God’s active involvement in the world often takes the form of dismantling the schemes of cunning individuals before they can cause harm. He steps in to ruin the plots of those who place their trust in their own trickery and deceit [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. There is a sharp distinction between being wise and being cunning. While wise individuals grasp general principles of wisdom, cunning people use their knowledge specifically to trick others and create malicious plots. To protect the innocent, God moves against these schemers at the very earliest stage of their thinking, ensuring their ideas never develop into an organized plan [מלבי״ם].
This divine intervention plays out across history and society. For example, it strikes corrupt merchants who hoard grain to artificially inflate prices at the expense of the poor. It also appears on a grand scale, such as when the Egyptians thought they could outsmart the Israelites at the sea, only to be destroyed by their own strategy in a perfect act of measure for measure [אלשיך].
Ultimately, the hands of the deceitful are left empty. The primary approach among commentators links their intended success to the concept of tangible substance and reality [מצודת ציון, רמב״ן, אבן עזרא בשם רב משה]. Because God intervenes, the actions of the cunning dissolve into nothingness, yielding no real outcome [רמב״ן]. Another perspective views their failed goal simply as a complete lack of wisdom [אבן עזרא]. In practical terms, this means the specific strategies and advice the plotters imagined simply evaporate [רש״י, מצודת דוד].
When a person sets out to achieve a dark goal, they rely on a structured system, much like a thief carefully organizing the steps of a robbery in his mind. God guarantees that these highly organized plans will never be executed [רלב״ג]. Human action follows a clear sequence: first comes the initial thought, then a concrete plan is formed to choose the right methods, and finally, the physical act takes place. The ultimate, successful completion of this process is what the cunning strive for. However, God actively disrupts their malicious thoughts before they can even mature into a practical plan, let alone materialize into a successful action [מלבי״ם].