Proverbs 16:26-30

This battery of verses deal with people who may find themselves being considered troublemakers for the community at large.

The appetite of laborers works for them;
    their hunger drives them on. (v. 26)

Hunger might motivate a person to work hard for a time, but work might not always be noble. Hunger drives people to extreme measures, history is full of this, it may even drive them to revolution, just ask Louis XVI. If he can find his head somewhere, he’ll back me up on this.

A scoundrel plots evil,
    and on their lips it is like a scorching fire. (v. 27)

A scoundrel (lit. worthless) is always plotting and scheming. Their restlessness can only be satisfied by harming others and causing discord and division in the community.

A perverse person stirs up conflict,
    and a gossip separates close friends. (v. 28)

How often have we seen this acted out? This type of troublemaker literally is a destroyer of Community, and that includes communities of faith, i.e. Churches.

A violent person entices their neighbor
    and leads them down a path that is not good. (v. 29)

It’s easier for a violent person to stir up a mob to violence, than it is for a peacemaker to settle the mob.

Whoever winks with their eye is plotting perversity;
    whoever purses their lips is bent on evil. (v. 30)

Oh mercy! They had politicians in Solomon’s day!