Proverbs 18:6, 7, 8, Wounds No Physician Can Heal!

November 27, Proverbs 18:6, 7, 8

Rom. 3:13-14; Col. 3:12-15 “The fool digs a pit for himself…”

Wounds No Physician Can Heal!

Here are three proverbs with the theme: “The wrong use of the tongue.” Solomon’s fool (17:21) was not defective in mind but in morals. It was moral evil!

1. He Antagonises: A fool’s lips enter into contention (6a). Contention is that noisy, quarrelsome shouting, sometimes involving physical struggle (1 Kg. 2:23; 12:10). The fool’s lips continually get him into trouble, and why? His main delight is to stir up strife without cause. He himself is easily offended, and so wilfully stirs up trouble among others (Mt. 5:22; 1 Cor. 1:11). He is pugnacious, and picks fights at the slightest excuse “sounding the alarum of war, and drums beating up to the battle” (Bridges). He is like many in America today who keep loaded guns handy and sometimes use them at the slightest provocation. Surely he must be a very insensitive person who would push others that far.

2. He Aggravates (vs.6b, 7): He’s ever “asking for trouble” and he gets it! Strokes (19:29, stripes) are blows, beatings, from a father, an employer, or an opponent! They are the result of his aggravating or provoking ways and words. Those who have to deal with him are so incensed at his stupid words that they come at him with feet or fists. He actually “turns the other cheek” in the sense that his actions invite others to join in the beatings. Such fools are both causes as well as agents of the strokes and the sufferings they receive to their person and reputation. Their folly spells their ruin, their terror, before God. The widespread phenomenon today known as “road rage” is a modern example of the strokes!

3. He Afflicts (v.8): The talebearer, the whisperer, and the secret slanderer are one and the same evil doer (Lev. 19:16). He is abomination to both God and man. Who can measure the harm of this gossip (Ezek. 22:9)? In verse 7 his lips are the snare of his soul, and in verse 8 his words are as wounds that go down into (pierce) the innermost parts of the belly (Ps. 52:2). Vivid imagery, this, to describe the terrible poison which results from the slander of a talebearer. Often physical, as well as mental sufferings result (Jud. 16:5,18). The cruelty that the talebearer afflicts on others can bring serious sufferings on himself, not just his victims (Eph. 4:31). Now we witness the tragedy of “the villain victimised by his own schemes” (Woodcock). He is caught in his own trap; the villain has become a victim! He who sharpens the knife may cut himself with it. Many would-be terrorists have been blown to bits by their own bombs! “The tale of an unguarded moment may be a tremendous irreparable injury. Ah! What but the power of holy love can overcome this mischievous propensity” (Bridges).

Thought: “Evil words show a wicked heart; idle words a vain mind” (Manton).

Prayer: “Create in me a clean heart; renew a right spirit within me.”