As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death,
Verse 18 is only half a sentence: a madman hurling burning sticks, arrows and death at random. Verse 19 names him — the man who tricks his neighbour and calls it a joke.
Laziness is the obvious failing in this part of Proverbs. One writer points out that busyness can be worse.
Sluggishness is not the only fault to be avoided. There may be activity to dread of a still more damaging sort, and it is vividly set out in verses 17-22. We have to beware of being meddlesome, or of sympathising with such ways.
He then shows where that meddling ends up.
Such uncalled-for activity grows the more someone gives in to it. It is likely to end in playing the madman, throwing burning material and things that wound and even kill. All the while he deceives his neighbour with the pretence that he meant nothing more than a joke.
Firebrands and arrows thrown at random land wherever they land. One writer applies the picture to the way people handle God's Word.
Here is the man who trifles with truth as though it were a toy to use as he pleases. He will even deceive another and then excuse himself on the grounds that it was a joke. The condemnation of such conduct here is strong. He is compared to a madman who throws firebrands and arrows about at random, likely to cause death. Suppose someone dares to use the Word of God in this light, frivolous way, making fun of its infinitely serious truths. What deadly influence that may have on others! Let us hold the truth in the pure, serious, noble dignity that belongs to it.
One writer weighs rash speech against the speech of the wise.
Babbling or rash speaking is well compared to the stabs of a sword. It inflicts wounds and pain. It comes from a light spirit if not from malice, and it aims at no good. The tongue of the wise carries conviction to every upright heart. It may wound when duty rightly calls for it, but even then it is a kindness. Such wounds heal, because they test and remove what only harms.
Verse 19 puts the excuse in the deceiver's own mouth. One writer applies this to David. Running from King Saul, he lied to the priest Ahimelech about why he had come.
His deceitful trick when Ahimelech spoke to him was a blot on his own character as a man of God. Indirectly it caused the destruction of that whole small town. Whether Ahimelech was truly deceived by the reply or not does not affect David's guilt. In his dread of the king's revenge, the fugitive may have thought it a small matter to pretend he was on Saul's business. But God is not mocked. What a man sows, that will he reap. We are to remember what a huge fire a little spark will cause.
The joker pays a price himself. One writer traces this cost back to Lot.
When Lot warned his sons-in-law of the coming doom of Sodom, they thought it was just a deceptive joke. If someone gets a reputation for never being serious, then when he is in earnest he will have no effect.
Another writer explains why they took it that way.
Note, it does not say that they mocked him, but that they thought he was mocking or making sport of them — that he was really joking. He had come into Sodom and invested everything he had in it. So they could not believe he was serious when he suddenly announced that the whole place would be destroyed in a moment. His previous course of life completely contradicted his present testimony.
Another writer turns the same picture on the whispered word.
Let us beware of using the flesh against one another. Beware of stirring up and inflaming what feeds on corruption. Suppose you tell a whispered word that you know will stir up resentment and make enmity. It seems to me that you are getting ready to put a torch to a jackal and turn it loose.
- Spark. A little spark starts a huge fire. The deceiver's guilt does not depend on whether his neighbour was fooled.
- Firebrand. The joke is the weapon. Words spoken in fun, not only in malice, pierce like a sword and aim at no good.
- Target. Treating truth as a toy is the worst form of this madness. Making light of God's Word can have a deadly effect on others.
- Ash. The man known for joking loses the power to be believed. Lot warned his family of real ruin, and they heard a joke.
- Fuel. The verse sits among warnings about meddling and whispering. Stop feeding the fire and it goes out.
so is a man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am I not in sport?
This proverb sets two pictures side by side: a madman flinging blazing torches and arrows, and a man who tricks his neighbour and then laughs it off. Is "I was only joking" a defence at all, and what about the people standing where the sparks fall?
Why does this proverb put a joker beside a madman? One writer starts further back, with the man who keeps stirring in matters that are not his.
This uncalled-for activity grows the more a man gives in to it. It is likely to end with him playing the madman, throwing firebrands and things that wound and even kill, while he deceives his neighbour by pretending he meant no more than a joke.
The deceiver treats truth as his own property, to bend as he likes. Then he hands over an excuse as if it settled everything.
Here is the man who trifles with truth as though it were a toy to use as he pleases. He will even deceive someone else and then excuse himself on the ground that it was a joke. How strong is the condemnation of such conduct here! He is likened to a madman throwing firebrands and arrows about at random, likely to cause death.
The same writer notes what this costs a person in the long run. Lot warned his sons-in-law that Sodom was about to be destroyed, and they took him for a joker:
If one acquires a reputation for frivolity, then when he is in earnest he will have no effect.
David once told a lie that looked harmless. On the run from King Saul, he came to the town of Nob and gave the priest Ahimelech an untrue story about himself. One writer follows what came of it.
Wrongdoing cannot stay hidden for long. David was to find that the evil seed he had planted in Nob would bear its evil fruit, and very quickly. Doeg, the chief of the royal herdsmen, had no love for him and saw him there. He carried the news of Ahimelech's kindness to his master. The king was furious. He gave the cruel order to kill everyone in Nob — men, women and children.
The man who threw the firebrand was not the one who died in the flames.
Samson once tied torches to jackals and let them run through the Philistines' fields. One writer turns that picture on the way we talk about each other.
Let us beware of fighting with jackals; let us beware of trying to use the flesh against one another. Beware of stirring up and inflaming what feeds on corruption. Suppose you pass on a whispered word that you know will stir up resentment and make enmity. It seems to me that you are getting ready to put the torch to a jackal and turn it loose.
What should take the place of the deceiver's laugh? One writer points to a different kind of speech.
Nor let us allow our talk to descend to the level of foolishness or jesting. A Christian is neither a fool nor a jester, so let us not appear as either in our conversation. Thanksgiving is what suits the lips of those who are forgiven and have become children of God.
This is not a call to gloom. Another writer says the Lord "in no way forbids the happy cheerfulness which He loves in His saints" (The Bible Treasury). What this proverb condemns is the wit that wounds and then claims innocence.
- The spark. Meddling grows the more you give in to it, until a man throws firebrands and calls it play.
- The excuse. "I was only joking" is the cover story of a man who has deceived his neighbour. This proverb answers it by calling him a madman.
- The spread. A whispered word meant to stir resentment is a torch tied to a jackal. You do not get to choose where it runs.
- The cost. David's untrue words at Nob cost a town its life. Sparks land on people who never heard the joke.
- The cure. Thanksgiving is the speech that fits forgiven people. Get a name for joking, and no one will believe you when you are serious.