Better. He who hideth hatred is of lying lips. The alternative is offered with a delicate touch of irony. He who cherishes hatred must choose between being a knave or a fool—a knave if he hides, a fool if he utters it.—Plumptre.
main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 19–21.
Speech and Silence.
I. The wisdom of not always using the tongue when we might. “He that refraineth his lips is wise.” The reputation of a good man may be much injured by even speaking the truth at certain times and to certain persons. The silence of a man who can speak wisely and eloquently is a revelation of self-control, and often adds more to the dignity of his character than words can. The Son of God “opened not His mouth” before His false accusers, and thus revealed His power of self-control—His moral majesty. That He could be silent in such circumstances is a manifestation of the deep ocean of conscious innocence within Him, and is an unparalleled exposition of His own precept, “In patience possess ye your souls.” 1. Silence is wisdom when we feel that speech would be useless to convince. When we feel that a foregone conclusion has been arrived at which no argument or appeal could shake. This has been the case in the history of the confessors and martyrs of the Church in all ages, and was pre-eminently so when the Lord Jesus Christ stood to be tried before men who had determined to murder Him. 2. Silence is sometimes more convincing than speech. Men are often more impressed by acts than by words, by a spirit of forbearance than by a passionate vindication of our rights. 3. Silence does not necessarily imply acquiescence. The Eternal Himself is sometimes silent from displeasure. “These things hast thou done and I kept silence” (Psalm lv. 21).
II. The blessing of using the tongue when we ought. “The tongue of the just is as choice silver.” The lips of the righteous feed many because they supply a need. Man needs a medium by which to express the value of his labour or his merchandise, and silver supplies this want. And he likewise needs a medium by which to express his thoughts, and speech is this medium. But unless it is the speech of a just man it will be a curse and not a blessing. It must convey good thinking if it is to be as choice silver to a needy man. The prisoner who stands at the bar charged with a crime of which he is innocent feels that the tongue of the man who pleads his cause is more precious to him than much silver. To the man who is seeking after God, the tongue of one who can tell him “words whereby he shall be saved” is as choice silver (Acts xi. 14). The words of Peter were so esteemed by Cornelius. The heart of the Ethiopian eunuch was more rejoiced by the preaching of Philip the Evangelist than it would have been by the possession of the treasure of his mistress (Acts viii. 26–39). The words of Him who was “the Just One” (Acts iii. 14) are and ever will be “a strength to the needy in his distress” (Isa. xxv. 4); more precious to those who are conscious of their soul-poverty “than thousands of gold and silver” (Psalm cxix. 72); and it is in proportion as men are like Him in character and disposition that their speech will bless the world.
III. The sin of using the tongue too much. The shell and the kernel of the fruit were intended by God to grow together; the latter cannot grow to perfection without the former, yet the shell only exists for the kernel. The soul and body are ordained to grow together; the body only exists for the soul, yet the soul can only manifest itself through the medium of the body. But the body without the soul is worthless. Man’s thought and word were intended by God to act together; thoughts are useless without speech in which to clothe them; words without thoughts have no reason for existence, they are shells without kernels, bodies without souls, and their use is a sin against God’s ordained method. Where there is a “multitude of words” there is not much thought, and therefore there is sin.—1. Against a man’s self, because “every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matt. xii. 36). 2. Against society, because the man utters sounds which contain nothing to benefit. God has ordained thought to feed the soul as He has ordained bread to feed the body. Where there are words men have a right to expect thoughts upon which to feed, as they have a right to look for the kernel within the shell. When they get the first without the last they are robbed of what is their due.
IV. The origin of idle and worthless talking. “The heart of the wicked is little worth.” “Fools die for want of wisdom.” Where there is no moral wisdom there can be no real worth; no thoughts can be generated in the heart that is not under the influence of Divine teaching that will supply the needs of needy men. As is the fountain so must be the stream. “The tree is known by its fruit. O, generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. xii. 33–34).
outlines and suggestive comments.
Verse 19. A man of inordinate talk runs inordinate risk. He must be a God that can talk all the time and never trespass. And, therefore, as blunders “come home to roost,” he is a prosperous man who reduces the volume of his speech.—Miller.
The fool talks for ever upon nothing, not because he is full, but because he is empty; not for instruction, but for the pure love of talking. . . . The sphere of social intercourse that stimulates the conversational powers at the same time teaches the wholesome discipline of the tongue—that beautiful accomplishment of silence which, however, alike with its opposite grace, derives its chief loveliness as the fruit of Christian humility and kindness. The wisdom is especially valuable under provocation (1 Sam. x. 27; 2 Kings xviii. 36). And even in the unbending of innocent recreation the discipline of godly sobriety is of great moment. The sins of this “little member” are not trifles.—Bridges.