Proverbs 10:17-32

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Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to the Book of Proverbs. When we previously looked at Proverbs 10:1–16, I told you that “righteousness” was the key theme in this chapter. That’s true for 10:1–16. That’s true for our text today 10:17–32. The word “righteous” in Hebrew (צַדִּיק) is used 13 times in this chapter. And that focused theme will continue into chapter 11. 

And if I were to zero in on a certain aspect of that lived righteousness in our passage today (10:17–32), it would be the way a righteous tongue blesses your life. Notice all the references to tongue, speech, lips, etc. in this passage. This faculty of speech of ours can be used for great good. But also, take heed of the antithetical parallelism in this section. This faculty of speech can be used for evil. I can bring evil on yourself, and it can bring evil on others. 

I heard this last week about a man who had issues with his vocal cords and was unable to speak for about four months. And afterwards, he told his pastor they were the most spiritually enriching four months of his life. It wasn’t easy, but it was enriching. Because he had to learn to be silent. 

You know we often think of what happened with Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, in Luke 2 as a judgment from the Lord because of his disbelieve. And of course it was. But what if it also was paradoxically a blessing from the Lord. “Stop talking, Zachariah! And focus your mental and emotional energy on me. And learn to be more selective and restrained in your speech.”   

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So here we go. Here’s your outline for today. I’ll give you four points from the text today. 

1) The benefits of restrained speech (10:17–21)

2) The benefits of righteous living (10:22–25) 

3) The benefits of a vertical orientation (10:26–29) 

4) The benefits of a blameless tongue (10:30–32)

Let’s start with #1, “The benefits of restrained speech.” Solomon writes in verse 17.

17 Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray. 

Verse 17 is part of that teachability strain that runs all throughout the book. “Heeding instruction” is not just for school aged children. It’s a way of life. Whoever makes it part of their lifestyle is on the path to life. 

When Sanja and I first got married, I had a little “sit down” chat with her boss. He was this successful businessman in our community. We played basketball together. And he had a lot of wisdom to offer. And I was asking him basically how to negotiate a good wage at a place of employment. And he gave me some tips. But the main thing he told me was, “Tony, do your homework. Know what you’re worth to them. Because knowledge is power. And the worst thing you can be in a situation where you are negotiating is ignorant. They’ll laugh you out of the room.” So I took that to heart. 

Knowledge is power. Teachability is power. Heeding instruction from others is valuable. It’ll bless you and it’ll bless others around you. But notice the contrast. A lack of teachability will “lead others astray.” It doesn’t just harm you; it harms others. This is what you might call “the David Koresh syndrome.” An unteachable man who thinks he’s the Messiah leads a mass of confused people to their deaths in a compound outside of Waco, Texas. 

Look at verse 18.

18 The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool. 

This is not antithetical parallelism; this is synonymous parallelism. Concealing hatred is not a good thing. And neither is uttering slander. You don’t want to be a duplicitous person. And you don’t want to be someone who sows discord through gossip or slander. So if you have an issue with a person, you do one of two things: 1) You go to them and try to sort out the conflict or 2) You forgive them and move on and you stop concealing hatred. That’s not going to solve every interpersonal conflict in your life, but that’s going to solve most of them. 

What you don’t do is talk behind their back. And you don’t hypocritically smile at them at church and then seethe at them secretly with hatred in your heart. That’s not how God would have us live. 

Now is there a time to be silent? Is there a time to just forgive and let an offense go? Yes, there is. And that’s because verse 19 says, 

19 When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. 

And all the extroverts in the room said, “Sigh!” And all the introverts in the room silently to themselves of course said, “Amen!”

Mark Twain said once, “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool rather than open it and remove all doubt.”

I think I told you last week that I was a bit of a blabbermouth when I was a kid. And I would say these things sometimes that would create really awkward moments for my mom and my dad and my sister and my brother. But what was great about it, when I was a kid, is that I was totally oblivious to how awkward it was for my family. I would say things, and my mom or my sister would ask me later, “Why did you say that?” And I would be like, “Say what? What’s the big deal?” 

Now that’s okay when you’re an adolescent. That’s okay when you are immature and growing up and your prefrontal cortex isn’t fully developed. It’s not okay when you are an adult. It’s not okay when you talk to much and don’t listen and are oblivious to the pain you are causing others. 

I hear grown people say sometimes, “I don’t have a filter. I just say whatever comes into my mind.” As if that were a virtue instead of a vice. That is not virtuous to just say whatever comes into your mind. That’s childish. And those of us who are extroverts and professional talker, we’ve got to be judicious and restrictive with our speech. We’ve got to do the hard work of learning to be a good listener. 

A person told John Wesley once, “Mr. Wesley, I pride myself in speaking my mind; that is my talent.” And Wesley responded, “Well, the Lord wouldn’t mind if you buried that [talent]!”

Look at verse 20.

20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth. 21 The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense. 

Notice how the proper use of the tongue is a blessing, not just to yourself, but others. The benefits of restrained speech extend beyond the speaker. A righteous tongue is valuable to others. It is choice silver. It feeds many. I don’t know about you, but I want my tongue to be like that. I want it to bless others. 

Here’s another story from my childhood. I hope this encourages the extroverts in this room. When I was a kid, I had this Sunday School teacher that really loved me. And that was unusual because I was a hyperactive kid with ADHD who didn’t know how to stop talking. And one day when my dad was picking me up from class, the teacher told my dad, “This kid really has something. I think the Lord’s going to use him to minister to others someday.” And when my dad heard this, he was totally incredulous. He was like, “this kid?” 

But what I had to learn was how to bridle my tongue like a cowboy bridles a wild mustang. I’m still learning that by the way. And when you do that… when you use tame your tongue… that’s when you can use it to bless God and others. That’s the goal in the Christian life. 

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Write this down as #2 in your notes. We also see in this passage, 

2) The benefits of righteous living (10:22–25) 

Solomon says in verse 22, 

22 The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. 

Job said in the book of Job, “Yahweh gives, and Yahweh takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” That’s what Solmon is saying here. 

Now in a general sense, if you are rich, it’s because God has allowed it. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos built their empires on intelligence, business savvy, and grit. But God is the one who gave them those attributes. They might not acknowledge him, but we know that they are nothing without him. 

But this verse is saying something more specific than that. It’s saying that God’s way make someone rich without sorrow. If you cheat, steal, beg, and borrow excessively to make your fortune, there is sorrow with it. There’s a guilty conscience. There’s the tax man. There’s your creditors who will come after your home. 

But if you work hard, put money away, and treat people honestly then you have riches without sorrow. That’s God’s way. That’s the way of the righteous. 

A righteous man builds wealth honorably. But also a righteous man takes pleasure in the right things. Look at verse 23. 

23 Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding. 

The word for “joke” here is the Hebrew שְׂחוֹק, which etymologically related to the name יִשְׂחָק “Isaac.” And if you remember from the story, Sarah laughed when God told her she would have a child. And so God named the boy “laughter.”

Here’s the point of verse 23. Fools laugh at the doing of evil. They make a joke about life. They make of joke of evil. They laugh at sin even. A wise person on the other hand takes pleasure in the right things. In fact, here’s just a little Hebrew grammar for you. The word for “pleasure” in verse 23 isn’t actually present in that verse. It just says, “But wisdom … to a man of understanding.” This is a poetic technique called ellipsis. And the idea here is that שְׂחוֹק (“joke” or “laughter” or “pleasure”) in the first part of the verse is used for the second part of the verse too. So “doing wrong is pleasurable to a fool… but wisdom is pleasurable to a man of understanding.”

For the record, I’m all for laughing and joking and having a sense of humor. I actually have a hard time trusting people that don’t have a good sense of humor. Just make sure you don’t laugh at the wrong things. Don’t laugh at evil. Don’t take pleasure in evil. And don’t be entertained by things that would make Jesus and his Apostles blush. 

Look at verse 24.

24 What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. 25 When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever. 

These are truisms in our modern-day world, but there is a hint of eternity that flavors these verses. Jesus said, “The rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Jesus said, “The Father makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good.” But Jesus also said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like aa wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like aa foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (Matt 7:24–27).

There is a sense in which the wicked plans of wicked men will come back to bite them in this world. The tempest comes and wipes away the wicked. But, as a general truth, righteous men are able to weather bad times, because they have a strong foundation. 

I heard a story once about the great missionary to India William Carey. Carey translated the Bible into several Indian dialects. And he built a library that housed all of his manuscripts and translation work. And one day, after several years of fruitful ministry, that library caught fire and burned down. Some people said it was an accident. Some people assumed it was arson, because many people had opposed Carey’s work in predominantly Hindu India. And in that fire, more than a decade’s worth of work was destroyed. Can you imagine losing ten years of your life’s work? How would you respond to that? I probably would have curled up into a fetal position and cried for a week.

Here’s what Carey did. He grieved that loss. He worshipped God. And then he went right back to work translating the Bible. He was determined to keep going in the work that God had called him to.

25 When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever. 

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Write this down as #3 in your notes. 

3) The benefits of a vertical orientation (10:26–29) 

Solomon writes in verse 26.

26 Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.

That is about as self-explanatory verse as you’ll find in the Proverbs. And that’s especially true in the ancient world. Vinegar was especially painful to people who didn’t have our modern-day fixation on protecting and preserving their teeth. I often fantasize about what an ancient person would say if they jumped into a time machine and came to America. Probably one of the first things they would notice is how everyone’s teeth look so perfect... even people who are older. How is that possible? Well it’s possible because we spend thousands of dollars throughout our lives on protecting and preserving our teeth.

Also in the ancient world smoke would be ubiquitous. Nobody had electric or gas stoves. And nobody had central heating. So smoke was something you constantly dealt with. And priests were constantly dealing with smoke from the altars. 

But even in our modern world we can sympathize with the “smoke to the eyes” analogy. At a campfire… on a grill… that’s painful! And what is that pain compared to? What is this analogy analogizing? 

26 Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.

The Hebrew word for “sluggard” is this word עָצֵל. You don’t want to be an עָצֵל. The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about the עָצֵל, and none of it is positive. And what this verse is saying is that a sluggard is like “smoke to the eyes” of not the person he is sent to, but to those who send him. You send the sluggard away. “Get out of here, you’re killing me.” Nobody wants to hire sluggards. Nobody wants to be around sluggards. They inflict pain on those around them. And one of the things that Proverbs makes clear is that sluggardliness isn’t an ailment or a condition; it’s a moral flaw. Laziness is a sin that generates from unrighteousness and a lacking fear of the Lord. Some people can’t work because of disabilities. Some people don’t work because they are retired and live off their previous income. That’s not the sluggard. The sluggard doesn’t work and refuses to work, because he’s lazy and unrighteous. And that’s painful to a community. 

Look at verse 27.

27 The fear of the Lord prolongs life,

Notice how Solomon inserts the Lord into this passage. Just when you think this is a secular book espousing strictly secular virtues, Solomon pulls the rug out from under that thinking. He says, “No. This is not secular talk. This is wisdom that derives from Yahweh and the fear of Yahweh.”

I mean verse 26 sounds like Benjamin Franklin. It sounds like folksy wisdom that could be found in any culture and in any part of the world. But don’t think for a second that Solomon is just giving common sense principles for life in this world. Solomon is constant circling back to the fear of the Lord as the driving theme of this book. 

27 The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short. 28 The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. 

There’s the righteous, and there’s the wicked. There’s life, and there’s death. There’s joy and there’s perishing. There’s God-fearing and there’s God-rebelling. 

Look at verse 29.

29 The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the blameless, 

The דֶּרֶךְ of the LORD is a stronghold. Choose that way. Choose that path. The word for “stronghold” in this verse is the Hebrew מָעוֹז. It means “stronghold” or “fortress” or “refuge.” It’s the same word that David used when he said in Psalm 27, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold (מָעוֹז) of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

29 The way of the Lord is a [מָעוֹז] to the blameless, but [it’s] destruction to evildoers.

And that’s because of verse 30.

30 The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land. 

In other words, evildoers can’t abide the way of the Lord. They can’t stay on the path. They fake it, but they won’t make it. 

The Lord will snuff them out. Think Achan in the book of Joshua. Think Cain in the book of Genesis. Think Ananias and Saphira in the NT. Do the wicked sometimes get away with evil? Yes, they do. For a time, maybe. But they never escape the ever-seeing eye of the Lord. They never rest easy in their wickedness. 

Also I think this passage is very much indicative of what’s called the “Palestinian Covenant” between God and his people. If the people of God were faithful to the Lord, the Lord would bless them. If the people reject the Lord, they were cursed. See Deuteronomy 22 for more on that. And that played out in Israel’s history. When the people of Israel were faithful, God rewarded them. When they were disobedient and rebelled, they got removed from the land. They got sent to Assyria and Babylon for judgment. 

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Finally, here a fourth statement about the benefit of a righteous life. And that has to do with…

4) The benefits of a blameless tongue (10:31–32) 

As we close out this passage, let’s go back to the tongue. That’s an important point of emphasis in this chapter, and an important point of emphasis in the book of Proverbs. 

In verse 31, Solomon says, 

31 The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. 

32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverse. 

Verse 31 could be translated, “the perverse tongue will be cut out.” The idea there is that a wicked person will have his tongue forcibly removed or cut out. In modern medicine, we call this a glossectomy. That’s when your tongue is so cancerous that it has to be surgically removed. 

Now some ancient cultures did cut out people’s tongues for different reasons. But there’s no explicit evidence in the OT that they practiced cutting out a person’s tongue as a form of punishment. So this is metaphorical not literal. The idea seems to be that your tongue will get you into a lot of hot water if you don’t tame it and control it. So bridle it, church! Do like James says in the NT, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless” (James 1:26). 

The story is told about the evangelist John Wesley, when he would preach, he would wear a bowtie that had long ribbons that hung downward. And after the sermon was over a lady walked up to him and said, “Brother Wesley, are you open to some criticism?” 

He said, “I guess so. What would you like to criticize?” 

She said, “The ribbons on your tie are entirely too long and inappropriate for a man of God.” And she took out her scissors and cut them off. 

A hush fell over the people standing there as Wesley calmly asked, “Now may I borrow the scissors for a moment?” As she handed them to him, he said, “Ma’am, are you open to some criticism?” 

She answered, “Well, I suppose I am.” 

He said, “All right then. Ma’am, please stick out your tongue, so that I can cut it off.”

But listen, that’s not really the solution. The solution is not to just cut off our tongues. The solution is not to just stop talking altogether, although a period of silence might be good for us from time to time. No, the solution is to tame our tongue and train it to do our mater’s bidding. We’ve got to tame it and train it like a wild stallion. We want Proverbs 10:31a: “The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom.” Yes, Lord! Give us more of that. We want Proverbs 10:32a: “The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable.” Yes, Lord! Yes! Give us more of that. Give us more of that in your church. And give us less Proverbs 10:31b and 10:32b—the perverse tongue and the perverse and wicked mouth.

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I’ll close with this. Charles Spurgeon, in his book called Salt Cellars, captures how different cultures in history have articulated the power and the destructiveness of the tongue. As far as I can tell, Spurgeon didn’t write this poem, but he preserved it for us to meditate on. Listen to this… 

“The boneless tongue, so small and weak,

Can crush and kill,” declared the Greek.

“The tongue destroys a greater hoard,”

The Turk asserts, “than does the sword.”

A Persian proverb wisely saith,

“A lengthy tongue—an early death.”

Or sometimes takes this form instead,

“Don’t let your tongue cut off your head.”

“The tongue can speak a word whose speed,”

The Chinese say, “outstrips the steed.”

While Arab sages this impart,

“The tongue’s great storehouse is the heart.”

From Hebrew wit this maxim sprung,

“Though feet should slip, ne’er let the tongue.”

The sacred writer crowns the whole,

“Who keeps his tongue doth keep his soul!” 

So what’s the hope for the Greek, the Turk, the Persian, the Chinese? What’s hope for the Arab, the Hebrew, and the pagan Gentile in North America? That poem doesn’t say, not explicitly, how we keep our soul from the destructive power of the tongue. Well here’s the thing, and I know Spurgeon would agree with this. There is no hope of taming the tongue, not without the grace of Jesus Christ. Because before Jesus can change your tongue, he has to change your heart. And Jesus said, “from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt 12:34). Let me ask you this, Has Jesus changed your heart? Has he gives you a new heart? Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Jesus came to do that. And he did that by dying on the cross for your sins. It was an act of sheer grace. And the Bible says that by faith in him you can have a new heart. And then he will place his spirit in you. If you haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as your Savior, by faith, I invite you to do that now. 

Taught by Tony Caffey

Senior Pastor of Verse By Verse Fellowship

Proverbs