The tongue of the wise
[Proverbs 15:1-7]
Have you ever heard the phrase ‘You have to use your three inches tongue well’? It means that the tongue is that the words that come out of a short tongue are so important that life goes back and forth. The tongue is as short as that, but the result of the words coming from that tongue is enormous. Look at James 3:5 – “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!” The words that come out of our tongues become great scars, frustrations, disappointments, and curses for some, hope, courage, and life for some. And in other cases, inadvertent words can kill others. If so, how important is a word from us Christians who believe in Jesus? So Proverbs 18:21 of the Bible tells us this: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”
This is what the Bible Proverbs 15:2 says, “The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, But the mouth of fools spouts folly.” Based on this word, I would like to receive the lesson God wants to give us while thinking about two things under the heading “The tongue of the wise.”
The first thing I want to think about is the mouth of the fool. I would like to think of three things:
First, the tongue of the fool speaks a harsh word.
Look at Proverbs 15:1b – “… but a harsh word stirs up anger.” In the Bible, there are examples of the harsh word in anger. One of them is what King Saul said to his own son Jonathan in anger. Look at 1 Samuel 20:30-31: “Then Saul's anger burned against Jonathan and he said to him, ‘You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Therefore now, send and bring him to me, for he must surely die.’” How could he harshly say “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman!” to his own son? How hurtful is this for his son Jonathan? This saying of King Saul, even mention Jonathan's mother in anger was the most intense expression of extreme hatred and anger, especially in the ancient Middle East (Internet). In the end, King Saul spoke the harsh words to his own son Jonathan.
This is what the Bible Proverbs 15:18 says: “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, But the slow to anger calms a dispute.” What does it mean? It means that a man of rage (Walvoord) who gets very angry easily causes contention. How does he cause contention? He does so in anger in which he cannot restrain his mouth and speaks carelessly and violently and hurts the other. Yet, the fool who is easy to get angry thinks that he is right while he is actually wrong and quarrels by making noise (Park). What are some lessons we should learn here? That is, when we are angry, we must shut our mouths. In other words, when we are angry, we need to refrain from speaking. The reason is because the words that come out our mouths can be harsh if we fail to manage our anger. And if we are unable to control our anger and open our mouths to speak harsh words, the person who listens to those harsh words can be hurt. So we should be slow to speak when we are angry (Jam. 1:19).
Second, the tongue of the fool spouts folly.
Look at Proverbs 15:2b – “… But the mouth of fools spouts folly.” Here, the literal meaning of the original Hebrew word for ‘to sprout’ is “bubbles forth” (Walvoord). This same word appears in the second half of verse 28: “… but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil.” Here the word ‘gush’ means ‘(liquid) soaring, (liquid suddenly) pouring out, (praising, feelings without much sincerity) pouring out’ (Naver Dictionary). What does it mean? It means that the folly pours out of the mouth of the fool, like a bubble, as if water springs from a spring. In a word, it means that the fool talks a lot without thinking (Park). In the end, since the fool doesn’t have the truth to understand in his heart, he pours out such random words without thinking instead of thinking and speaking the word of God. And because the fool speaks a lot without thinking, he makes known what is in his heart (14:33). Not only that, he proclaims his own folly. Here, what is in the heart of the fool? It is his own folly. As the fool shows his folly, his mouth feeds on folly (15:14). What does it mean? The fool enjoys the fooly in himself with his foolish mouth. How foolish is this? That's why the Bible Proverbs 17:27-28 says, “He who restrains his words has knowledge, And he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.” Isn't it interesting that even the fool is considered wise if he remain silent. We need to spare words. And we must have knowledge. We must have the knowledge of God and the knowledge of His truth. Therefore, we need to think and speak based on the truth. We don't have to proclaim and express our own folly by simply pouring out words without thinking.
Third, the tongue of the fool crushes the other person’s spirit.
Look at Proverbs 15:4b – “… but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.” Here, the term ‘deceitfulness” is not only not true, but also refers to harassing the listener (Park). What does it mean? This means that the fool man has the deceitful tongue, and he afflicts others with it, especially their hearts (Refs: 15:13; 17:22, 18:14). Especially, the fool man hurts the other person's heart because he carelessly speaks harsh words in his anger. However, the problem is that the fool not only doesn’t know how much he hurts the other person's heart with the words he pours out of his mouth in anger. He only thinks of himself at the moment of anger, and has no interest in the other person's hurt.
Last week, two of my kids were upset. When I was around, one kid called another kid “jerk”. At that time, when I heard that, I was angry and said a word of bitterness to that child who said “jerk” to her sister. Then the child went to his room and cried sadly. I think the reason why I was upset was because someone called me “jerk” when I was in 9th grade. At that time, it seems that her word broke my heart when I heard that. That’s why I reacted sensitively to what my child said. In a way, it seems that many people use the inappropriate words in their conversations these days that even we don't care using them. Among those words, there is ‘you stupid. And it seems that the word stupid is used by many people. Furthermore, these days, young people are using the bad word such as ‘f-word’ in conversation without hesitation. These words don’t seem to offend the other person, so everyone seems to use it comfortably. Can we use these words so comfortably like that? In Matthew 5:22, Jesus says “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.” The word “raga” here means “blockhead” (Kittel) in English. This was an insult at the time. That is why Jesus tells us that if we tell our brothers that we are idiots and fools in our anger, we will be put into the fire of hell. When we think of these words, we think we shouldn't say these things to the other person. Especially if we call the other person this way, and if it hurts the other person's heart, we should stop using those words anymore.
Then I would like to think about four things about the tongue of the wise:
First, the tongue of the wise turns away wrath.
Look at Proverbs 15:1a – “A gentle answer turns away wrath ….” The wise will not be angry with the other when the other is angry. Rather, the wise man is slow to get angry even when the other person is angry (v. 18). Meanwhile, he knows what to do with his angry opponent. It's about taking the other person's anger off with a gentle answer. In other words, the wise man uses gentle words to relieve his opponent's anger. A good example is given in 1 Samuel 25:24-31. A good example is what Abigail, the wise wife of a man named Nabal who repays good with evil (v. 21), who is worthless (v. 25) and foolish (v. 25), said to David. Because of Nabal, David decided to harm Nabal's house (v. 17) with about 200 men each with a sword (v. 13) and was going to Nabal’s house. Then Abigail, the wise wife of the foolish Nabal, heard of his servant (vv. 14-17), “lost no time” and “took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys” (v. 18). She made her servants to go ahead of her (v. 19), and met David and his men when he followed her servants (v. 20). When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground and said, “My lord, let the blame be on me alone. Please let your servant speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. May my lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name--his name is Fool, and folly goes with him. But as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my master sent. … Please forgive your servant's offense, for the LORD will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my master, because he fights the LORD's battles. Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live” (vv. 24-25, 28). After hearing all the words of the wise Abigail, David tells her: “"Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak."
If we look at Proverbs 25:15, the Bible says “By forbearance a ruler may be persuaded, And a soft tongue breaks the bone.” The wise man is patient and treats the angry man. He convinces the other person with his gentle tongue, so that the anger of the angry person can be turn away. The Bible says that in Proverbs 16:14, the tongue of the wise makes the king's fury that is like messengers of death, rest. What a wise tongue is this? Shouldn't our tongue be like this? May we have this wise tongue so that we can turn away other person's wrath with our gentle words.
Second, the tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable.
Look at Proverbs 15:2a – “The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable ….” What does it mean? The tongue of the wise means speaking the word of God well (Park). In other words, the tongue of the wise speaks the word of God well and spread knowledge (v. 7). The reason is because the eyes of the wise read the word of God, his ears seek knowledge (18:15), and his life meditates on the word of God day and night (Ps. 1:2). In other words, since the wise man meditates on the word of God day and night, he has knowledge of God's word so that he can convey that knowledge to others well. What a contrast with the tongue of the fool? Since the tongue of the fool isn’t knowledgeable, he not only pours out his own folly (v. 2) but also proclaim about it (12:23), whereas the tongue of the wise spreads knowledge well.
In Proverbs 24:5, the Bible says, “A wise man is strong, And a man of knowledge increases power.” If we apply this to the first half of Proverbs 15:2, I think we can say that the tongue of the wise who spreads knowledge well increases power and is strong. In the end, in order to cultivate the strength and power of our tongue rather than the strength and power of the flesh, we must meditate on the word of God day and night, and grow steadily in the knowledge of God and the knowledge of the truth. Therefore, we must use our tongue well with the wisdom God gives us. We must use it to proclaim the word of God.
Third, the tongue of the wise heals wounds.
Look at Proverbs 15:4a – “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life ….” The lips of the fool speak harsh words and hurt the other person's heart. But the tongue of the wise heals the wound. Don’t you want to have this healing tongue? How does the tongue of the wise heal wounds? It heals the wounds by speaking the word of God well (v. 2). The tongue of the wise speaks well with gentle words (v. 1) to heal the other's broken heart. Dr. Yoon-sun Park speaks of this healing tongue, saying that it is truthful and peaceful word that comforts, saves, and gives hope to the listeners. Such words are referred to as “full of grace, seasoned with salt” (Col. 4:6) (Park). The Bible says that the tongue of the wise is the “tree of life” because it comforts, gives life and hope to those who hear it (Prov. 15:4). In other words, the tongue of the wise is the tree of life to heal dying souls by preaching Jesus Christ, who is life.
Fourth and last, the tongue of the wise speaks a timely word.
Look at Proverbs 15:23 – “A man finds joy in giving an apt reply-- and how good is a timely word!” As I personally meditate on this word, I think of how beautiful the right word is at the right time. And in fact, I often experience the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit, letting me speak the right word at the right time. For example, when I talk to others through internet chat, there are times when I get a glimpse of what is working in the other person's heart because God the Holy Spirit makes me to share the Bible verses by reminding me those verses. When that happens, sometimes I am surprised by myself. The reason is because the words that the Holy Spirit reminded me were appropriate words for others at that time. So personally, when I think of Proverbs 15:23, I believe that God will bring us joy by letting us speak the word of God through us in His time. This is what Proverbs 24:11-12 says: “Like apples of gold in settings of silver Is a word spoken in right circumstances. Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold Is a wise reprover to a listening ear.” What does it mean? In case of proper advice, it means that it produces good fruit (Park). Here, the original Hebrew word for “right circumstances” means “wheel”. In other words, it refers to the turn by adjusting the circumstances at that time. This teaches that the adviser should take a number of things into account and control it when speaking to the other person (Park): ‘Those who give advice should speak when they have love and peace. They should not speak in a humiliating manner. They should not speak hasty. Don't speak without courtesy. The Bible says that when the other person accepts such advice, it becomes a great treat (meaning of “apples of gold” and “setting of silver”) to the person giving them (Park). Are we taking the advice of those around us who love love us with great treat?
When we say the right words at the right time, and sometimes the indwelling Spirit wants to give advice or even rebuke, we must do it without sparing advice or rebuke with the word of God. When we do so, we should not do it to the proud, but with the wise. The reason is because we fear that if we reprove the arrogant, he will hate us.
This is what the Bible James 3:2 says: “For we all stumble in many ways If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.” As we should strive to become whole Christians without stumble in what we say, we meditated on the tongue of the fool and the tongue of the wise, based on Proverbs 15:1-7. And we have been taught that the tongue of the wise can turn away wrath, makes knowledge acceptable, heal the other's wounds, and speak the timely words. Is our tongue indeed the tongue of the wise or the tongue of the fool?