Proverbs 10:18-21, The Best of Tongues – The Worst of Tongues!

April 27, Proverbs 10:18-21

Luke 20:19-40; 22:19-23 “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (Jas. 1:22).

The Best of Tongues – The Worst of Tongues!

Sent by his master to purchase the best dish the market could supply, the servant provided tongues, which were served up with different sauces for every course. When ordered later to provide the worst things he could find, he again appeared with a supply of tongues. The moral is obvious! John Calvin said, “The vice of the tongue spreads and prevails over every part of life. It is as active and potent for evil in old age as ever it was in the days of our youth.” Vs. 18-21 reveal the blessed virtue of right speaking and the baneful vice of improper speaking.

1. Scoundrels and Snakes: He that hides hatred with lying lips, and then, he that utters a slander, they both are fools (v.18). This is a caution against deceptive lips, as well as defaming lips. To hide ones true intent by covering (Heb.) it with a tissue of lies is surely to speak with deceptive lips and a forked tongue! The word slander refers to a whispering, evil report, resembling the stealthy gliding of a snake preparing to strike (Nu. 14:36, Ps. 31:13)! With the first fool, it is a case of honey on the lips and venom in the heart. With the second, the venom is in the tongue as well as in the heart.

2. Destroyers and Defrauders: Does not Scripture abundantly illustrate the evils patent in this proverb? We see it when Cain talked with Abel (Gen. 4:8); when Saul and then Absalom plotted against David (1 Sam. 18; 2 Sam.15); when the Scribes and Sadducees, and later Judas, conspired against the Lord Jesus. “To conceal it like Absalom, is to nourish a fire within us. To utter it in slander, like Shimei, is to set on fire our dwelling, which may soon involve us in the flames” (Lawson). Is there not evidence of these destroyers and defrauders among those who call themselves Christians? Do we always mean what we say? Do our compliments really express our true feelings? If not, can we offend against the new commandment of love with impunity (Jn. 13:34, 35)? Take Peter’s exhortation to heart, Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile… As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby (1 Pet. 2:1-2). Let these old maxims also challenge us on the evils of the misuse of the tongue.

The boneless tongue, so small and weak, can crush and kill, declared the Greek.
The tongue destroys a greater horde, the Turk asserts, than does the sword.
The Persian Proverb wisely saith a lengthy tongue, an early death.
The tongue can speak a word whose speed, say the Chinese, outstrips the steed.
While Arab sages this impart, the tongue’s great storehouse is the heart.
From Hebrew wit the maxim sprung, though feet should slip, ne’er let the tongue.
The sacred writer crowns the whole, who keeps the tongue doth keep his soul.

Thought: Be careful! One who spoke most (Peter), also erred most. 

Prayer: Lord, purge our hearts from these hateful hidden corruptions.