The lips of the righteous nourish many,
but fools die for lack of sense.
Summary: The use of “lips” for this proverb presents a visual conundrum. It challenges our thinking and engages our minds.
Solomon, by the gift of God’s wisdom, had the power to paint powerful word pictures. Look at what he has done here in this passage.
“Lips,” in a physical sense, do not “nourish” anyone except their owner. Food comes in but not out. (Sorry about that mental image!) It is only in the spiritual sense, through the medium of language, that lips can nourish someone else.
Solomon, for example, is nourishing us right now. Almost three thousand years ago, Solomon spoke these words of wisdom. They were intended for his children, and by extension, they served the rest of the nation of Israel as well. When Christianity came into being a thousand years later, the Old Testament scriptures were embraced for their history of God’s Word and what they had to teach us.
Imagine how many “many’s” Solomon’s lips have nourished. The Bible is the best-selling book in the world and has been since the invention of the printing press. His words have become part of our heritage and our language. Of course, we know that Solomon wasn’t righteous all the time, but he did live a great deal of his life according to God’s will, and he certainly was used by God to dispense the Lord’s wisdom.
But what about the fools? Why do they die? What sense are they lacking? Perhaps it is simply the sense to listen to wisdom.
It takes work to listen. Understanding the proverbs of Solomon is not simply a matter of reading a few words. We have to take them to heart and meditate on them to understand. Even then, our understanding grows with repetition and maturity.
What is at stake here? If fools die for lack of sense, then having the sense to pay attention to wisdom is being on the path to life.
Application: Remember that your words impact others.
Food for Thought: How can our words today nourish others?
How can our words today nourish others?
……….. “Food comes in but not out. (Sorry about that mental image!)” Thanks now you have me thinking about how a bird nourishes its young.
Tim,
I know. It was a “cheep” shot. 🙂
How can our words today nourish others? That is a great question. Another way to ask it is: How can my words nourish others today? That is a good question to ask ourselves every day -and then look for opportunities to do just that. Ephesians 4: 29.
Sorry. I forgot to leave who wrote the last comment.
Rich,
As JEC says, “excellent verse!”
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” (KJV)
Excellent verse. I also like Proverbs 25:11, 15:1 and Ephesians 4:32.
JEC,
Thank you! Proverbs 15:1 is a verse that has been stuck in my head for many, many years. It and Ephesians 4:32 are essential “swords” (Ephesians 6:17) for surviving both professional and family life in this world.
05-01-2022, Proverbs 10:21, How can our words today nourish others?
Humans must have physical nourishment or they’ll starve. This begins with the body feeding on itself. Eventually, nothing is left for the body to run on except the protein in the muscles, including the heart muscle. During the last stages of physical starvation, there will be disruptions in the heart rhythm and finally, the heart stops and the body is declared physically dead.
Spiritual starvation is much the same as a person lives on lies and illusions being served up from many sources, in different forms of deception, detour, which can ultimately, totally distract us from the reality, “the conviction of the Holy Spirit of God.” There is a point when the heart will become so consumed with evil, it will totally reject all the Holy Spirits calls to righteousness and will become hard toward God, spiritually dead in sin.
Believers are called to be changed by the Spirit of the Lord, to become a new creature, no longer being conformed to this world: but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We are to put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.
SO, “THAT WE MAY PROVE WHAT IS THE GOOD, AND ACCEPTABLE, AND PERFECT, WILL OF GOD.”
2 Corinthians 3:18, 5:17, Romans 12:2, Colossians 3:9-10
Jesus tells us, “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, “SPIRITUAL FOOD” for they shall be filled. “ The soul must feed on the things of God otherwise one’s heart can become hardened. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed. All believers are called to help feed the young pure milk until they can eat solid food and grow in respect to salvation.
Matthew 5:6, Acts 28:27, 1 Peter 2:2
Ron,
You touch on some interesting aspects of belief. If we believe “lies and illusions” then whatever belief we have in God is diluted and weakened by the false beliefs. It can be confusing. I praise God for his Holy Spirit who teaches us all things (John 14: 26).
Absolutely Jeff,
Situations come with no warning, we know only the power of God can effectively deal with this one, but rather than shoot an arrow prayer we proudly decide, we can handle this one and we as you say, dilute Gods power!
Proverbs 10:6
Blessings are on the head of the righteous, But the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
10:8
The wise of heart will receive commands, But a babbling fool will be ruined.
10:10-11
He who winks the eye causes trouble, And a babbling fool will be ruined.
The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, But the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
10:13-14
On the lips of the discerning, wisdom is found, But a rod is for the back of him who lacks understanding.
Wise men store up knowledge, But with the mouth of the foolish, ruin is at hand.
10:18-21
He who conceals hatred has lying lips, And he who spreads slander is a fool.
When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise.
The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver, The heart of the wicked is worth little.
The lips of the righteous feed many, But fools die for lack of understanding.
10:31-32
The mouth of the righteous flows with wisdom, But the perverted tongue will be cut out.
The lips of the righteous bring forth what is acceptable, But the mouth of the wicked what is perverted.
I’m very curious about what God says about words. When I was little I loved Proverbs 10:19. I was always told how quiet I was and this Proverb made me take it as a complement. But as I’ve gotten older, I talk more. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve reached the point of making “transgression unavoidable”.
It always makes me wonder when comparisons aren’t about the same thing. (Brief view of some)
Blessing on a head vs violence from a mouth.
Heart receiving commands vs babbling to ruin.
Wink vs babbling.
Store knowledge vs mouth ruins
Tongue silver vs heart little
Lips feed vs lack of understanding dies
I sampled these because they all person to what we say. I want to understand. (Sorry, extra long comment warning)
10:6 Blessings to the righteous presumably not hiding violence (not covering up with their words)
10:8 A wise heart doesn’t produce babbling but listening (not stopping at the ears) to what they have been told to do
10:10-11 winking for ill purpose is connected to those who babble, neither end up well.
The mouth of the righteous will bring forth life, the mouth of the wicked hides violence. Therefore don’t wink in order to scheme, or babble, or conceal violence. (What is with this repeated hiding? I get the ruin part for babbling)
10:13-14 discerning people say wise things, those lacking sense get hit (cause and effect or deserving?? I suppose it can be assumed the discerning don’t get hit)
The wise store knowledge the babbling fool is ruined. (Babbling and fool and ruin are thrown together a lot, don’t choose any of them!! Is the contrast that not much is coming out of the mouths of the wise? They keep what they receive, hold onto it, mull over it…)
10:18-21 Hiding hate is lying (now we’re getting a connection, the above comparisons are about lying not scheming, at least not directly) slandering is for fools, if you’re wise you can find something better to accomplish your goals(or just something better to do)
Lots of words will end up making you sin even if by accident, it’s better to hold your tongue.
Righteous say valuable things, the wicked don’t even value or want what is truly valuable (right, because the heart is the source of emotions and thoughts?)
The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die because they don’t listen to the words that feed them (I just figured this out after staring at this a lot today!!! Poetry.)
10:31-32 righteous say wise things the perverted lose their tongue (…. I think I prefer the soap in mouth punishment….)
The righteous say acceptable things the wicked say perverted things (God’s definition of acceptable and perverted not society’s)
Okay the goal is the righteous and wise portions, which look like (please correct me if I’m wrong):
Not concealing violence AKA not lying
No babbling
Listening and obeying
Don’t wink to scheme
Store knowledge (that also implies receiving not just holding onto what you already have)
Don’t slander
Don’t talk too much, let your words be both beneficial and valuable.
The wise listen to and repeat words that will sustain
Speak wisdom
Don’t pervert
Lots of lists…..
Anyways, still the important question… Do I talk too much?
A —
That is a rather personal question. Please forgive me if I choose to not say too much! 🙂
Looking at your lists, it seems to me that you have a grip on what God’s Word is pointing us to. It is not necessarily the volume of words as much as it is the condition of the heart.
Did David produce too many words when he wrote his psalms?
Did Solomon write too many words in his books?
What about Luke or Paul?
On the other hand, words can reveal things about us that we might not know about ourselves (Matthew 7: 3-5). How much do you want to know about yourself?
These are the kinds of questions I would ask.
If we love God above all else and our neighbor as ourselves, I’m inclined to think that words can be nourishing. If something is nourishing, more can be a good thing.
I hope this helps!
There is never too much talking when it is righteous… ….. and the closest I can come to righteous talk would be about God or at the bare minimum He would be included in the talk. Do you believe our leaders had righteous talks when they founded this country? I do believe they did, and boy did they talk. So talk about righteous things, and giving glory to the one who sustains us and makes anything we do possible.
So in my opinion a person can never praise God to the true amount that He deserves. That’s just talk from my heart.
Now to the question if you personally talk too much …………. I’m with Jeff. But I would add that you are beautifully created by God. God gave you a beautiful voice that I love. If you ever need to hear Gods words audibly read out loud.
Nicely said, Tim! 🙂
Does pastor Rich talk too much?
LOL! You’ll have to ask him. 🙂