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Proverbs 16:20-24

Proverbs 16:20-24

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:03 am by Peter Leithart

Proverbs 16:20-24 2017-09-07T00:03:42+06:00 Peter Leithart

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INTRODUCTION
16:20 starts a new section of the chapter, as Solomon returns again to the issue of speech. Waltke sees two sections here, verses 20-24 and 25-30. The first section focuses on the benefits of wise and winning speech, while the second section focuses negatively on destructive speech. Verse 20 introduces the theme of the section by tying speech to the “good,” and the following verses spell out the good things that the right kind of speech brings. Verses 20-24 are bound together by various word repetitions: “lips” (vv. 21, 23); “sweet” (vv. 21, 24); the combination of “wise” and “heart” (vv. 21, 23). The second section is bound together more thematically by references to evil words, slander, strife, perverse communications and planning.

PROVERBS 16:20
The first line of this verse is ambiguous in a couple of ways. First, taking the NASB translation (“He who gives attention to the word shall find good”), it is not clear whose word is being spoken of. This ambiguity seems to be resolved by the second line, which speaks of the blessing of trusting in Yahweh. The word to which we should pay attention is the word of Yahweh, which is utterly trustworthy. If we pay attention to that word, we shall find good.

Second, the Hebrew in v. 20a is itself ambiguous. Waltke points out that the clause can be translated as “the one who pays attention to a saying” or “the one who is prudent in speech.” The verb is a participle form of SKL, which in this form puns with the word MASKIL, frequently used to describe a prudent person or a cunning riddle or story. Either of the translations works well: The one who pays attention to the word of Yahweh finds good, and the one who is prudent in speech finds good too.

In fact, the ambiguity perhaps suggests that Solomon intended to communicate both perspectives at the same time, and to communicate their inner connection. How do we find the good that comes to those who are prudent in speech? By paying attention to the sayings of Yahweh. As Waltke suggests, the ambiguity also makes the verse a suitable transition between vv. 16-19, which emphasize the need to listen to the prudent, and verses 21-24, which emphasize the results of good speech. Waltke says, “The double entendre functions as a transition from accepting a wise speech to giving it. Before a person is competent to win the community’s respect by words . . . , he must himself pay careful attention to the words of his inspired teachers.”

Several further points can be made here. First, as we see throughout Proverbs, wisdom comes through speech, and this speech is mediated through teachers – parents, wise elders, and so on. Second, this verse seems particularly to stress the importance of paying attention to the words of Yahweh (as they are mediated and taught by others). The way to wise speech is to pay careful attention to what Yahweh has spoken, for He is the source of all wisdom and is Himself Wisdom. Jesus is the Wisdom and Word of God incarnate, so the way to gain wisdom in speaking is to pay careful attention to His words in particular. This involves not only paying attention to what Yahweh has said, but to how He says it; the following verses are as much about rhetoric as they are about “dialectic,” as much about presentation of truth as about the truth itself.

Finally, we don’t place much stock in speech today, but it was central to life in biblical times. We don’t think that the ability to speak is the greatest privilege that we have. But we should. Speaking the right words at the right time, passing on a legacy to our children or students through our speech, being able to name something by speech, having the right to issue commands – all these are central to our imaging of God and our maturity in Christ. Speech in these modes is not scientific description. Speech is not intended to describe the world, but to change it, to create future through present speech. (All this, for those who haven’t noticed, inspired by Rosenstock-Huessy.)

We can speak well only if we first listen. Here’s the order of the senses: Ear first; then tongue. Shema before speech.

PROVERBS 16:21, 24
This verse describes one of the “goods” that the attentive listener/prudent speaker of verse 20 will gain, and also describes one aspect of wise speech. The reward promised here has to do with reputation. Those who are wise in heart will be “called” or “named” discerning, gain a reputation for insight. The “calling” or “naming” is (Waltke plausibly suggests) from the community of Israel. A man who is wise in heart will gain a name for insight and discernment.

Two additional points may be made concerning v 21a. First, the wisdom that gains reputation is a wisdom that springs from the heart, and, as we’ve learned from the first chapter of Proverbs, the heart that is wise is a heart that fears Yahweh. No superficial show of wisdom, no pseudo-wisdom will be blessed with this reputation. The pseudo-sage can gain a reputation for a time, but in the long run he will be rejected and his wisdom will be exposed as self-exalting folly. Second, the word for “discerning” or “insightful” here (NABON) refers to heightened perception, skill, and understanding. The discerning person sees what others cannot see, and understands the world at a depth that others miss. He discerns what is going on behind the masks and veils that people put up to hide their motives and plans. He can draw out another’s plans, even when those plans are buried deep in his soul (20:5). Discernment is not dependent on class, and a poor man with insight can see right through the pretenses of the rich (28:11). Jesus is the supremely insightful man, who knows what is in the hearts of man and repeatedly bests the Pharisees because he sees through their schemes and traps. This is the reputation that the wise in heart will gain.

How does anyone know that the wise in heart is in fact wise in heart? The parallel in v. 21 suggests that it is mainly through his speech. The discernment of the discerning is revealed in what he says. Interestingly, the discernment of the discerning is evident not only in the content of what he says, but in the rhetoric of what he says. His insight is evident in the sweetness of his speech. How does this work? How is sweetness of speech a sign of discernment? This seems to be one dimension of it: A discerning man sees what his hearers desire, need, care about, and he speaks to them in a way that will be sweetest for them. Rosenstock-Huessy said that he found American students were fanatics for sports, and so he made sports the center of all his sociology classes at Dartmouth. He didn’t sacrifice content or dumb-down the material. He was able to communicate everything he wanted to communicate using sport as the central illustration. But he caught the imagination and passions of the students in a way that he could not have if he had taught sociology as he taught it in Europe. He made his teaching sweet, and increased learning as a result. Rhetoric is not merely a literary art. Rhetoric is, we might say, a branch of psychology; effective speech depends on a deep understanding of the soul.

There is, of course, a kind of sweet speech that is foolish. Lady Folly, after all, speaks sweetly and smoothly. This in one sense reinforces the point of 16:21b: Lady Folly is inviting people to the grave, to a feast of demons, to a cave full of bones, and yet she wins adherents. How? Because of the sweetness of her rhetoric. So, sweetness of speech is no guarantee of its truth and wisdom. But wise speech that is not sweet is certainly less effective, and may in fact become folly.

The notion that words can be sweet depe

nds on a prior metaphorical connection between words and food. We have encountered this before in Proverbs that talk about words as the tree of life. Here the emphasis is not on the nourishing quality of words, but on their “taste.” Taste is an intriguing sense. Some sights may be so horrible that we cannot look at them, and react immediately. More often, we gaze at something for a long time before passing judgment on it. Sight is associated with judgment, but with considered, careful judgment, passed after deliberation, investigation, scrutiny. The same with hearing: Some sounds are unendurable, but frequently we hear things for awhile before deciding whether it’s pleasant or un. Taste and smell are far more instinctive, far more immediate. We taste (or smell) rancid or spoiled food, and we immediately want to spit it out. That’s part of the imagery of describing the “sweetness” of words. Even true speech might be delivered in a way that makes everyone want to wash their mouth out with peppermint. The wise in heart make the words themselves sweet to the taste, so that the hearer will listen attentively, and not spew out the words at the first hearing.

One aspect of this, I think, is humor. Words are sweetened by wit. You go to a debate. One speaker growls every word, coats them with bitterness and gall. The other speaks with wit and humor. Which one are you more likely to want to side with? (I acknowledge that for some people growling, bitter words have their attractions.)

Verse 24 adds another dimension to this imagery. Pleasant words are not only tasty, but actually healthy. They heal the bones. This is not, of course, true of all pleasant words, some of which might be deadly. But a sick person is able to swallow words of wisdom when they are spoken with sweetness, and once they are swallowed they can perform their medicinal work. Honey is of course associated with the promised land in Scripture. The wise in heart who offers honeyed words is like a promised land to the sick, like a restored Eden, offering fruit of the tree of life.

PROVERBS 16:22
Edenic imagery also appears in v. 22, with the fountain of life. Here the fountain of life is a fountain of understanding (SKL, same root as “give attention/be prudent in v. 20) for the one who possesses it. The wise man’s understanding of the world, his skills in living well in Yahweh’s creation, bring life to him. The word for “fountain” is the word for spring. The man of understanding wells up with living water for himself, and no doubt for others (cf. John 4:14). Like a spring, he is an inexhaustible source of living water. Possessed of perfect understanding, Jesus is of course the primary fountain of life, flowing with the Spirit (John 7:38-39).

As Waltke notes, the second line of v. 22 is ambiguous. Does “discipline of fools” refer to discipline exercised on fools? Read in that way, this verse warns that it’s foolish to attempt to discipline fools. Or, does “discipline of fools” refer to the discipline/instruction given by fools? Waltke says that “folly” refers to the painful consequences of following folly, and that reading seems to work on either interpretation of “discipline of fools.” Fools gain instruction only from the painful consequences, the chastening, that their folly produces; or, the discipline/instructive given by fools leads only to painful consequences.

How is v. 22b the related to 22a? Waltke suggests that the verse presents two contrasting pedagogies: The winsome water of life that flows from the prudent to those who seek wisdom, and the painful punishments that come to those who pursue folly.

PROVERBS 16:23
This verse matches v. 21a and suggests a modified parallel structure within vv. 21-24:

A. Wise in heart, 21a
B. Sweetness of speech, 21b
C. Fountains/folly, 22
A’. Heart of wise, 23
B’. Sweet, healing speech, 24

The structure may also include v. 20: The keyword SKL is used again in 23a, here translated in the NASB as “teaching.”

Verse 23 thus explicates at somewhat greater length the point of 21a regarding the discernment of the wise. The language of 23a is intriguing. The wise man appears to be doubled, a teacher and student in one person. On the one hand, his heart is a teacher; on the other hand, his mouth is a student. Gripped by the fear of Yahweh, the heart of the wise man teaches the mouth what to say. As Jesus said, the issues of life come out of the heart, and many of these are disgorged through speech. This seems to be an inevitable correlation. It’s not an exhortation to “listen to your heart.” It’s simply the case that what’s on the heart comes out through the mouth. Words mirror the heart. Hateful words are symptoms of a hateful heart; bitter words of a bitter heart; slanderous words of a lying heart. On the other hand, healing, living, life-giving words can only come from a heart that fears Yahweh and pays attention to His words.

Verses 21 and 23 both use the verb YSP, which means “increase” or “add.” In verse 21, sweetness of speech adds learning, makes learning easy. In verse 23, the heart of the wise adds learning to the lips. Everyone talks, but not everyone teaches. Everyone moves their gums, but not everyone has learning in his gums. Genuine instruction, instruction in wisdom, only comes when learning is added to the lips by a wise heart.

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