A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for stripes.
A fool's own mouth works against him: his talk starts a fight, and the beating that follows is one he asked for. Why does speech run to war so easily, and what would stop it?
The trouble starts before a word leaves the mouth. One writer points to where the fault sits:
Such a person is pronounced to be a fool, and to have no delight in understanding, but only that his heart may reveal itself. How far he is from knowing himself! His heart is the chief seat of his folly.
The fool's mouth calls down the blows he gets. One writer follows that habit to where it ends:
There is another way in which folly displays itself. "A fool's lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating." The way of peace is unknown to him. His words are for war, and so his mouth calls for blows, even if he sometimes escapes. But in the long run it is worse for him. "A fool's mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul." Had he learned from rebuke and other humbling experiences, it might have been different.
Believers have a command about peace. The fool's mouth puts him on the wrong side of it:
"A fool's lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating" (v. 6). How contrary to the character of peacemakers! Believers are told, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all" (Rom. 12:18). Sadly, a fool will not be content to live peaceably. When he opens his mouth, he practically invites blows from others, for his mouth is his ruin (v. 7).
Quarrels keep coming back because something feeds them. One writer names that root, and warns that winning such a fight is still a loss:
"Only by pride comes contention," says the proverb. There never was a bit of trouble between believers without pride at the bottom of it! You stand up for your rights, and the Lord will put you down. You may get what you want, but the Lord will have His hand against you. A Christian should be like a piece of rubber, always giving way, never resisting, except when it is the devil.
(The proverb he cites reads in the ESV, "By insolence comes nothing but strife.")
The remedy costs only a pause. A guarded mouth spares a man trouble he would bring on himself, and spares those around him too:
But a bridle is needed as well. So the one who guards his mouth keeps his soul. As a good man said, one should think twice before speaking once. Anyone who does not stumble in what he says is a perfect man, of thorough integrity. He can bridle his whole body as well. He spares himself much sorrow and shame. He spares others too, who pay back a little folly by despising the wisdom they lack themselves.
Silence is not weakness. An enemy officer once shouted threats at Jerusalem. The king told his people to say nothing back:
"Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble." Hezekiah knew this was true. He ordered his people not to answer the defiant words of Rabshakeh, the servant of Sennacherib. Rabshakeh had come to surround Jerusalem and destroy the city (2 Kings 18:36). The Lord answered the faith of their silence, and preserved them from the threatened harm.
- Heart first. The fool's problem is not his words but his heart: "his heart is the chief seat of his folly." Speech only lets it out.
- Mouth next. "His words are for war." The same mouth that starts the fight calls down the beating.
- Pride under it. Quarrels between believers have one root. "There never was a bit of trouble between believers without pride at the bottom of it."
- Peace refused. Believers are told to live peaceably as far as it depends on them. The fool will not, so his speech is the opposite of a peacemaker's.
- Bridle last. The cure is a guarded mouth: "think twice before speaking once." Hezekiah's people kept silent in faith, and the Lord answered them.
A fool's mouth is destruction to him, and his lips are a snare to his soul.
No enemy brings this man down; he talks himself into ruin. So where does such speech come from, and can anything be done about it?
Verses 6 and 7 belong together. The fool's words look for a fight, and the fight ends in his own ruin.
The way of peace is unknown to him. His words are for war, and so his mouth calls for blows, even if he sometimes escapes them. But in the long run it is all the worse for him, for "a fool's mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul." If he had learned from rebuke and other humbling experiences, it might have been different.
The ruin was avoidable. He had rebukes to learn from and would not learn. Another writer measures him against what believers are told to do:
How contrary to the character of peacemakers! Believers are told, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all" (Rom. 12:18). Sadly, a fool will not be content to live peaceably. When he opens his mouth, he practically invites blows from others, for his mouth is his destruction (v. 7).
The chapter has already said why the fool talks this way.
Such a person is called a fool. He takes no delight in understanding; he only wants his own heart on display. How far he is from knowing himself! His heart is the chief seat of his folly.
So the mouth is only the outlet. The real question is what fills the heart:
Whatever is in the heart comes out through the lips and in the life. How important, then, to have the heart so full of the word of God that we have no room for the vanities and follies of this present evil world... "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." So we can judge what is in the heart by what comes out of the mouth. The tongue is the organ of the heart — the organ of the man.
The second half of the verse changes the picture from wreckage to a trap. Elsewhere Proverbs says who is offended by such speech, and who pays for it:
The transgression of the lips is not only a great offence in God's sight; it is an evil snare to the guilty (v. 13). Boast as they may that their tongues are their own, they learn to their cost that neither God nor man will allow it.
Why does the proverb speak of ruin, and not just embarrassment?
Then there is the tongue, that influential member, so fruitful in good and so fruitful in evil. With it we can give out words of soft and soothing sympathy, or words of bitter sarcasm and burning anger. How important is the grace of self-control applied to such a member! In a moment the tongue can do mischief that years cannot repair. In an unguarded moment it can speak words we would give the world to take back.
If no one can tame it, is the case hopeless?
"Every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue." The comfort is that God can deal with it — God, who gives the believer His own nature, and knows how to bring down the old nature.
Proverbs also states the reverse: guarding the mouth guards the soul. Good speech takes care, and it takes God in view.
However valuable good speech is, it is wise to spare the tongue as well as the mouth. We have to weigh the time, the tone, the way, and the end, in case a good intention not only fails but provokes... To keep one's mouth and tongue as in God's presence is to keep the soul from troubles without end (v. 23).
Proverbs sets the highest stakes on this one small member:
Life and death lie in the power of the tongue, and so do the issues of both good and evil. All Scripture declares it; all experience confirms and illustrates it.
- Heart — the mouth is only the outlet; the fool's heart is the chief seat of his folly, and the tongue is the organ of the man.
- Overflow — what fills the heart comes out through the lips, so speech shows what is inside.
- Moment — in a moment the tongue can do mischief that years cannot repair; no one can tame it, but God can deal with it.
- Snare — men boast their tongues are their own and learn otherwise; sinful lips become a trap for the one who speaks.
- Guard — keeping mouth and tongue as in God's presence keeps the soul from troubles without end.
The words of a talebearer are as dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
Proverbs 18:8 puts two facts side by side: gossip tastes good, and gossip goes deep. Older translations read "as wounds" where the ESV reads "like delicious morsels," so the writers below use both pictures. The words slip down easily, and then they stick where no one can dig them out.
One writer sets the talebearer next to the foolish talker, and will not even allow him the excuse of telling the truth.
The talebearer, whom we hear about next, is just as evil as the foolish talker. "The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down to the chambers of the belly." Even if they were strictly true, which they seldom are, they do harm in every way, and they come under the charge of evil speaking. They have no good purpose and no loving manner. At best it is gossip. Mostly it is simply the pleasure of talking about things that right feeling would cover up. The result is wounds that pierce very deep, in the places where they are hardest to heal.
Another writer looks at the Hebrew word behind "wounds." It shows how long the injury lasts.
This is a fitting picture of how the soul normally reacts to the words of talebearers. They are like deep, internal wounds; the Hebrew word means "to burn in." Such words go so deep that a person may never forget them, while other kinds of wrong soon slip out of mind. Talebearing may easily lead to a permanent rupture between saints of God.
Nobody forces a tasty morsel down. We take it willingly, because something in us wants it.
The flesh, even in believers, makes the whisperer's hints too easy and too welcome. Once we receive them instead of refusing them, they go down and take possession of our souls, right to the innermost part. It is a serious danger when the guard sleeps at wisdom's gate. Our own simplicity leaves us open to cruel deception.
Gossip does not travel unchanged. The teller wants something, and that shapes the story.
The words of a talebearer are like wounds that go into the inmost body; that is, they deeply affect the feelings. Anyone given to talebearing is almost certain to exaggerate, because he wants to put his victim in the worst light possible. This is bad work.
Yet truthfulness is no defence either, because the sin is in the carrying, not only in the content.
A gossiper repeats tales and idle chatter that damage other people. A meddler interferes in other people's business and gives opinions on matters that are none of his concern. Neither one is thinking of helping the needy or of putting a wrong right. Both are indulging the flesh in its love of slander. Gossipers and meddlers, whether what they repeat is false or true, are in either case "speaking things which they ought not."
The hearer has a choice. He can refuse the tale, or pass it on and join the offence.
Accept nothing that is said this way, and rebuke the talebearer. That will soon stop such people and shame them. To repeat slanderous tales is to share the guilt and the harm.
Another writer sets a limit on how far even real wrongdoing should travel.
But what if another believer comes to us with an evil report about a brother or sister? Ask that person to stop speaking this way. How much evil speaking would die in its tracks if we did this… Remember that even when real sins have been committed, there is no blessing in telling others the details without need. Keep the circle of information as small as possible — only those who can deal with it in a right way.
- Tasty: gossip goes down easily because something in us welcomes the whisper. The guard is asleep at wisdom's gate.
- Swallowed: we receive the words instead of refusing them, and they take possession of the soul to the innermost part.
- Burned in: the wound "burns in" and may never be forgotten, while lesser wrongs are quickly dropped.
- Distorted: what goes down is seldom accurate. The teller wants the victim in the worst possible light — and even a true report is still evil speaking.
- Stopped: the wound stops where the hearer stops it. Refuse the tale, rebuke the teller, keep the circle small. Repeating it shares the guilt.
He also who is indolent in his work is brother of the destroyer.
One man tears things down; the other simply never gets on with his job. The verse calls them brothers — so why does laziness belong in the same family as destruction?
The word does not mean blood ties here. Scripture uses "brother" in more than one way:
Besides the ordinary use of the word in its literal sense, it is used for cousins and nephews, and for relatives in general. It is also used where there is a moral likeness. Job 30:29; Prov. 18:9.
The family likeness shows up in where both men end. William Kelly then points to Christ, whose service ran the other way:
Verse 9 gives us a saying of great force. The man who is lazy, or slack in his work, is a close relative of the destroyer, the great waster. Both arrive at the same end of misery, one by idling, the other by careless spending. See the wonderful contrast of Christ as Mark traces His service, with its repeated "immediately."
Laziness is not neutral. It costs someone something:
"Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys" (v. 9). His laziness is bound to cause loss. He wastes time, and he does the work so badly that it is worse than useless. He might as well destroy his employer's property, because he is doing the very same thing as a destroyer.
If this holds at work, does it hold with God? One writer presses that question:
How true it is that "Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys." We know this well in everyday matters. But is it any less true of the things of the Lord, and of our daily walk and testimony? We miss chances to honour the Lord, and they never come back. We misuse what He has trusted to our care. We waste time, health and strength on the routine or the amusements of this present evil age. "What is the harm in this or that?" asks the lazy man. He never stops to think that someone truly alive to God, and seeking His glory, would never ask such a question.
The same writer traces where the slackness starts, long before anyone notices unfinished work:
The truth is this. We begin to be slothful Christians when we no longer enjoy the love of God to us in Christ. It starts when Christ Himself is no longer the Object and Hope of our hearts. It starts when meditating on the word of God becomes tiresome, and private prayer declines. It starts when private praise and making melody in the heart to the Lord stops, and we no longer overflow with love to our Saviour God, to His ways, His people, and His service. Oh, how serious this state is! For "Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger." (Prov. 19:15.)
Kelly traces sloth to its root in the parable of the talents, where a master trusts his money to three servants:
In either case the third servant wronged the Lord. He regarded Him according to his own hard and wicked heart. He did not believe in His grace, and so did not seek His pleasure or glory... By his own account he had no excuse for hiding the talent in the ground... To give in to fear was to distrust his Lord, and this is fatal. It is unbelief in His goodness. This servant had no sense of grace.
The cure is to wake up and to refuse whatever dims your light:
So avoid everything that blocks your light from shining. However important a thing may be, do not let it become a shutter that cuts off the light. Shake off drowsiness. Remember that whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. The apostle wrote, "Let us not sleep, as others do"; and again, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."
Grant points to the shelter that follows in the next verse:
How wonderful is the refuge of the name of the Lord! It is a strong tower, and the righteous gladly run into it to find perfect safety (v. 10). When we find such a tower of strength, we are well guarded from laziness and from destroying influences.
- Kinship — "Brother" here means likeness of character, not blood. The slack worker and the destroyer are family.
- Cost — Laziness is never neutral. Wasted time and sloppy work damage what your master trusted to you.
- Reach — The same law runs from the workplace into the soul. Chances to honour the Lord slip by and never come back.
- Root — Behind idleness lies a wrong view of the Master. The servant who buried his talent distrusted his master's goodness.
- Cure — Wake up and run to the strong tower. The name of the Lord shelters you from laziness and from destruction alike.