INTRO: The world is filled with bullies. We hear it on the news, schools suffer with it and make all kinds of rules and policies about bullies. We see it in business and the worst probably within families. The Bible has bullies in it too.
- Satan—let’s start with the worst one. He’s the prototype for all others, isn’t he? Like every bully after him, he loves power and control. That’s what got him thrown out of heaven to begin with. He enjoys making others feel small because he wants the attention and admiration. Ultimately, he’s just selfish. So the next time someone or some situation tries to make you feel inadequate or less of a human being, remember that you are a child of God, find your confidence in Christ Jesus, and say like Jesus did when Satan came to Him, it is written and throw God’s Word in Satan’s face as the soldier that you are!
- Cain—Cain was a bully to his own brother and to God Himself! There was no humility in Cain. I imagine when God asked for a sacrifice He may have asked for a blood sacrifice, which meant Cain had to ask his brother Abel for an animal. Cain couldn’t bring himself to do that. He sacrificed of his field. Or if that wasn’t the case, if what he sacrificed was acceptable, then there must have been something wrong with his heart, maybe both. After he kills his brother, God asks Cain where is his brother. Of course God knows; He wants Cain to confess. Listen to Cain’s answer: Am I my brother’s keeper? (Gen 4:9) Can you imagine speaking to God like that?? With a smart mouth as my mother would call it. Cain wanted to feel powerful, he wanted the admiration, so much so that it led him to murder and disrespect to God Almighty.
- Goliath—one of my favorite stories (I Samuel 17). I usually have concentrated on David in this story when I teach it or study it but this time I focused on the giant Philistine. Goliath was over 9 feet tall. His size certainly had an effect on what kind of man Goliath was. I can imagine how he must have enjoyed the attention he received, how even his fellow soldiers must have looked up to him. I would bet that Goliath had probably been a bully his whole life. But size doesn’t automatically make you a bully. I have a son who was bigger than his daddy by the time he got out of junior high. By the time he got to college he weighed over 240 (he’s lost a lot of that now because of his diabetic diet) but my point is Clint was a big guy but he had and still does a heart of gold; he’s a big teddy bear who works with special ed children. Goliath could have chosen to be that kind of man but instead who chose to become a wicked soldier who blasphemed God and therefore met his match with a teenage boy who loved God and couldn’t stand to hear God treated that way. I find it interesting as a side note that David went on to kill other giants in 2 Sam 21. Oh and by the way, one of the words for giant in Hebrew actually means bully or tyrant!
- Pharaoh (of Moses’ day-Exodus 7-14)—I just finished teaching Moses’ life and so the Pharaoh who would not let the Israelites go came to my mind. There were many pharaohs but this man was taught many lessons by Moses and by God because of his arrogance. He was a classic bully. He loved his power, his control, and in fact believed himself to be a god. We think back to the pharaoh who loved and admired Joseph, so not all pharaohs were like the pharaoh of Moses’ day. The Bible tells us there came a pharaoh who knew not Joseph. So by the time we get to Moses the Israelites have grown in number and are now enslaved in Egypt. Moses is compelled by God Himself to go back to Egypt to free His people. It takes 10 horrible plagues before Pharaoh lets the Israelites go. He is a slow learner. He has to lose his own son before he realizes the power of God. It is only when a bully is stood up to or overpowered that he will back off. Pharaoh gives in but not out of humility because we then see him come after Moses and the Hebrews and he meets his end with his army at the Red Sea. Some bullies never learn.
- Jezebel—in all fairness to women, we can’t overlook Jezebel. This woman was a piece of work. She just had to have her way. How many women do you know like that? Maybe this is how they feel important. No matter the reason, it’s especially distasteful when it’s a woman. It goes against our very nature of nurturing and caring for others. Selfishness is wrong whether a man or a woman, but in women it seems worse, doesn’t it? Jezebel was the daughter of a Phoenician king. (I Kings 16-21) When King Ahab married he made one of his biggest mistakes. Jezebel immediately brings Baal worship into Israel; she goes on to kill the Lord’s prophets, the Bible says. 100 of them survive by hiding out in caves. You may remember the story of how Jezebel’s husband King Ahab covets Nadab’s vineyard. When Nadab won’t sell it to him, Ahab goes home and gets in bed, turns his face to the wall and won’t eat. Jezebel is infuriated with her weak husband. She bullies him by saying aren’t you the head of your kingdom??? You can hear her anger and sarcasm. She says I’ll take care of it. Through a complicated scheme of lies and murder, she secures Nadab’s vineyard for the king. She is a heartless and wicked woman who won’t let anything stand in her way of getting what she wants. Elijah prophesies Jezebel’s death precisely and in 2 Kings 9 it happens just as he said and just as God had commanded. King Jehu commands she be thrown from her window in her palace by her eunuchs. He then runs over her with his horse. The dogs eat her flesh and lick her blood, leaving nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands, not enough to even bury and say there is Jezebel. So God basically wipes her off the earth. Her name has become symbolic of an evil woman.
- Diotrephes—the Bible tells us he wanted to have the preeminence, the definition of a bully, power and control, attention and admiration. Verse—3 John 1:9-10—I wrote unto the church but Diotrephes who loveth to have the preeminence among them receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Can you imagine? He’s the guy you want to say, just who do you think you are? Satan surely used Diotrephes in tearing up the church. We expect that in the world but in the church??
- Elymas—the sorcerer in Acts 13—Paul is on the island of Paphos trying to teach Sergius Paulus the truth who had actually called for Barnabas and Paul to come teach him the word of God. Elymas the Bible says withstood them, seeking to turn the deputy Sergius Paulus away from the faith. Elymas is a bully. This was none of his business. Maybe he became fearful of the Lord’s doctrine turning people away from his sorcery. His selfishness causes him to withstand an apostle along with Barnabas. But the HS will not have it. He inspires Paul to say and do something amazing: Paul sets his eyes on him the Bible says, and Paul says O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now behold the hand of the Lord is upon thee and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. Paul struck this bully blind so someone had to lead him about, he had no control or power, and the deputy believed being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
- What do we do when we are confronted by a bully? We have courage. We stand firm. We do right. We use God’s Word as our sword and meet the devil with “it is written.” That means we must know the Word. And we pray. We pray that God will help us live righteously and be brave and be wise as we deal with bullies that come our way. (Remember this wise counsel: a soft answer turns away wrath-Pro 15:1; answer a fool according to his folly-Pro 26:5—use wisdom in deciding which to use!)
- Finally, let’s make sure we are not acting as bullies. That we don’t rejoice in making others feel small, that we don’t seek out attention and admiration for ourselves, that we don’t seek power and control over others, that we aren’t selfish or self-seeking but rather we lift people up, we think about the concerns of others, bear others’ burdens, come among others as a servant like the Bible says about Jesus, and live by those difficult words—thy will be done.