Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 10:18
He that hideth hatred [with] lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, [is] a fool.
18. with lying lips ] Rather, is of lying lips, R.V.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Better, He who hideth hatred is of lying lips. He who cherishes hatred, is either a knave, or a fool – a knave if he hides, a fool if he utters it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 10:18
He that uttereth a slander is a fool.
The folly of slander
I. Slandering is foolish, as sinful and wicked. All sin is foolish upon many accounts. To lie simply is a great fault, being a deviation from that good rule which prescribeth truth in all our words. Of all lies those certainly are the worst which proceed from malice, or from vanity, or from both, and which work mischief; such slanders are. To bear any hatred or ill-will towards any man is a heinous fault. Of this the slanderer is most guilty in the highest degree. Incurable are the wounds which the slanderer inflicteth, irreparable the damages which he causeth, indelible the marks which he leaveth. All injustice is abominable; and of this the slanderer is most deeply guilty. The slanderer may indeed conceive it no great matter that he committeth; because he doth not act in a boisterous and bloody way, but only by words, which are subtle, slim, and transient things. Tis only an imaginary stain that he daubeth his neighbour with; therefore he supposeth no great wrong done. But these conceits arise from great inconsiderateness or mistake.
II. The slanderer is a fool, because he maketh wrong judgments and valuations of things. And accordingly driveth on silly bargains for himself, in result whereof he proveth a great loser. The slanderer may pretend that what he does is for the sake of orthodox doctrines, or for advantage of the true Church. This indeed is the covert of innumerable slanders; zeal for some opinion, or some party, beareth out men of sectarian and factious spirits in such practices; they may do, they may say, anything for those fine ends. This plea will in no wise justify such practices. Truth does not need, and it loathes and scorns the patronage and the succour of lies. To prostitute the conscience, or sacrifice our honesty, for any cause, in any interest whatever, can never be warrantable or wise.
III. The slanderer is a fool, because he useth improper means and preposterous methods of effecting his purposes. The straight way is always shorter than the oblique and crooked. The plain way is easier than the rough and cragged. Using strict veracity and integrity, candour and equity, is the best method of accomplishing good designs.
IV. The slanderer is a very fool, as bringing many great inconveniences, troubles, and mischiefs on himself.
1. A fools mouth is his destruction. If any kind of speech is destructive and dangerous, then is this slander kind most dangerous of all. Men will rather pardon a robber of their goods, than a defamer of their good Dame.
2. The slanderer is apprehended as a common enemy; all men are rendered averse from him, and ready to cross him.
3. All ingenious and honest persons have an aversion from the practice of the slanderer, and cannot entertain it with any acceptance or complacence. It is only ill-natured and ill-nurtured, unworthy and naughty people, that are willing auditors or encouragers thereof.
4. The slanderer doth banish himself from all conversation and company.
5. He derogateth wholly from his own credit in all matters of discourse.
6. This practice is perpetually haunted with most troublesome companions, inward regret, self-condemnation, fear and disquiet.
7. The consequence of this practice is commonly shameful disgrace, with an obligation to retract, and render satisfaction; for seldom doth calumny pass long without being detected and confuted.
8. He can never have sound quiet in his mind, he can never expect pardon from heaven, without acknowledging his fault, repairing the wrong he hath done, restoring that good name of which he dispossessed his neighbour.
9. This practice doth also certainly revenge itself, imposing on its actor a perfect retaliation, an irrecoverable infamy to himself, for the infamy he caused to others.
10. The slanderer doth banish himself from heaven and happiness, doth expose himself to endless miseries and sorrows. Is not he, then, who, out of malignity or vanity, to serve any design, or soothe any humour in himself or others, involves himself in all these great evils, a most desperate and deplorable fool? Persons of a generous and honest mind cannot but scorn to debase and defile themselves by so mean and vile a practice; and so do those who seriously profess Christianity; that is, the religion which peculiarly above all others prescribeth the constant truth, strictest justice, and highest charity. (I. Barrow, D.D.)
The tongue
Sent by his master to purchase the best dish the market could supply, AEsop provided only tongues, which were served up with different sauces for every course; ordered afterwards to provide the worst things he could find, he again appeared with a supply of tongues. The moral is obvious.
I. The language of deceit (Pro 10:18). Lying is a sin committed by–
1. The false witness (Pro 14:5).
2. The dishonest tradesman (Pro 20:14).
II. The language of slander (Pro 10:18). The safe rule as to the government of the tongue in society, says Dean Goulburn, is to stand at a very respectful distance from all such topics as our neighbours conduct and character.
III. The language of profusion (verse 19). It is better to say nothing than that what we say should be nothing to the purpose. Profuse talkers often transgress the law of–
1. Reverence (Ecc 5:2).
2. Courtesy. Conversation is not merely talking to people, but talking with people (Rom 15:2).
3. Integrity. When speech runs in advance of thought, it is apt to run in advance of truth (Col 4:6; Tit 2:8).
4. Prudence (Joh 16:12). The restraint of the tongue is a Christian duty (Mat 27:14; Jam 1:26).
IV. The language of instruction (Pro 10:20-21). Two figures are used. Choice silver represents worth, Good words are a choice heritage. They are valuable because they create good thoughts and often lead to good acts (Psa 34:11). The 21st verse gives us the thought of food (feed many). The words of the true man of God are food for the soul. The lips of the righteous utter the words of wisdom (Pro 10:30), for there is a vital connection between what a man is and what he says and does (Act 4:20; Corinthians 4:13). (H. Thorne.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 18. He that hideth] This is a common case. How many, when full of resentment, and deadly hatred, meditating revenge and cruelty, and sometimes even murder, have pretended that they thought nothing of the injury they had sustained; had passed by the insult, &c.! Thus lying lips covered the malevolence of a wicked heart.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
With lying lips; with flattering words and false pretences of friendship.
And he, Heb. he, i. e both of them, one no less than the other. So he condemneth two opposite vices, secret hatred and manifest slander.
Is a fool, because a sinner, and because the mischief of these things will fall upon himself.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. Both vices must one day beknown and punished, and hence their folly.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He that hideth hatred [with] lying lips,…. Or he whose “lying lips hide hatred”, which is much the same; who pretends to be a friend, and outwardly behaves as one, but inwardly nourishes and cherishes hatred in his heart, which he covers and conceals, till he has a proper opportunity of showing it; as Absalom to Ammon, Joab to Amasa, the men of Anathoth to Jeremiah, and Judas to Christ; see
Pr 26:24. Or, “he that hideth hatred [is a man of] lying lips” m; he is a liar, as the person next described is a fool. And he that uttereth slander is a fool; that brings it out by wholesale, and hides it not; who openly defames his neighbour, and in the most public manner; and with a multitude of words detracts from his good name, credit, and reputation, and loads him with calumny and reproach; such a man is a fool, a very wicked man: yea, not only the public slanderer, but the secret dissembler, who thinks himself a cunning man because he hides himself; each of these is a fool, the one as well as the other. Gersom thinks there is a comparison made between the dissembler and the slanderer; the one being a liar, and the other a fool; and that the former is more abominable and pernicious than the latter.
m “Est vir laborium falsitatis”, Piscator, “vel fallacium”, Gejerus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
18 He that hideth hatred is a mouth of falsehood;
And he that spreadeth slander is a fool.
The lxx, , which Ewald prefers, and which has given occasion to Hitzig to make a remarkable conjecture (“He who conceals hatred, close lips,” which no one understands without Hitzig’s comment. to this his conjecture). But (1) to hide hatred (cf. Pro 10:11, Pro 26:24) is something altogether different from to cover sin (Pro 10:12, Pro 17:9), or generally to keep anything secret with discretion (Pro 10:13); and (2) that is a corrupt reading for (as Grabe supposes, and Symmachus translates) or (as Lagarde supposes, and indeed is found in Codd.). Michaelis well remarks: odium tectum est dolosi, manifesta sycophantia stultorum . Whoever conceals hateful feelings behind his words is , a mouth of falsehood (cf. the mouth of the fool, Pro 10:14); one does not need to supply , but much rather has hence to conclude that a false man is simply so named, as is proved by Psa 120:3. There is a second moral judgment, 18b: he who spreadeth slander ( , according to the Masoretic writing: he who divulges it, the correlate to , to bring to, Gen 37:2) is a Thor fool, stupid, dull, (not a Narr fool, godless person, ); for such slandering can generally bring no advantage; it injures the reputation of him to whom the , i.e., the secret report, the slander, refers; it sows discord, has incalculable consequences, and finally brings guilt on the tale-bearer himself.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Proper of the Use of the Tongue. | |
18 He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.
Observe here, Malice is folly and wickedness. 1. It is so when it is concealed by flattery and dissimulation: He is a fool, though he may think himself a politician, that hides hatred with lying lips, lest, if it break out, he should be ashamed before men and should lose the opportunity of gratifying his malice. Lying lips are bad enough of themselves, but have a peculiar malignity in them when they are made a cloak of maliciousness. But he is a fool who thinks to hide any thing from God. 2. It is no better when it is vented in spiteful and mischievous language: He that utters slander is a fool too, for God will sooner or later bring forth that righteousness as the light which he endeavours to cloud, and will find an expedient to roll the reproach away.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Hatred
(Pro 10:18)
Verse 18 reveals and reproves two evils of the hater. To hide hatred in the heart one must lie. To spread slander marks one as a fool. Both are condemned in Psa 15:3; Psa 101:5; Exo 20:16; Deu 5:20.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 10:18. Not with lying lips, but is of lying lips. The meaning of this second clause does not stand in the relation of an antithesis to the preceding, but in that of a climax, adding a worse case to one not so bad. If one conceals his hatred within himself, he becomes a malignant flatterer; but if he gives expression to it in slander, abuse, and base detraction, then, as a genuine fool, he brings upon himself the greatest injury (Zckler).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 10:18
THREE DEGREES OF MORAL FOOLISHNESS
I. A liar.
1. A liar is a fool because he fights for a weak cause. When a case can only be made out by lying it is manifestly a bad one. A man who will strive to uphold such a cause reveals his folly.
2. Because he makes use of a weak weapon. Among tribes ignorant of the methods of civilised warfare we find weapons which are little better than slim rods, and, although their points are sharp and poisoned, yet they proclaim their weakness when they come into collision with an experienced swordsman. Lying is such a weapon, and its use reveals the utter folly of him who wields it. It can no more stand against truth than the wooden spear of a savage can turn aside the thrust of a Damascus blade.
3. Because by lying he degrades his moral character. The serpent lost his upright position by being linked with lying, instead of going erect, God passed upon him the sentenceUpon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life (Gen. 3:14). The liar finds that this is his doom. He can no longer hold up his head like an honest man among his fellow-men, he must henceforth crawl and wind his way through the world, and eat the dust of ignominy and scorn. Men turn from a liar as they do from a serpent. It is assuredly the height of folly for a man thus to throw away that which alone makes him worthy to be called a man.
II. A liar who conceals hatred by lying. This man displays a higher degree of iniquity and folly. There are those who lie simply to serve their own purposes and have no dislike to the person whom they deceive. There is often much lying where there is no special malice. But when lying is used to conceal hatredwhich is murder
(1. Joh. 3:15)there is a double folly because there is a double sin. The lying of the father of lies is simply a blind to conceal his intense hatred of the human race, and this makes him the greater sinner.
III. A liar who utters slander. When malice finds vent in lying slander we have an exhibition of greater iniquity and therefore of greater folly. It is bad to be a liar, it is worse to conceal hatred by lying, but it is worse to let the hatred of the heart break forth into false accusations of the innocent. The tree that is most richly laden with the ripest fruit is the one upon which the birds will congregate. We never find them passing by such booty to peck at green fruit. The pirates lay in wait for vessels with a rich cargo, empty vessels pass by unmolested and secure from attack. So it is always the best men who attract slanderers, men of little or no moral worth are not considered foemen worthy of their steel. God declared Job to be the best man in all the earth, perfect and upright, one who feared Him, and eschewed evil (Job. 1:8). And it was because he stood thus pre-eminent that the tongue of the great slanderer was used against him; being from the begining a liar and a murderer of character he gave one of the most complete exhibitions of his real nature when he pointed his lying hatred agains the best man of his day. The Holy One of God did not escape the tongue of the slanderer. He was a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber (Mat. 11:19), one that perverteth the people (Luk. 23:14). When He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows He was esteemed smitten of God and afflicted (Isa. 53:4). All lying and malice, whether concealed or manifested, becomes the most palpable folly when looked at in the light of the coming of the Lord, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts (1Co. 4:5).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
If we desire the credit of wisdom let us use better means to obtain it than artificial disgracings of our brethren, for that cometh not from above; it is no gift of God; it is sensual, carnal, and devilish. Do not hearken to the reports of such wicked persons as seek to defame others and detract from their good name; they are but foolish and base pedlars that utter such infectious wares, and therefore they cannot be wise chapmen that traffic with them and receive them at their hands. Here is consolation for them that are molested and vexed unjustly for the Gospels sake by clamourous and false accusers; let them consider what account God maketh of their malicious adversaries; He calls them fools and derideth their practices, and, therefore, in the end it shall be seen that when they have spat all their venom they have but shot a fools bolt and procured shame and sorrow to themselves.Dod.
The folly of slander.
1. If this practice be proved extremly sinful it will thence be demonstrated no less foolish. And it is indeed plainly the blackest and most hellish sin that can be; that which giveth the grand fiend his name, and most expresseth his nature. He is the slanderer, Satan, the spiteful adversary, the old serpent or dragon spitting forth the venom of calumnious accusation, the accuser of the brethren, the father of lies, the grand defamer of God to man, of man to God, of one man to another. And highly wicked that practice must be whereby we grow namesakes to him.
2. The slanderer is plainly a fool because he makes wrong judgments and valuations of things, and accordingly driveth on silly bargains for himself, in result whereof he proveth a great loser. He means by his calumnious stories either to vent some passion boiling within him, or to compass some design which he affecteth, or to please some humour that he is possessed with; but is any of these things worth purchasing at so dear a rate? Can there be any valuable exchange for our honesty? Can anything in the world be so considerable that for its sake we should defile our souls?
3. Because he uses improper means and preposterous methods of effecting his purposes. As there is no design worth the carrying on by ways of falsehood and iniquity, so there is scarce any (no good and lawful one at least) which may not more surely, more safely, more cleverly be achieved by means of truth and justice He that is observed to practise falsehood will be declined by some, opposed by others, disliked by all.
4. The slanderer is a fool, as bringing many great inconveniences and troubles upon himself.
(1.) By no means can a man inflame so fierce anger, impress so stiff hatred, raise so deadly enmity against himself, and consequently so endanger his safety, ease, and welfare as by this practice. Men will rather pardon a robber of their goods than of their good name.
(2.) And he is not only odious to the person immediately concerned, but generally to all men who observe his practice; every man presently will be sensible how easily it may be his own case to be thus abused.
(3.) He also derogateth wholly from his own credit, for he that dareth thus to injure his neighbour, who can trust him in anything that he speaks?
(4.) This practice is perpetually haunted with most troublesome companions, inward regret, and self-condemnation.
(5.) The consequence of this practice is commonly shameful disgrace, with an obligation to retract and to render satisfaction; for seldom doth calumny pass long without being detected and confuted.
(6.) The slanderer doth banish himself from heaven and happiness. For, if none that maketh a lie (Rev. 22:15) shall enter the heavenly city, assuredly the capital liar, the slanderer, shall be far excluded from felicity. All these things being considered, we may, I think, reasonably conclude it most evidently true that he who uttereth slander is a fool.Barrow.
Better. He who hideth hatred is of lying lips. The alternative is offered with a delicate touch of irony. He who cherishes hatred must choose between being a knave or a foola knave if he hides, a fool if he utters it.Plumptre.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(18) He that hideth hatred . . .This would be more correctly translated, He that hideth hatred is a mouth of falsehood: he that spreadeth slander is a fool (khesl: Pro. 1:22). (For the construction, he . . . is a mouth of falsehood, comp. note on Pro. 8:30; and for the sentiment, Davids complaint, Psa. 41:6).
Is a fool.For he does mischief to his neighbour, and only gets ill-will for himself.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. Hideth , ( mekhasseh,) covereth. (See Pro 10:6; Pro 10:12.)
Lying lips Hebrews, lips of lying: the Hebrew way of saying, He is a liar.
Uttereth a slander Literally, causes a murmur an evil report to go forth. The verse is difficult, and probably our version has missed the sense. Stuart renders, “He who concealeth hatred is of lying lips, and he who uttereth slander is a fool.” The Septuagint, for “lying lips,” reads righteous lips, which is not approved. Rueetschi, whom Miller follows, contends that the two clauses make but one proposition, rendering them, “He that hides hatred with lying lips, but puts forth slander, is himself the fool.” But the Speaker’s Commentary has, “He who hideth hatred is of lying lips,” and remarks: “The alternative is offered with a delicate touch of irony. He who cherishes hatred must choose between being a knave or a fool a knave if he hides it, a fool if he utters it.” Compare Pro 12:19-22; Pro 26:24.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 18. He that hideth hatred with lying lips,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 10:18. He that hideth hatred, &c. The LXX read, Honest lips hide hatred; but they who utter reproaches, are the greatest fools; and the Syriac, The lips of the wicked hide hatred; and he that uttereth a curse is a fool. Nothing more easy than to conceal malice. Dissembling, which is lying, does it very securely; it will be long before it be discovered; and the uttering, the transmitting a slander, makes no such present noise that the author may be discerned; yet, with all his craft, he is but a fool, and wants sense as well as honesty. He will find that he is observed by One who can order him to be repaid in his own coin, and set a more wicked person than himself over him, to prepare a condemnation for him before he is judged or heard: as he loved calumnies, and delighted in obloquies and lies, so they shall cover him as a garment, and hide the little good which is in him from the eyes of all men. To make his misery complete, he shall find none to pity him; and when his calumny is at the highest, all who knew him shall think it less than he deserved: his posterity shall inherit his infamy; and his sin and his punishment shall be kept in remembrance from generation to generation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 10:18 He that hideth hatred [with] lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, [is] a fool.
Ver. 18. He that hideth hatred, &c. ] These are dangerous creatures that thus lie at the catch, and wait advantages to do a man mischief, as Cain dealt by Abel, Absalom by Amnon, Joab by Amasa, Judas by Jesus. Tuta frequensque via est, &c.
And he that uttereth a slander is a fool.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 10:18
Pro 10:18
“He that hideth hatred is of lying lips; And he that uttereth slander is a fool.”
DeHoff noted that “Comment here is hardly necessary, and yet the sin of many `good’ people is that of gossip and slander. It should be particularly noted here that it is not the invention of a slander, but the repetition of it, that is forbidden.
Pro 10:18. Hideth and uttereth are obvious contrasts. Those who seek to hide their true feelings will lie. When asked, Whats the matter? or What have I done thats wrong? they will reply, Nothing. When asked, Why are you upset? they will say, Im not upset. See also Pro 20:24-26. On the other hand to slander (defame) is foolish and wrong (Mat 5:21-22). The word devil means slanderer. We must be careful not to be guilty of doing the same thing (1Ti 3:11). We should neither hide hatreds nor utter slanders. We can only avoid such a dilemma by getting hatred out of our hearts, which we are commanded to do (Eph 4:31).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
that hideth: Pro 26:24-26, 1Sa 18:21, 1Sa 18:22, 1Sa 18:29, 2Sa 3:27, 2Sa 11:8-15, 2Sa 13:23-29, 2Sa 20:9, 2Sa 20:10, Psa 5:9, Psa 12:2, Psa 55:21, Luk 20:20, Luk 20:21
that uttereth: Psa 15:3, Psa 50:20, Psa 101:5
Reciprocal: Gen 37:20 – Some Gen 39:14 – he came Exo 20:16 – General Exo 23:1 – shalt not 2Sa 13:22 – hated Pro 26:23 – General Pro 27:6 – the kisses Jer 9:4 – walk Jer 20:10 – Report Eze 22:9 – men that carry tales Eph 4:31 – evil speaking 1Ti 3:11 – not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 10:18. He that hideth hatred with lying lips With flattering words, and false pretences of friendship; and he that uttereth slander That is, both of them, one no less than the other; is a fool Because a sinner; and because the mischief of these things will fall upon himself. So he condemns two opposite vices, secret hatred and manifest slander.