well. They lie, slander, and wrest the truth with haughty confidence. They are malevolent and calculated in their attempts to ensnare and overthrow the righteous. They are anything but passive and congenial. Rather, they are compared to a young, bloodthirsty lion that is eager for the kill, stealth and cunning in the hunt.
The description of the wicked is worth meditating on: pitiless, arrogant, calculated, bloodthirsty, and furtive. It is of great interest this is how Peter describes the devil. “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” -1 Peter 5:8