Proverbs 10:20
The tongue of the just is as choice silver:
The heart of the wicked is little worth.
Let us here remember the maIn literary structure of the Book of Proverbs: contrast.
In today’s text, the tongue, an instrument of the heart, is contrasted with the heart itself. The just, one who is justified by Jesus-Christ, is contrasted with the wicked: one who is not justified. Choice silver is contrasted with ‘little worth’, which in the contextual Hebrew text could be seen as mere silver shavings falling off the tool of the silversmith.
Jesus told us that from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So in the case of the just, if his tongue is valuable, how much more his heart. But in the case of the wicked, if his heart is worthless, his speech also is.
The Hebraic mind is one of simplicity. To the Hebrew, if it looks like a duck, if it sounds like a duck, if it acts like a duck: it is a duck. You can’t tell the true Hebrew mind, ‘no, it is not a duck, because in his heart, he is really a chicken’. In the same manner, you couldn’t tell the Hebrew, ‘oh, this person only acts and sounds bad, but in their heart, they are good’.
Applying this very important principle to basic theology in today’s text, we could therefore say, ‘If these words I hear benefit my soul like choice silver, the heart that produced them must be justified, and of even greater worth than the words themselves. But if the words I hear are of no more value than, contrasted with choice silver, the silver shavings falling from the tool of the silver smith, the heart that produced these words must also be, by contrast, of worse value than the words themselves. This is hard gauge by which to judge, but it is a gauge as infallible as the law of gravity. It is a safe gauge.
‘May the words of our mouths be few, but may they be fit. May they shine to audiences big and small with the golden glow of our salvation in Jesus-Christ. May they be godly wealth to the hearer, a spiritual map to the traveler and true comfort to the mourner. And by Your grace oh Lord, may our words not be vain or poisonous, for how could the same fountain give both sweet and bitter waters?
What can be said of your words?
The tongue of the just is as choice silver:
The heart of the wicked is little worth.
Let us here remember the maIn literary structure of the Book of Proverbs: contrast.
In today’s text, the tongue, an instrument of the heart, is contrasted with the heart itself. The just, one who is justified by Jesus-Christ, is contrasted with the wicked: one who is not justified. Choice silver is contrasted with ‘little worth’, which in the contextual Hebrew text could be seen as mere silver shavings falling off the tool of the silversmith.
Jesus told us that from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So in the case of the just, if his tongue is valuable, how much more his heart. But in the case of the wicked, if his heart is worthless, his speech also is.
The Hebraic mind is one of simplicity. To the Hebrew, if it looks like a duck, if it sounds like a duck, if it acts like a duck: it is a duck. You can’t tell the true Hebrew mind, ‘no, it is not a duck, because in his heart, he is really a chicken’. In the same manner, you couldn’t tell the Hebrew, ‘oh, this person only acts and sounds bad, but in their heart, they are good’.
Applying this very important principle to basic theology in today’s text, we could therefore say, ‘If these words I hear benefit my soul like choice silver, the heart that produced them must be justified, and of even greater worth than the words themselves. But if the words I hear are of no more value than, contrasted with choice silver, the silver shavings falling from the tool of the silver smith, the heart that produced these words must also be, by contrast, of worse value than the words themselves. This is hard gauge by which to judge, but it is a gauge as infallible as the law of gravity. It is a safe gauge.
‘May the words of our mouths be few, but may they be fit. May they shine to audiences big and small with the golden glow of our salvation in Jesus-Christ. May they be godly wealth to the hearer, a spiritual map to the traveler and true comfort to the mourner. And by Your grace oh Lord, may our words not be vain or poisonous, for how could the same fountain give both sweet and bitter waters?
What can be said of your words?
1 comment:
Convicting - insightful - so true! Thank you, Patrick!
Kelly Ferrari
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