Proverbs 12:16-17, Speak Truth – It is the Best Buckler!
June 14, Proverbs 12:16-17
Rom. 12:14-21 “Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6).
Speak Truth – It is the Best Buckler!
The proverbs in 12:16-23 refer to different kinds of speech. Ponder them carefully. They underline vital truths we tend to overlook. There is an obvious reason why Solomon spent so much time on the tongue. Have you not regretted your speech more than your silence? Many have two tongues in one mouth!
1. The Maddened: A fool’s wrath is presently (‘in the day’) known (v.16a). He proclaims it openly, or it is known in the very day that he spoke. An open mouth often shows an empty head! He is so thin-skinned that any criticism provokes him to anger. He utters senseless words, and his reaction becomes more harmful than the cause. It is a thing of shame (v.16b), a form of madness. Proverbs often warns that uncontrolled anger makes fools of us all, shames us! Such speech is ill advised because anger blinds and distorts judgment. Such anger does serious injury to bodily health as well as to one’s spiritual health. Such persons are almost impossible to live with or work beside.
2. The Muzzled: A prudent man covereth shame (abuse) (v.16b). The word translated prudent eight times in Proverbs always has a good sense. In Genesis it is used in a bad sense, to refer to the subtilty of the Serpent (3:1), and twice by Eliphaz to accuse Job of craftiness (5:12, 15:5). The prudent person seeks to cover or muzzle this shame, Solomon’s equivalent word for wrath. He or she doesn’t lash out; they quench the rising flames of anger. Many a Christian has lived with rash and senseless words that were undeserved, and even to turn the other cheek (Mt. 5:39). In so doing they cover the shame, preserve their own honour, and prove that God’s grace is sufficient to deal with insults (Ps. 141:3). To such broken hearts, however, Christ brings unbroken peace (Lk. 4:18). There’s an old saying,
“Speaking silence is better than senseless speech.”
3. The Meticulous: He that speaks truth shows forth righteousness (v.17a). The contrast is between truth and falsehood. He that speaks (breathes) truth speaks what is righteous, just. There can be no concealing any facts that would obstruct justice. “Truth is truth (emunah) till time shall end.” He is meticulous in his speech. It is the Amen of God; the amen at the end of his promises and our prayers! It is not merely what we believe, but what is the true state of the case, what is honestly known, what is God’s truth. Right words are always righteous words, and always promote justice. “If the devil dances on your lips, does he not prove himself to be reigning in your heart?” (Mt. 12:34)
4. The Mocker: But a false witness (witness of lies) deceit (v.17b). Deceit is treachery, mockery! It applies to many things, not just a courtroom. “A lie has no legs, and cannot stand; but it has broad wings, and flies far.” An untruth a day old is called a lie, a year old, a falsehood, a century old, a legend, but age does not alter a falsehood!
Thought: “Anger is just one letter short of danger” (Anon).
Prayer: Lord, to hate and abhor lying, but to love Thy law (Ps. 119:163).