Truly is wrath called shame. For is it not a shame that unruly passions should, as it were, trample reason under foot, disfigure even the countenance, and subjugate the whole man to a temporary madness? (Dan. iii. 19.)—Bridges.
A fool hath no power over his passions. Like tow, he is soon kindled; like a pot, he soon boils; and like a candle whose tallow is mixed with brine, as soon as lighted he spits up and down the room. “A fool uttereth all his mind” (chap. xxix. 11). The Septuagint renders it “all his anger.” For, as the Hebrews well note in a proverb they have, “A man’s mind is soonest known in his purse, in his drink, and in his anger.” But “A wise man covereth shame” by concealing his wrath, or rather by suppressing it when it would break forth to his disgrace, or the just grief of another. This was Saul’s wisdom (1 Sam. x. 27); and Jonathan’s (1 Sam. xx. 34); and Ahasuerus’s, when, in a rage against Haman, he walked into the garden. The philosopher wished Augustine, when angry, to say over the Greek alphabet.—Trapp.
The meaning of the Holy Ghost is not here to condemn all kinds of anger, for it is one of the powers of the soul which God created as an ornament in men, and godly anger is a part of God’s image in him, and a grace commended in Moses, Elijah, etc., and our Saviour Himself, and he that is always altogether destitute of this doth provoke God to be angry with him, for want of zeal and hatred of sin; but it is a passionate anger that is here reproved, which is not a power of the soul, but an impotency. He that conceiveth the other is an agent, and doth a service to God; but he that is moved with this is a patient, and sin hath in that case prevailed against him.—Dod.
main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 17 to 19, and verse 22.
Wounding and Healing.
I. The mischief that may be done by a lying tongue. 1. In a legal matter. It is the duty of a witness to testify exactly what he knows, and no more nor less. If a man speaks deceitfully he may bring much misery upon the innocent, whom his straightforward testimony would have acquitted. And he may do this by withholding truth as well as by uttering direct falsehood. The first is “showing forth deceit” as well as the last. 2. In common conversation. The word “speaketh,” in verse 18, is “babbleth,” and seems to point to those who are great talkers, and who are not careful what they say. (See Homiletics on chap. [x. 19–21], page 168.) In both these cases words may inflict a more deadly wound than a sword. If spoken to a man they may break his heart, if spoken of him they may kill his reputation, which no sword of steel can touch, and which to the best men is more precious than bodily life. A lying or even a babbling tongue can pierce a much more vital organisation than flesh and blood—it can enter the human spirit, and hurt it in its most sensitive part; or by slander it can destroy all the joy of a man’s earthly life. And as a sword can in a moment sever the spirit and the body of a man, and work such ruin and misery as can never be done away with, so a lying tongue may by one word, or one conversation, do mischief that can never be undone. The sword of steel can divide human friends locally; but it cannot sever their love; it tends rather to increase and brighten the flame; but a word of slander may do all this, and estrange those who were bound in the tenderest ties, until the God of Truth shall bring the truth to light. Though the lying tongue is comparatively “but for a moment,” yet in a moment it can deal a thrust that will last as long as life. It can open a wound whence will flow out all the joy of life, as the heart’s blood flows from a mortally wounded man.
II. Its judgment and its destiny. It is an abomination in the sight of a God of Truth, and, therefore, its life is comparatively short—it is “but for a moment” compared with the eternal duration of truth. A lying man or devil is the very antipodes of the Divine character. All truthful men instinctively shrink from a liar as the sensitive plant withdraws from the human touch. How much more must he be held in abhorrence by Him who is a “God of Truth, and without iniquity” (Deut. xxxii. 4). Christ characterises lying as the cardinal sin of the greatest sinner in the universe (John viii. 44). It was his lying tongue that “brought death into the world, and all our woe,” and so spoiled the Paradise which God had prepared for man. How then can lying be any other than an abomination to Him? But, because it is so, its doom is fixed. It is destined to destruction by the victory of truth, as the night is destroyed by the overcoming light of day. (On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. [x. 18], page 166.)
III. The blessed results of a truthful and wisely-governed tongue. 1. it will “show forth righteousness.” A man who speaks the truth shows forth righteousness in two ways—(1) in his own character. He reveals himself to be a righteous man. He gives a living example of uprightness and integrity. (2) He helps on righteousness in the world. By being a faithful witness he furthers the ends of justice and righteousness—he helps on the just administration of the law. 2. It will heal wounds inflicted by the untruthful tongue. In nature we have a two-fold exhibition of power. The hurricane comes and breaks the branches of the tree, and strips off its leaves; but a more beneficent power clothes it again with beauty. So the tongue of a fool strips a man of what made life beautiful to him—takes away his good name, or breaks bonds of close friendship—but wise and kind words have a healing power in them—they help to cheer the wounded spirit, and enable the bowed head to lift itself again. Such a tongue of healing had the Divine Son of God, who came “to heal the broken in heart” (Isa. lxi. 1), and to restore the friendship between God and man, which was first broken by the slandering tongue of the devil—that great slanderer of God to man, and of man to God (Gen. iii. 5; Job i. 10). To Him the “Lord God gave the tongue of the learned, that He might know how to speak a word in season to him that was weary” (Isa. l. 4). The tongue of all true servants of God is an instrument of healing, for they are enabled to tell to their fellow-men “words whereby they may be saved” (Acts iv. 12).
IV. God’s estimation of it and its destiny. It is “God’s delight,” verse 22. Whatever gives delight to a noble and benevolent man must be a blessing to humanity, and everything will delight him that tends to minister blessing to the world. This is pre-eminently true of the good God. Truth is the great need of the race—truth in word and deed and thought. To this end Christ came into the world “to bear witness of the truth” (John xviii. 37), because that alone is the cure for the world’s woes. Then every man who is true must bless humanity and consequently delight God. A good father rejoices to see his own excellencies of character appear in his son, and the Father of the good likewise delights to see His children copy Him in “dealing truly.” (See also on chap. [xi. 1], page 190.) And because it is God’s delight it will last for ever. Truth of any kind will be established in the course of time. If a man proclaim a scientific truth, however much he may be laughed at and disbelieved at first, his “lip,” or his words, will be established in the end. In the words of Galileo, when he uttered the truth, that the earth moved round the sun, have long since been “established.” Time only is needed for any truth to take root-hold—it can never be overturned, whether it be physical or moral truth. Many truths which were scoffed at by most men, when they were first promulgated, are now regarded as truisms by almost everybody. And the lips that uttered them are now established and held in honour. Such men, for instance, as Cromwell and Milton, when they declared that the right of private judgment in religious matters, the freedom of the press, etc., were the right of every man, are now established in the estimation of this nation, and the truths which they uttered are regarded by all Englishmen as undoubted facts. “This,” says F. W. Robertson, “is man’s relation to the truth. He is but a learner—a devout recipient of a revelation—here to listen with open ear devoutly for that which he shall hear; to gaze and watch for that which he shall see. Man can do no more. He cannot create truth; he can only bear witness to it; he can only listen and report that which is in the universe. If he does not repeat and witness to that, he speaks of his own, and forthwith ceases to be true. . . . Veracity is another thing. Veracity is the correspondence between a proposition and man’s belief. Truth is the correspondence of the proposition with fact.” It is to such witness-bearers—especially to those who witness concerning moral truth—that the promise of the text applies.
outlines and suggestive comments.