He that guardeth his mouth keepeth his soul; destruction shall be to him that openeth wide his lips.
Proverbs hangs a man's life on one small thing: his mouth. Guarded speech keeps him safe; unguarded speech destroys him.
The bridle
Where the ESV says "preserves his life," older translations read "keeps his soul," and the writers below use that older wording. One of them sets a pause before speech against the man who tells everyone what he thinks and hears about others:
But a bridle is needed too. So the one who guards his mouth keeps his soul. As a good man said, one should think twice before speaking once. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man — a man of thorough integrity — able to bridle the whole body also. How much sorrow and shame he spares himself! He spares others too, who take revenge for a little folly by despising the wisdom they themselves lack. On the other hand, there is the loud man. He opens his lips wide to tell everything he thinks, feels, or hears about others. He will get the destruction his malicious folly deserves.
Elsewhere the same writer puts the tongue under the same watch as the mouth:
As the mouth has to beware of taking in beyond what is right and good, so the tongue must beware of letting out what is not edifying. To keep one's mouth and tongue as in God's presence is to keep the soul from troubles without end.
Ruin with a name
One commentator gives the wide-open lips a face. He points to Rehoboam, Solomon's son, and to the answer he gave his people:
Guarding one's mouth (v. 3) protects a man's life. Rehoboam did not guard his. The Israelites asked him to lighten the heavy taxes Solomon had imposed. He answered them, "My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions" (1 Kings 12:13-14). This was "opening his lips wide," and ended in the destruction of the kingdom.
Restrained, never tamed
Leslie M. Grant warns about a mistake a believer can make about his own progress:
A believer, by the power of the Spirit of God, may "bridle" his tongue — that is, put it under restraint. This is a serious responsibility. But let no one persuade himself that he has tamed his tongue. If he does, he will almost certainly learn by painful experience that it is still "an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." So it needs constant guarding and restraining.
Where the damage is done
One writer points to a single hasty word from Moses, and to what such words cost God's people:
Moses spoke without thinking in a moment of anger, and Scripture records it. When I see that, I see how deeply we need a bridled tongue. This is where Satan gets such an advantage over us. Careless talk is where God's people constantly need correction. No one can measure the sorrow this brings on souls. It may not be too much to say that almost all the trouble among God's people comes from speaking rashly.
The mouth that was never unguarded
The same writer sets Christ against this failure. Enemies questioned Him from every side:
When He was here, men tried to trap Him in His talk. They scorned Him, opposed Him, and raised objection after objection. Nothing ever drew one rash word from His lips. Instead, they attacked Him on every side — Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians. He answered them all. Then His wisdom shone out as He silenced them with one simple question: "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?" (Matthew 22:41-45.)
Summary
- Guard the gate — the mouth needs a bridle, not just good intentions. Think twice before speaking once.
- Guard both ways — watch what the mouth takes in and what the tongue lets out. Keep both as in God's presence.
- Guard or lose — Rehoboam's harsh answer was "opening his lips wide," and it cost him a kingdom.
- Guard daily — the Spirit can restrain a tongue, but no one has tamed one. The watching never ends.
- Guard like Christ — most trouble among God's people starts with rash words. Pressed from every side, He never spoke one.