Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 10:11
Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
11. Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment ] Literally, If the serpent will bite without enchantment, i.e. in the absence of skill to charm it. It is hardly necessary to dwell at length on a topic so familiar as the serpent-charming of the East. It will be enough to say that from time immemorial in Egypt, Syria, Persia, India, there have been classes of persons who in some way or other have gained a power over many kinds of snakes, drawing them from their retreats, handling them with impunity, making them follow their footsteps like a tame dog. The power was really or ostensibly connected with certain muttered words or peculiar intonations of the voice. We find the earliest traces of it in the magicians of Pharaoh’s court (Exo 7:11). So the “deaf adder that cannot be charmed” becomes the type of those whom no appeal to reason or conscience can restrain (Psa 58:5; Jer 8:17; Sir 12:13 ). The proverb obviously stands in the same relation to the “breaking down of walls” in Ecc 10:8, as that of the “blunt axe” did to the “cutting down trees” of Ecc 10:9. “If a serpent meets you as you go on with your work, if the adder’s poison that is on the lips of the traitor or the slanderer (Psa 140:3; Rom 3:13) is about to do its deadly work, are you sure that you have the power to charm? If not, you are not likely to escape being bitten.” The apodosis of the sentence interprets the proverb. “If a serpent will bite in the absence of the charmer, there is no profit in a babbler (literally, a lord or master of tongue, see note on ch. Ecc 5:10), who does not know the secret of the intonation that charms it.” No floods of wind-bag eloquence will-avail in the statesman or the orator if the skill that persuades is wanting.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Rather: If a serpent without enchantment (i. e., not being enchanted) bites, then there is no advantage to the charmer: i. e., if the charmer is unwisely slack in exercising his craft, he will be bitten like other people. See Psa 58:4 note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. The serpent will bite without enchantment] belo lachash, without hissing. As a snake may bite before it hiss, so also will the babbler, talkative person, or calumniator. Without directly speaking evil, he insinuates, by innuendoes, things injurious to the reputation of his neighbour. Gif the eddir bite in silence, noyhing lasse than he hath that privily backbiteth. – Old MS. Bible. “A babbler of his tongue is no better than a serpent that styngeth without hyssynge.” – COVERDALE. The moral of this saying is simply this: A calumniator is as dangerous as a poisonous serpent; and from the envenomed tongue of slander and detraction no man is safe. The comparing the serpent, nachash, to a babbler, has something singular in it. I have already supposed that the creature mentioned, Ge 3:1, was of the genus simia. This has been ridiculed, but not disproved.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Without enchantment; if not seasonably prevented by the art and care of the charmer; which practice he doth not justify, but only mention by way of resemblance. See on Psa 58:5.
A babbler, Heb. a master of the tongue; which may be understood, either,
1. Of the detractor or slanderer, who like a serpent bites secretly; who may be so called, because he takes liberty to use his tongue as he lists, without any regard either to the offence of God, or to the injury of others; like them who said, Our lips are our own; who is lord over us? But I do not see either why this phrase should be limited to the detractor, which equally belongs to all abusers of the tongue in any other way; or how this particular vice of detraction comes to be inserted here among things of a quite differing nature. Or,
2. Of an eloquent person, who may well be called a master of the tongue, or of speech, nothing being more usual in the Hebrew, than to call a man master of that which he excels in, or hath a full and free power to use. And this clause is and may be rendered thus, And there is no excellency or profit to the master of the tongue, i.e. the most eloquent person, who doth not understand and in due time use the charmers art, cannot by all his eloquence afterward hinder the biting of the serpent, or mischievous effects of it; and so this agrees with the principal scope of the chapter, which is to show the necessity and usefulness of wisdom, and the mischief of folly.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. A “serpent will bite”if “enchantment” is not used; “and a babblingcalumniator is no better.” Therefore, as one may escape aserpent by charms (Psa 58:4;Psa 58:5), so one may escape thesting of a calumniator by discretion (Ec10:12), [HOLDEN].Thus, “without enchantment” answers to “not whet theedge” (Ec 10:10), bothexpressing, figuratively, want of judgment. MAURERtranslates, “There is no gain to the enchanter” (Margin,“master of the tongue“) from his enchantments,because the serpent bites before he can use them; hence the need ofcontinual caution. Ec10:8-10, caution in acting; Ec10:11 and following verses, caution in speaking.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment,…. See Jer 8:17. Or rather, “without a whisper” t; without hissing, or any noise, giving no warning at all: so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, “in silence”; some serpents bite, others sting, some both; see
Pr 23:32; some hiss, others not, as here;
and a babbler is no better; a whisperer, a backbiter, a busy tattling body, that goes from house to house, and, in a private manner, speaks evil of civil governments, of ministers of the word, and of other persons; and; in a secret way, defames men, and detracts from their characters: such an one is like a venomous viper, a poisonous serpent or adder; and there is no more guarding against him than against such a creature that bites secretly.
t “absque susurro”, Pagniuus; “absque sibilo”, Tigurine version.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The last proverb of this series presents for consideration the uselessness of him who comes too late. “If a serpent bite without enchantment, the charmer is of no use.” The Talm. interprets this , like that of Ecc 10:10, also as interrog.: Does the serpent bite without its being whispered to, i.e., without a providential determination impelling it thereto? Jer. Peah, i. 1. But , except at Isa 26:16, where whispering prayers are meant, signifies the whispering of formulas of charming; “serpents are not to be charmed (tamed),” , Jer 8:17. Rather for the meaning of slander is possible, which is given to it in the Haggada, Taanith 8 a: All the beasts will one day all at once say to the serpent: the lion walks on the earth and eats, the wolf tears asunder and eats; but what enjoyment hast thou by thy bite? and it answers them: “Also the slanderer ( ) has certainly no profit.” Accordingly the Targ., Jerome, and Luther translate; but if is conditional, and the vav of veen connects the protasis and the apodosis, then ba’al hallashon must denote a man of tongue, viz., of an enchanting tongue, and thus a charmer (lxx, Syr.). This name for the charmer, one of many, is not unintentional; the tongue is an instrument, as iron is, Ecc 10:10: the latter must be sharp, if it would not make greater effort necessary; the former, if it is to gain its object, must be used at the right time. The serpent bites , when it bites before it has been charmed (cf. belo yomo , Job 15:32); there are also serpents which bite without letting themselves be charmed; but here this is the point, that it anticipates the enchantment, and thus that the charmer comes too late, and can make no use of his tongue for the intended purpose, and therefore has no advantage from his act. There appropriately follow here proverbs of the use of the tongue on the part of a wise man, and its misuse on the part of a fool.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
CRITICAL NOTES.
Ecc. 10:11. A babbler is no better.] Lit., The master of the tongue. One who is of ready utterance, capable of producing great effects by the power of speech, yet lacking energy and promptness in action.
Ecc. 10:12. Gracious.] His words have the power of winning favour. They have a calm and grateful influence. All his actions are suitable and well-timed, not like those of the unwary serpent-charmer.
Ecc. 10:14. A fool also is full of words.] Not only given to endless talk, but even boldly announcing his plans and purposes, as if he could certainly reckon upon the future. The latter part of the verse condemns the folly of such presumption.
Ecc. 10:15. Wearieth every one of them.] Though full of words, they are indolent, and soon grow weary in any useful toil. He knoweth not how to go to the city.] He cannot make sure that he shall carry out even so ordinary a purpose and action. Probably St. James (chap. Ecc. 4:13) refers to this passage when censuring the boldness which presumes upon a future which no man can certainly know or command.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Ecc. 10:11-15
THE VANITY OF SPEECH
Human wisdom has been shown to be, in some cases, unavailing, through the sudden advantage that may be gained by folly. So many are the instances of apparent failure that a reflecting mind, in certain sad moods of thought, may be tempted to imagine that this landed possession is but another of the many vanities of human life. In particular, speech itself, which professes to manifest the inmost glory of wisdom, may be regarded as, after all, but a splendid vanity.
I. The Essential Value of Speech must be Admitted. There are many instances in which the wisest speech seems to fail. This faculty, however, must be regarded as, in itself, a good gift.
1. Speech rightly employed wins favour. (Ecc. 10:12.) By the graciousness of speech, a wise man wins his way to favour, and conquers the minds and hearts of others. The gift of graceful speech is a splendid talent, though it may be degraded to serve the worst purposes. Hence the tongue is called an ornament of iniquity. (Jas. 3:6.) It is capable of presenting error with seductive charms, and making the worst appear the better reason. Still, the gift of speech may be employed to enhance the attractions of wisdom, and graciously subdue mens hearts to the love of her.
2. Speech rightly employed is powerful. (Ecc. 10:11.) The enchanter has the power of controlling the serpent so that it forgets to sting. While the strange spell lasts, the venomous reptile is rendered harmless. The tongue, in like manner, can perform the office of a magician, and so persuade and charm men as to calm their most boisterous passions and render them harmless and obedient to the charmers will. In some critical juncture, the speech of a wise man may bring relief to a nations perplexity, and save it from ruin. The uttered word of man has proved mightier than the sword. It is the most powerful and lasting of all influences. Good and wise words are seeds, most tenacious of vitality, reproducing themselves from age to age in noble and heroic deeds. Speech, inasmuch as it is the vehicle of mind, must have the chief place among the instruments which man uses for carrying on his work in the world. But in some of those sad moods of reflection, into which the mind will sometimes fall, there is much to tempt a man to account even this brilliant gift a vanity.
II. Even in the Hands of the Wise, this Gift requires the Greatest Dexterity. On the supposition that wise men were always wise, we might well suppose that their speech would, at all times, be seasonable and full of grace. But the actual state, even of the best, falls below this ideal. The wisest and the meekest man on earth is in danger of speaking unadvisedly with his lips. The most devoted saint must take heed that he sin not with his tongue. Hence he who can so control his speech as not to offend at all has well nigh reached perfection. In order to manage the gift of speech rightly, it is necessary that we have something more than an ample store of wisdoms gatherings and the faculty of graceful utterance.
1. There must be vigilance. The wisest man may fail through want of vigilance in certain crises of danger, and thus bring himself under the charge and the penalties of folly. The charmer possesses the art of rendering the serpent harmless, but if he stumbles upon it unawares, he shall be bitten like an ordinary man. So if the wise man is unwatchful, or does not speak at the right time; if he misses his opportunity or is wanting in discretion, notwithstanding his ability to represent the wealth of thought and feeling in words of power, he too must smart, as the veriest fool, under the grief and penalties of failure. There are certain junctures in human affairs which may nonplus unwatchful Wisdom
2. There must be prompt action. The richest gifts of wisdom must be accompanied by practical ability; or they may fail of success. A wise man may lack the power of grappling with emergencies, and may become so stunned by some sudden perplexity as to be totally unfit for the proper action of the time. There are so many sudden and unexpected changes in the course of human affairs, that unless the wise man, though gifted with the most persuasive speech, has the ability promptly to adapt himself to the occasion, he may be vanquished as though he were not wise.
III. This Gift is often the Instrument and Revealer of Folly. (Ecc. 10:13-15.) The mind and heartthe nature of the man withinmay be regarded as the fountain of speech. As that fountain is sweet or bitter, troubled or clear, live-giving or pestilential, so are the streams which flow from it. Speech is the instrument by which the mind conveys and distributes its wisdom or folly. Hence the fool soon reveals himself; for when he ventures to speak, his folly is sure of instant recognition. Some of the characteristics of the speech of such are noted here.
1. It shows no tendency towards improvement. (Ecc. 10:13.) The speech of the fool does not follow the method of creation, where confusion and disorder improved into harmony and beauty. It shows no tendency to assume a higher state, no power to work itself clear. The disorder which marked his first utterance becomes more observable as he proceeds, so that by the time he has made an end of speaking he has outraged reason itself. He grows loquacious. There is scarcely any pause in his insipid and tiresome twaddle. (Ecc. 10:14.) He does but win fresh titles of folly every time he speaks, and his last utterance is the most extravagant of all.
2. The effects of it are destructive. Foolish speech, though incapable of deceiving those who have discernment, is likely to affect others injuriously, and to grow into a source of mischief. (Ecc. 10:13.) It is a stream which, gathering foulness as it proceeds, poisons the air. There is a kind of moral contagion in the words of a fool; and considering how many minds are predisposed to it, the mischief is immense. But the fools speech is more especially destructive to himself. (Ecc. 10:12.) He may be said to commit moral suicidehimself the gulf which swallows up his reputation.
3. It is concerned with subjects in which a discreet silence should be observed. (Ecc. 10:14-15.) The fool is apt to talk confidently about the future, as if he could command it and make it sure. He rushes boldly into matters concerning which he knows least. This has a most injurious effect upon himself. It consumes his energies in useless toil. (Ecc. 10:15.) Such a confident way of dealing with future things shows an unwarrantable presumption. No man can know those things which are hidden in the dark recesses of futurity, where they lie open to the eye of God alone. To speak of the future as if we could command it, and know what lies hid in it, is manifest presumption. Even the most common facts and events of the future are so concealed from man that he cannot, in the conduct of his affairs, reckon upon them. He may purpose such an ordinary act as that of going to the city at such and such a time, but he cannot be sure that he shall accomplish this. (Ecc. 10:15.) In the front of this awful fact of human ignorance, all daring presumption in speech and conduct must be contemptible and vain. It is an abuse of the divine gift of language when it is thus made the instrument of arrogance and folly, and the multitude of such abuses in the world may cause even a wise man, in some gloomy season of the soul, to reckon this boasted faculty with the sum total of human vanity.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Ecc. 10:11. In the East, there have always been persons who, by means of music and legerdemain, exert great influence over some species of serpents, so that whilst under their spell the deadly cobra may be handled, as if he were utterly harmless. But if the charmer tread on the snake unawares, or be bitten when off his guard, he will be poisoned like another man. And to certain minds there has been given an ascendancy over other minds, like the influence of the serpent charmer. Sagacious and eloquent, they are able to soothe the fury of fierce tempers, and mould rancorous natures to their will. Like Davids transforming harp, as the strain advances, it looks as if a new possession had entered the exercised frame, and a seraph smiled out at those windows where a demon was frowning before. But alas for the harper, if Saul should snatch the javelin before David has time to touch the strings! Alas for the wise charmer, and also for the good cause, if the tyrants passion towers up, or the decree of the despot goes forth before a friendly counsellor has time to interfere [Dr. J. Hamilton].
The master of the tonguethe man of ready and wise speechmay fail in matters of ordinary life through want of the power of quickly adapting himself to the occasion. To ensure success in a world like this, where so many hidden dangers lie ready to spring upon us, we must have tact as well as talent.
While under the power of the eloquent tongue, fierce natures may be wielded at will; but when the charm is dissolved their virulence returns.
He who gives to his tongue an unrestrained license, and is guided in the use of it neither by principle nor by prudence, is a man that requires to be managed with peculiar caution. Contradiction and violence may only irritate, and make the venom of his tongue the more virulent and deadly. He must be charmed [Wardlaw].
Ecc. 10:12. The words of a wise mans mouth are gracious.
1. They win the favour of the hearers. It is pleasant to listen to themto be near the fountains of Wisdom
2. They minister good to the hearers. They convey those treasures of the mind and heart which are the impulse of all goodness in life, and the most enduring possession of man.
The words of wise men have a gentle, yet all-prevailing force. In morals, this is a pleasing constraint, a drawing of the affections. It corresponds to attraction in the physical universe.
The gracious words of Christ, who was incarnate wisdom, are still powerful in drawing the nations to Himself.
The fool is the sepulchre of his own reputation; for as long as he was silent, you were willing to give him credit for the usual share of intelligence, but no sooner does he blurt out some astounding blunderno sooner does he begin to prattle forth his egotism and vanity, than your respect is exchanged for contempt or compassion [Dr. J. Hamilton].
As the Psalmist says when speaking of such men as he, They make their own tongue to fall upon themselves (Psa. 64:8). It was the folly of Herod that made him utter the rash promise, which stained his soul with the crime of murder. It was the folly of another Herod that prompted the profane and self-glorying oration, which drew down upon him the vengeance of the Almighty [Buchanan].
Ecc. 10:13. The speech of the fool shows no tendency towards improvement as he proceeds. It is sure to degenerate into unmeaning rant, and to arouse passions which are hurtful to himself and to others.
There is a ridiculous disproportion between the passionate language of a fool and the insignificant causes which excite it.
There is as much difference between the chastised fervour of the wise mans words, and the impudent rage of fools, as there is between the warmth and glow of health and the burning of a fever.
We have here the serpent, the babbler spoken of in Ecc. 10:11, wreathed into a circle, his two ends, head and tail, meeting together. And as at the one end he is a serpent having his sting in his head, so at the other end he is a scorpion having his sting in his tail [Jermin].
Ecc. 10:14. A fool vainly imagines that mere words are knowledge and wisdom. Hence he easily lends himself to a flattering delusion to conceal the poverty of his mind.
Wisdom is content with few words. The most important truths have been condensed into the smallest compass. The precious things of the mind are thus rendered portable.
He is like the empty drum that sounds at the lightest touch. His self-conceit persuades him that he is competent to decide, off-hand, matters on which deeper, more thoughtful, more conscientious minds are slow to say anything at all. A man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him? These are difficulties which wiser men feel and acknowledge. The wise man waits for more light. The ease is not ripe for judgmenthe can as yet neither approve nor disapprove; he can neither acquit nor condemn; and accordingly he refrains his lips. Not so the fool. He is the first, the longest, and the loudest in every discussion [Buchanan].
Fools are always most confident concerning the unknown and inscrutable.
That balanced condition of the mind, in which it is content to remain released from belief, is so uncommon that we have no word in our language to represent it. Every ignorant and foolish man has a stiff opinion upon those subjects in which his knowledge is least.
Ecc. 10:15. Folly makes a man both a weariness to himself and to his neighbours. They grow impatient of his blunders and busy zeal of fruitless labour.
The fool is most confident in that wherein he ought to show the greatest modesty and reserve. He speaks of the accomplishment of his plans for the future with the same assurance as if he had read them distinctly in the Book of Fate.
The fool he has in view is a culpable foolis one whose folly has much more of the moral than of the intellectual, in the defect which it indicates and implies. He is one whose heart is much further wrong than his head. The tongue of a mere imbecile cannot bite like a serpent. In the highest and truest sense of the word, all wicked men are fools. There is a citya mighty citya glorious cityto which not one of them knows how to go; and that is the New Jerusalem, the city of the living God [Buchanan].
Fools (in the moral signification of the term), when they stand before some great conviction, waken up to the discovery that what they thought was knowledge was only words, resting upon no realities. They learn, like Job, the language of penitence and submission (Job. 42:5-6).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(11) This also is a difficult verse. Literally translated it is, If the serpent bite for lack of enchantment, there is no advantage to the master of the tongue. It seems best to follow the LXX. and other interpreters, and take the master of the tongue to mean the snake charmer, who possesses the voice of the charmer (Psa. 58:5). The whisperings of the snake charmer, so often described by Eastern travellers, are referred to also in Jer. 8:17, and in a passage, probably founded on the present text (Sir. 12:13), Who will pity a charmer that is bitten with a serpent? The mention of the serpent in Ecc. 10:8 seems to have suggested another illustration of the advantage of wisdom in the different effects of snake-charming, as used by the expert or the unskilful. The phrase, master of the tongue, seems to have been chosen in order to lead on to the following verses, which speak of the different use of the tongue by the wise man and the fool.
Enchantment.According to the primary meaning whispering (2Sa. 12:19; Isa. 26:16).
No better.No advantage to. (See Note on Ecc. 1:3.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. The serpent will bite Hebrews, If the serpent bite for lack of enchantment, the charmer has no advantage from his art. Our version strangely neglects the If. A babbler is the title (see margin) given to professors of the art of rendering serpents harmless by magic words, usually accompanied, indeed, by various manipulations. The idea is, that his art is of no use to him unless he employ it. So with the wisdom of the wise, unless used in repairing the mischief wrought by rash, rebellious movements.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
In the Midst of Foolish Talking and Slothfulness
v. 11. Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment, v. 12. The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, v. 13. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, v. 14. A fool also is full of words, v. 15. The labor of the foolish wearleth every one of them, v. 16. Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, v. 17. Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, v. 18. By much slothfulness, v. 19. A feast is made for laughter, v. 20. Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Ecc 10:11. Surely, the serpent will bite without enchantment If the serpent biteth because he is not enchanted, then nothing remaineth to the master of enchantments. The two proverbial similes made use of in this and the preceding verse, to shew the inconveniencies arising from an ill-judged choice of those who are intrusted with the administration of public affairs, are very fit for the purpose: but the manner in which Solomon passes from the last to the main subject, for the sake of which they had been alleged, looks very abrupt in all the versions. I think it is quite otherwise in the original, and have endeavoured so to express it; by which means we have a perfect connection between the two members of the sentence. If the serpent biteth because [either through the neglect, or through the unskilfulness, of him whose business it is to prevent it] he is not enchanted, then there is no occasion for a master of enchantments; or there remaineth nothing for him to do. The simile by this construction becomes applicable, with the greatest imaginable propriety, to the subject which Solomon had in hand; and I cannot help conjecturing from this propriety, that it was a proverbial sentence, commonly used in political matters, to signify that it was needless to appoint ministers to negociate with a subtle enemy, represented by the serpent, except they were such as to be able to gain their point with him. I must add, that the Greek, Syriac, and Arabic interpreters, who had a more exact knowledge of the customs of those times than we can pretend to, seem to have understood this place as we do, and several modern interpreters of note are of the same opinion. Now I conceive that the transition from this simile to the abilities of a wise or experienced man in the next verse, lies in the affinity of signification between the words which he had made use of to signify the charmer’s office, and those which he employs to describe the eloquence of the wise. The word lachash, enchantment, has a double signification; and takes in both the charms of magic, and the charms of eloquence: see Isa 3:3. So that, instead of saying, The words of a wise man’s mouth are chein, grace, he might as well have said that they are lachash, without any alteration in the sense. The expression, master of the tongue, as it is read in the margin of our Bibles, is likewise applicable to a man who knows how to manage his words as occasion requires, and thereby to make himself acceptable to every body. Thus, from a master of the tongue by office, who was not really master of what belonged to his employment, (viz. lachash,) to one who really had that accomplishment, or rather an accomplishment of the same denomination, the transition was easy and natural. I do not know but that the allusion to the enchanter, in opposition to the wise man, is still carried on in what Solomon says of the fool, a man without experience, in opposition to the same, Ecc 10:12. The lips of a fool will swallow up himself; at least the fool here spoken of is very like the charmer mentioned by the son of Sirach, Sir 12:13 whom nobody pities when he is bit by the very serpent that he should have enchanted. Desvoeux.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Ecc 10:11 Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
Ver. 11. Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment. ] It is for want of wisdom that the babbler, or tongue master (as the original hath it), is nothing better than the most poisonous serpent; nay, in some respects, worse; for one serpent stings not another, as backbiters do their best friends. And whereas serpents may be charmed, or their poison kept from the vitals, contra sycophantae morsum non est remedium, as the proverb hath it, there is no help to be had for the biting of a sycophant: his tongue is “full of deadly poison,” saith St James. Jam 3:8 Again, serpents usually hiss and give warning (though the Septuagint here read non in sibilo, the Vulgate, in silentio, in silence and without hissing, for without enchantment), so doth not the slanderer and detractor. He is a silent serpent, and like the dogs of Congo, which bite, but bark not. a And therefore, as all men hate a serpent and flee from the sight of it, so will wise men shun the society of a slanderer. And as any one abhors to be like to that old serpent the devil, so let him eschew this evil.
a Purchas’s Pilgrim.
the serpent: Psa 58:4, Psa 58:5, Jer 8:17
a babbler: Heb. the master of the tongue, Psa 52:2, Psa 64:3, Pro 18:21, Jam 3:6
Reciprocal: Pro 18:7 – his destruction Jam 3:8 – full
Ecc 10:11. Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment Unless it be seasonably prevented by the art and care of the charmer. This is an allusion to the general opinion, then and still prevailing in the eastern countries, that serpents might be charmed so as to be prevented from biting by certain incantations, or by singing and music. See note on Psa 58:4-5. And a babbler is no better Hebrew, , the master of the tongue; which may be understood either of a rash, loose talker, a mere babbler, or of a backbiter and slanderer. Each of these is in the habit of using his tongue as if he were lord of it, and often does much mischief thereby, especially the latter, who, by his malicious words, bites secretly like a serpent, and gives deadly wounds to the characters of the absent.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments