Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 18:20
A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; [and] with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.
The general sense is plain. A man must for good or evil take the consequence of his words, as well as his deeds. Compare the marginal reference.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. With the fruit of his mouth] Our own words frequently shape our good or evil fortune in life.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Wise and edifying discourses tend to the comfort and satisfaction of the speaker, as well as to the good of the hearers.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. (Compare Pro 12:14;Pro 13:2). Men’s words are thefruit, or, increase of his lips, and when good, benefitthem.
satisfied with(ComparePro 1:31; Pro 14:14).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth,…. With his own words and discourses, when they are prudent, pious, and savoury; when they are with grace, and minister it; they are satisfying to himself, to his own mind and conscience, and to his family; to all within his house, which is, as it were, his belly; but, if otherwise, it will not be profitable nor satisfying to either; and therefore, if a man would keep conscience easy, and be useful to others, he ought to take care what he says; see Pr 12:14;
[and] with the increase of his lips shall he be filled; the same thing as before, expressed in different words, alluding to the sowing, of seed in the earth, and the increase of it; as a man sows he reaps, and enjoys the fruits of his labour; according to what a man sows with his lips, such is his harvest he is afterwards a partaker of.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
With Pro 18:19, the series of proverbs which began with that of the flatterer closes. The catchword , which occurred at its commencement, 9b, is repeated at its close, and serves also as a landmark of the group following Pro 18:20-24. The proverb of the breach of friendship and of contentions is followed by one of the reaction of the use of the tongue on the man himself.
Pro 18:20 20 Of the fruit which a man’s mouth bringeth is his heart satisfied;
By the revenue of his lips is he filled.
He will taste in rich measure of the consequences not merely of the good (Pro 12:14, cf. Pro 13:2), but of whatever he has spoken. This is an oxymoron like Mat 15:11, that not that which goeth into the mouth, but that which cometh out of it, defileth a man. As at Joh 4:34 the conduct of a man, so here his words are called his . Not merely the conduct (Pro 1:31; Isa 3:10), but also the words are fruit-bringing; and not only do others taste of the fruit of the words as of the actions of a man, whether they be good or bad, but above all he himself does so, both in this life and in that which is to come.
Pro 18:21 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue;
And whoever loveth it shall eat its fruit.
The hand, , is so common a metaphor for power, that as here a hand is attributed to the tongue, so e.g., Isa 47:14 to the flame, and Psa 49:16 to Hades. Death and life is the great alternative which is placed, Deu 30:15, before man. According as he uses his tongue, he falls under the power of death or attains to life. All interpreters attribute, 21b, to the tongue: qui eam ( linguam ) amant vescentur ( , distrib. sing., as Pro 3:18, Pro 3:35, etc.) fructu ejus . But “to love the tongue” is a strange and obscure expression. He loves the tongue, says Hitzig, who loves to babble. Euchel: he who guards it carefully, or: he who takes care of it, i.e., who applies himself to right discourse. Combining both, Zckler: who uses it much, as or . The lxx translates, , i.e., ; but means prehendere and tenere , not cohibere , and the tongue kept in restraint brings forth indeed no bad fruit, but it brings no fruit at all. Why thus? Does the suffix of , perhaps like Pro 8:17, Chethb , refer to wisdom, which, it is true, is not named, but which lies everywhere before the poet’s mind? At Pro 14:3 we ventured to make the subject of 3b. Then 21b would be as a miniature of Pro 8:17-21. Or is a mutilation of : and he who loves Jahve (Psa 97:10) enjoys its (the tongue’s) fruit?
Pro 18:22 22 Whatso hath found a wife hath found a good thing,
And hath obtained favour from Jahve.
As , 21b, reminds us of Pro 8:17, so here not only 22b, but also 22a harmonizes with Pro 8:35 (cf. Pro 12:2). A wife is such as she ought to be, as Pro 18:14, , a man is such as he ought to be; the lxx, Syr., Targ., and Vulgate supply bonam , but “gnomic brevity and force disdains such enervating adjectives, and cautious limitations of the idea” (Fl.). Besides, in old Hebr. would mean a well-favoured rather than a good-dispositioned wife, which later idea is otherwise expressed, Pro 19:14; Pro 31:10. The Venet. rightly has , and Luther ein Ehefraw , for it is a married woman that is meant. The first is perf. hypotheticum, Gesen. 126, Anm. 1. On the other hand, Ecc 7:26, “I found, , more bitter than death the woman,” etc.; wherefore, when in Palestine one married a wife, the question was wont to be asked: , has he married happily (after of the book of Proverbs) or unhappily (after of Ecclesiastes) ( Jebamoth 63b)?
(Note: Cf. Gendlau’s Sprichwrter u. Redensarten deutsch-jdischer Vorzeit (1860), p. 235.)
The lxx adds a distich to Pro 18:22, “He that putteth away a good wife putteth away happiness; and he that keepeth an adulteress, is foolish and ungodly.” He who constructed this proverb [added by the lxx] has been guided by to (Ezr 10:3); elsewhere ( ), Gal 4:30, Sir. 28:15, is the translation of . The Syr. has adopted the half of that distich, and Jerome the whole of it. On the other hand, Pro 18:23, Pro 18:24, and Pro 19:1-2, are wanting in the lxx. The translation which is found in some Codd. is that of Theodotion ( vid., Lagarde).
Pro 18:23 23 The poor uttereth suppliant entreaties;
And the rich answereth rudenesses.
The oriental proverbial poetry furnishes many parallels to this. It delights in the description of the contrast between a suppliant poor man and the proud and avaricious rich man; vid., e.g., Samachschari’s Goldene Halsbnder, No. 58. , according to its meaning, refers to the Hithpa. , misericordiam alicujus pro se imploravit ; cf. the old vulgar “barmen,” i.e., to seek to move others to Erbarmen [compassion] ( ). , dura , from (synon. ), hard, fast, of bodies, and figuratively of an unbending, hard, haughty disposition, and thence of words of such a nature (Fl.). Both nouns are accus. of the object, as Job 40:27, with the parallel . The proverb expresses a fact of experience as a consolation to the poor to whom, if a rich man insults him, nothing unusual occurs, and as a warning to the rich that he may not permit himself to be divested of humanity by mammon. A hard wedge to a hard clod; but whoever, as the Scripture saith, grindeth the poor by hard stubborn-hearted conduct, and grindeth his bashful face (Isa 3:15), challenges unmerciful judgment against himself; for the merciful, only they shall obtain mercy, (Mat 5:7).
Pro 18:24 24 A man of many friends cometh off a loser;
But there is a friend more faithful than a brother.
Jerome translates the commencing word by vir , but the Syr., Targ. by , which is adopted by Hitzig, Bttcher, and others. But will a German poet use in one line “ itzt ” [same as jetzt = now], and in the next “ jetzt ”? and could the Hebrew poet prefer to its rarer, and her especially not altogether unambiguous form (cf. to the contrary, Ecc 7:15)? We write , because the Masora comprehends this passage, with 2Sa 14:19; Mic 6:10, as the ‘ , i.e., as the three, where one ought to expect , and is thus exposed to the danger of falling into error in writing and reading; but erroneously is found in all these three places in the Masora magna of the Venetian Bible of 1526; elsewhere the Masora has the defectiva scriptio with like meaning only in those two other passages. While = , or properly , with equal possibility of ,
(Note: One sees from this interchange how softly the was uttered; cf. Wellhausen’s Text der B. Samuel (1871) (Preface). Kimchi remarks that we say for , because we would otherwise confound it with .)
and it makes no material difference in the meaning of 24a whether we explain: there are friends who serve to bring one to loss: or a man of many friends comes to loss, – the inf. with is used in substantival clauses as the expression of the most manifold relations, Gesen. 132, Anm. 1 (cf. at Hab 1:17), here in both cases it denotes the end, as e.g., Psa 92:8, to which it hastens with many friends, or with the man of many friends. It is true that (like ) is almost always connected only with genitives of things; but as one says : a man belongs to God, so may one also say : a man belongs to many friends; the common language of the people may thus have named a man, to whom, because he has no definite and decided character, the rule that one knows a man by his friends is not applicable, a so-called every-man’s-friend, or all-the-world’s-friend. Theodotion translates ; and thus also the Syr., Targ., and Jerome render (and among the moderns, Hitzig) as reflexive in the sense of to cherish social intercourse; but this reflexive is , Pro 22:24. That is either Hithpa. of , to exult, Psa 60:10; 65:14, according to which the Venet. translates (contrary to Kimchi) : such an one can exult, but which is not true, since, according to 24b, a true friend outweighs the many; or it is Hithpa. of , to be wicked, sinful (Fl.: sibi perniciem paraturus est ); or, which we prefer, warranted by Isa 24:19, of , to become brittle (Bttcher and others) – which not only gives a good sense, but also a similar alliteration with , as Pro 3:29; Pro 13:20. In contradistinction to , which is a general, and, according to the usage of the language ( e.g., 17b), a familiar idea, the true friend is called, in the antithetical parallel member, (Pro 27:6); and after Pro 17:17, , one who remains true in misfortune. To have such an one is better than to have many of the so-called friends; and, as appears from the contrast, to him who is so fortunate as to have one such friend, there comes a blessing and safety. Immanuel has given the right explanation: “A man who sets himself to gain many friends comes finally to be a loser ( ), for he squanders his means, and is impoverished in favour of others.” And Schultens: At est amicus agglutinatus prae fratre. Rarum et carum esse genus insinuatur, ac proinde intimam illam amicitiam, quae conglutinet compingatque corda, non per multos spargendam, sed circumspecte et ferme cum uno tantum ineundam . Thus closes this group of proverbs with the praise of friendship deepened into spiritual brotherhood, as the preceding, Pro 18:19, with a warning against the destruction of such a relation by a breach of trust not to be made good again.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
20 A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.
Note, 1. Our comfort depends very much upon the testimony of our own consciences, for us or against us. The belly is here put for the conscience, as ch. xx. 27. Now it is of great consequence to us whether that be satisfied, and what that is filled with, for, accordingly, will our satisfaction be and our inward peace. 2. The testimony of our consciences will be for us, or against us, according as we have or have not governed our tongues well. According as the fruit of the mouth is good or bad, unto iniquity or unto righteousness, so the character of the man is, and consequently the testimony of his conscience concerning him. “We ought to take as great care about the words we speak as we do about the fruit of our trees or the increase of the earth, which we are to eat; for, according as they are wholesome or unwholesome, so will the pleasure or the pain be wherewith we shall be filled.” So bishop Patrick.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Consequence of Man’s Words
Verse 20 affirms that man finds satisfaction in his own words, Pro 12:14; Pro 14:14.
Verse 21 emphasizes the consequences that result from words, both life and death, and he who speaks is accountable, Pro 4:23-24; Pro 12:13; Pro 13:2-3; Mat 12:37; Isa 3:10; Hos 10:12-13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 18:20. Satisfied. If this word is taken in a good sense the fruit must be good; but it may be ironical, meaning false or malignant words will find ample retribution. Perhaps the next verse helps us to determine the meaning (Stuart).
Pro. 18:21. They that love it, i.e., make it a special object of gratification (Stuart).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 18:20-21
THE POWER OF THE LITTLE MEMBER
Solomon again and again reverts to the mighty influences for good and evil which flow from the use of the tonguethat little member upon which such great issues often depend. He here notices
I. The power of words over the man who utters them. He declares that the state of the inward manits rest or unrest, its gladness or its gloomdepends very much upon the use that is made of the tongue. A little thought and observation will convince us that this is true. Beginning with the familiar intercourse of every-day life, how true it is that the utterance of kindly words of sympathy, and advice and warning, have a tendency to make sunshine in the heart of him who utters them, while censorious, hasty, harsh words embitter and darken the spirit of their author. Going beyond these to utterances which have a wider influence, the proverb is no less true. The painter that has conceived a picture in his mind, and then, seeing it upon canvas, thinks of the many eyes who will gaze upon it with interest, and of those who perchance will be elevated and instructed by it, feels a satisfaction in the thought that it owes its existence to himthat without the working of his brain and hand it would not have been. He is filled with the increase of his skilful hand. So the man whose words are listened to and waited for by other menwhether he be the skilful barrister, or the powerful statesman, or the preacher of the Gospel, has a satisfaction in being able so to put forth his conceptions as to give to his fellow-men new ideasto show them things in a light in which they might never have seen them but for this power which he possesses. He has joy in being the originator of fresh and living thoughts, and in being able by clothing them in words to impart them to others. But upon the moral quality of the fruit of his mouth will depend the length and depth of his satisfaction. The simple power to influence men by speech will gratify for the momentbut if the increase of the lips is to be an abiding source of contentment there must be a consciousness that the power has been used to benefit mankind in some way or otherthat the skilful pleading has been on the side of right, that the powerful logic has been used to expose the false and to defend the true, or the brilliant oratory has had for its aim the moral enlightenment and strengthening of the listeners. If it be not so, the fruit of a mans mouth will be like the roll given to the apocalyptic seer, in the mouth as sweet as honey, but afterwards bitter. (Rev. 10:10.) How sad must be the reflections of those who have possessed this God-given power for good or ill when they have to look back upon its misuse.
II. The power of words over those who hear them. The tongue in its mighty influence is a king having the power of life and death. No other member of the human body can lay claim to such wide-spread and regal authority. The eye can influence men, but not so powerfully as the tongue, nor can its influence reach so many at once. The hand can strike down the body of a single foe, or of two or three at once. But the tongue can reach a thousand hearts at one time, and make men its slaves, not in twos and threes but in masses. And as it sways the affections and takes a mans will captive, it wields the power of life and death not over the body of the man but over the man himself. The tongue of the tempter can drag its victims down, body and soul, to hell, while the tongue which is touched with a living coal from off the altar of God can be the means of persuading men to be reconciled to their Heavenly Father, and so of making them partakers of eternal life. Seeing, then, what issues of life and death are dependent upon this king, it is manifest that men should keep him in absolute control; if so much depends upon his action he ought to be under the strictest supervision. If one member of the body politic, by the position which he holds and the ability which he possesses, is able to exercise a very powerful influence in the kingdom for weal or for woe, men watch him narrowly and jealously to see how he uses his power, and if they are anxious for the well-being of the State they endeavour to restrain him when he is going wrong and stimulate him when he is using his influence for the right. So ought every man to watch and guard his own tongue; seeing that life and death are in its power, he ought to bring all his words to the bar of conscience and try them there, severely condemning them if they have not been such as would minister life to the hearers, and remembering that his Master has said, By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned (Mat. 12:37).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
If a man were possessed of a field exceedingly productive, either of good fruits or of noisome and poisonous herbs, according to the cultivation bestowed on it, what pains would he use to clear it of every weed, and to have it sown with good grain! and yet, when the harvest is come, he may take his choice whether he will eat of the product or not. Such a field is the tongue of man, with this difference, that a man is obliged to eat the fruit of it, although it should be worse than hemlock. What care, then, should we use to pluck from our hearts every root of bitterness, and to have them furnished with knowledge and prudence, that our discourse may be good, to the use of edifying!Lawson.
There is a sense in which we may understand the language, even taking the former clause of the twentieth verse literallyA mans belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth. You may smile and say, A man cannot live upon words! Very true. But the way in which a man uses his lips and his tongue, as the organs of speech, may contribute not a little to his getting, or his failing to get, the meat that perisheth. I mean not that any of you should, in the slightest degree, try to work your way in life by words of flattery; but when a mans general conversation is such as to procure for him a character for discretion, courtesy, gratitude, straight forward integrity, and trustworthiness, this may surely contribute, eminently and directly, to the temporal sustenance and comfort of the man himself and his family: while an opposite style of intercourse may tend to penury and starvation. A man may, in various ways, make his lips the instrument of either want on the one hand, or plenty on the other.Wardlaw.
Our understanding of Pro. 18:20 is, that as the outward wants of a man are satisfied by his daily acts, so he himself is, and that simply as his acts, or because of the intimate sympathy between the man and what he does. This thought is still clearer in the verse that follows:Death and life are in the power (literally the hand) of the tongue. There can be no doubt that mens conduct (for tongue is but the leading instrument of it) determines death or life, yet, in spite of the adventurous hazard, their love to it (or literally, just as they love this or that sort of tongue), they shall eat its fruit, and incur, of course, fearful responsibilities.Miller.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(20) A mans belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth.See above on Pro. 12:14.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. A man’s belly fruit of his mouth A man’s words frequently determine his future for good or evil.
Satisfied Satiated, or filled with the fruits of his own discourse. “There is here a paradox in the form of statement. A man’s belly is to be filled, not, as is usual, by what he puts into his month, but by what comes out of it.” Speaker’s Commentary. Compare Pro 12:24; Pro 13:2; Pro 14:14; Mat 12:37.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 20. A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 18:20 A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; [and] with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.
Ver. 20. A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth.] See Trapp on “ Pro 12:14 “ See Trapp on “ Pro 13:2 “
And with the increase of his lips shall he be satisfied.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 18:20
Pro 18:20
“A man’s belly shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth; With the increase of his lips shall he be satisfied.”
A proposed various reading by Toy has this, “From the fruit of the mouth comes requital to men; the outcome of the lips they must bear. This proverb reminds us of the words of Jesus, “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Mat 12:37).
Pro 18:20. This verse likens what a man says to the food he eats. If what he says is good, it is like eating good food: there is no bad after-effect. The verse is speaking of good speech. Pro 12:14; Pro 13:2 contain similar statements.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Pro 12:13, Pro 12:14, Pro 13:2, Pro 22:18, Pro 22:21, Pro 25:11, Pro 25:12
Reciprocal: Isa 60:9 – unto Hos 10:13 – eaten Joh 4:32 – I have
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 18:20. A mans belly shall be satisfied, &c. Wise and edifying discourses tend to the comfort and satisfaction of the speaker, as well as to the good of the hearers.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The sense here is that we will have to be content to accept the consequences of what we say. "Satisfied" does not mean happy but filled. Yet "productive speech is satisfying." [Note: Ross, p. 1028.]
"The oxymoron forces the thought that whatever a person dishes out, whether beneficial or harmful, he himself will feed on to full measure through what his audience in return dishes out to him," [Note: Waltke, The Book . . . 31, p. 85.]