Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 26:23
Burning lips and a wicked heart [are like] a potsherd covered with silver dross.
23. burning ] Better, fervent, R.V., with protestations of affection.
a potsherd covered ] The rendering, an earthen vessel overlaid, R.V. makes the meaning clearer.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Burning lips – i. e., Lips glowing with, affection, uttering warm words of love, joined with a malignant heart, are like a piece of broken earthenware from the furnace, which glitters with the silver drops at stick to it, but is itself worthless.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 26:23
Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.
Putrefaction phosphorescent
The illuminating power of phosphorus appears due to an extremely slow chemical reaction, and it is affirmed that vegetable and animal substances may grow phosphorescent at a certain stage of decomposition, or even without any appearance of putrefaction. Accredited authorities cite a host of examples of fresh or stale meats which have been seen to shine during the night with a more or less vivid clearness. Fish, and especially salt-water fish, when no longer fresh, acquire a phosphorescence which brightens during the first period, of putrefaction. Leave for two or three days dead saltwater fish in non-luminous sea-water; at the end of that time the water will be covered with a thin pellicle of fatty matter, and will soon become phosphorescent. But it is not only in material nature that we thus find brightness in combination with impurity. Genius itself has been found shining amidst moral putrefaction. (Scientific Illustrations.)
A wicked heart disguising itself
This may be meant either–
1. Of a wicked heart showing itself in burning lips, furious, passionate, outrageous words, burning in malice, and presenting those to whom, or of whom, they are spoken. Ill-words and ill-will agree together as well as a potsherd and the dross of silver, which, now that the pot is broken, and the dross separated from the silver, are fit to be thrown together to the dunghill
2. Or of a wicked heart disguising itself, with burning lips, burning with the professions of love and friendship, and even persecuting a man with flatteries; this is like a potsherd covered with the scum or dross of silver, with which one that is weak may be imposed upon, as if it were of some value, but a wise man is soon aware of the cheat. This sense agrees with the following verses. (Matthew Henry.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 23. Burning lips and a wicked heart] Splendid, shining, smooth lips; that is, lips which make great professions of friendship are like a vessel plated over with base metal to make it resemble silver; but it is only a vile pot, and even the outside is not pure.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Burning; either,
1. With love. Words delivered with show of true and fervent affection. Or rather,
2. With malice or hatred. A slanderous or evil tongue; for this word is constantly used in a bad sense, and notes the heat of rage and persecution.
Like a potsherd covered with silver dross; such a tongue and heart are of no real worth, although sometimes they make a show of it, as dross doth of silver.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. Warm professions canno more give value to insincerity than silver coating to rudeearthenware.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Burning lips, and a wicked heart,…. Either burning with wrath and malice; breathing out threatenings and slaughter; pursuing men with reproaches and slanders, arising from a wicked heart: or rather, burning with profession of love to God, and affection to good men; with great pretensions of kindness, and promises of good things, when their hearts are wicked, and they design noticing less; say one thing with their lips, with the greatest show of affection and sincerity, and mean another in their hearts. These
[are like] a potsherd covered with silver dross: which at a distance, or to less discerning persons, looks like silver, and is taken for it; when the covering is only dross, and what is within is only a potsherd, Or a piece of an earthen vessel, good for nothing: such are the specious professions and deceitful words, which flow from a wicked heart.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The proverbs next following treat of a cognate theme, hypocrisy (the art of dissembling), which, under a shining [ gleissen ] exterior,
(Note: Vid., regarding gleisen (to give a deceitful appearance) and gleissen (to throw a dazzling appearance), Schmitthenner-Weigand’s Deutsches Wrterbuch.)
conceals hatred and destruction:
23 Dross of silver spread over an earthen vessel –
Lips glowing with love and a base heart.
Dross of silver is the so-called gltte (French, litharge ), a combination of lead and oxygen, which, in the old process of producing silver, was separated (Luther: silberschaum , i.e., the silver litharge; Lat. spuma argenti , having the appearance of foam). It is still used to glaze over potter’s ware, which here (Greek, ) is briefly called for ; for the vessel is better in appearance than the mere potsherd. The glossing of the earthenware is called , which is applicable to any kind of covering ( , R. , to spread or lay out broad) of a less costly material with that which is more precious. 23a contains the figure, and 23b its subscription: . Thus, with the taking away of the Makkeph after Codd., to be punctuated: burning lips, and therewith a base heart; burning, that is, with the fire of love (Meri, ), while yet the assurances of friendship, sealed by ardent kisses, serve only to mask a far different heart. The lxx translate [burning] by , and thus have read [smooth], which Hitzig without reason prefers; burning lips (Jerome, incorrectly: tumentia ; Luther, after Deu 32:33, : Gifftiger mund = a poisonous mouth) are just flattering, and at the same time hypocritical
(Note: Schultens explains the labia flagrantia by volubiliter prompta et diserta . But one sees from the Arab. dhaluka , to be loose, lightly and easily moved ( vid., in Fleischer’s Beitrgen zur arab. Sprachkunde the explanation of the designation of the liquid expressed with the point of the tongue by dhalkiytt , at Pro 1:26-27; cf. de Sacy’s Grammar), and dalk , to draw out (of the sword from its scabbard), to rinse (of water), that the meaning of the Heb. , to burn, from R. , refers to the idea of the flickering, tongue-like movement of the flame.)
lips. Regarding as masc., vid., p. 85; means, at Pro 25:20, animus maestus ; here, inimicus . The figure is excellent: one may regard a vessel with the silver gloss as silver, and it is still earthen; and that also which gives forth the silver glance is not silver, but only the refuse of silver. Both are suitable to the comparison: the lips only glitter, the heart is false (Heidenheim).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
23 Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.
This may be meant either, 1. Of a wicked heart showing itself in burning lips, furious, passionate, outrageous words, burning in malice, and persecuting those to whom, or of whom, they are spoken; ill words and ill-will agree as well together as a potsherd and the dross of silver, which, now that the pot is broken and the dross separated from the silver, are fit to be thrown together to the dunghill. 2. Or of a wicked heart disguising itself with burning lips, burning with the professions of love and friendship, and even persecuting a man with flatteries; this is like a potsherd covered with the scum or dross of silver, with which one that is weak may be imposed upon, as if it were of some value, but a wise man is soon aware of the cheat. This sense agrees with the following verses.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Deceitful Hater
Verse 23 uses the practice of coating drab earthenware with a shining glaze to contrast the hypocrisy of fervent lips (disguised fair speech) with the wicked heart revealed in verses 24-26.
Verses 24-26 declares that he who hates hides such with fair speech; but in his heart plots deceitful and harmful acts against the hated one. Although he speaks fair, his heart is filled with abominations. Verse 26b reveals, however, that God is watching and his wickedness will eventually be exposed.
Verse 27 emphasizes that not only exposure but also retribution comes eventually upon one who deceitfully plots evil against another, Pro 28:10; Psa 7:15-16; Psa 9:15-16; Psa 57:6; Ecc 10:8; Ezr 7:10; Dan 6:4-24.
Verse 28 concludes these related verses by emphasizing that the lying tongue of the hater effects the wounding of the hated; and that it was accomplished by “lying flattery.” Pro 20:19; Pro 29:5; admonish all to beware of flattery; Pro 12:22; Pro 19:5; Pro 19:9; Pro 21:6; and Psa 12:3 have stern warnings for liars and flatterers.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 26:23. Burning lipsi.e., lips whence come ardent expressions of friendship. Silver dross. Impure silver not freed from the dross.
Pro. 26:24. Layeth up, rather, prepareth, or meditateth.
Pro. 26:26. Congregationi.e., before the people assembled for judgment. (Zckler.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPHPro. 26:23-28
COUNTERFEIT FRIENDSHIP
I. Because there are true friends in the world false men sometimes put on the garb of friendship. Because there is an abundance of genuine coin in the country men take the trouble to make counterfeit imitations of it; the existence of the good money is the cause of the existence of the bad, and the great preponderance of the good over the bad is the reason why men sometimes get imposed upon and take the bad for the good. So there is much real and true friendship in human life, and there is therefore an opportunity given to wicked men to imitate its outward expressionthere are many burning words uttered from the depths of a sincere heart, and therefore a wicked man will sometimes utter such words for the purposes of deception. The vessel of clay covered with silver may be taken for silver, because its shape and external appearance are close imitations of the genuine article, and the fair words of the false man may effectually deceive the listener, but it is because some things are what they seem, that other things are made to seem what they are not.
II. The words of true friendship are used to reveal, and those of the false friend are employed only for concealment. There were many silver vessels in Solomons palace, and their bright splendour was a true revelation of their intrinsic worth and genuineness; the shining surface reflecting the light was an indication of the preciousness of the entire article. But when a clay vessel is covered with silver, the external coating is used only to cover what is beneath, and perhaps to deceive those who look on it. So when the friendship is real the ardent expressions of affection which are uttered are only a revelation of the emotions which are experienced, but when it is only a counterfeit the words are like the silver which hides instead of revealing what is beneath it. Solomons father thus records his experience of the language of a counterfeit friend: His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords (Psa. 55:21).
III. Because counterfeit friendship is opposed to human happiness it shall be publicly arrested and condemned. Every counterfeit has arrayed against it the force of human interest. It is to the interest of the general community that the forger should be brought to justice, and that the coiner of bad money should be severely punished. It is only by rigidly enforcing the law against such criminals that they are kept in check, and the safety of the public made tolerably secure. When such offenders are discovered their wickedness is condemned by the united voice of the commercial world. But the man who betrays another by false words is quite as great an enemy to his brother man, and ought to be as severely dealt with and as publicly and universally condemned. But it can hardly be affirmed that such is the case. If every such betrayer were dealt with by human laws we should need a large increase of judges and gaolers and prison-cells, and should find within the walls of the latter many men who are now living in mansions. And if they were only punished by being shut out from the favourable notice of their fellow-men, many would be missed from their present positions in commercial and fashionable circles. Although they are shunned, and their wickedness is abhorred by all lovers of truth and honesty, they are far from meeting at the hands of man with the contempt and condemnation which they deserve. But the forces arrayed against such men are nevertheless in operation, and though they often work secretly and slowly they are most certain to find their object, and to make him conscious of their existence. There are other agencies at work in the universe beside human agencies, and a Divine lawgiver as well as human lawgivers. And although the latter may fail to discover those who break their laws, no offender against the law of God will be able to escape public arrest and condemnation, if not before a human congregation, before a higher and more august assembly.
IV. A special form of punishment which will be the special portion of such offenders. The great principle proclaimed by Christ, With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again (Mat. 7:2), is here uttered by Solomon. Every deceiver will be deceived, and one false man will become the prey of another false man. This is a law which is always and now in operation, although the punishment may not always be discernible to onlookers. But it is a work which the Almighty Judge has taken into His own hands, and many a one who is now suffering from a pitfall laid by another, knows very well in his secret soul that he is only passing through the same experience which he once prepared for anotherthat if what he took for a silver vessel is only clay, he has himself palmed off the counterfeit article for a genuine one.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 26:28. It is not easy for us to forgive the injuries we receive; but it is far more difficult to forgive the injuries we do.Lawson.
1. There is the inward self-reproach, arising from the workings of conscience, from which arises a secret irritability and fretfulness and unhappiness; and this produces dislike of the innocent occasion of it, instead of terminating (as it always ought to do) on self. This of course is only more injustice. True; but it is in human nature to hate with a bitter hatred the object of our own crime; as if it were a fault in that object to exist, and so to be the object on which our sin terminates.
2. The evil passions, like the good, are strengthened and increased by their exercise. If the utterance of the feelings of love serves further to inflame love, the utterance, in like manner, of the feelings of hatred tend to inflame hatred. The passion gives birth to the word and the action; and, reciprocally, the word and the action strengthen the passion.
3. The fretful uneasiness produced by the unceasing apprehension of detection and exposure, already alluded to, and of the weight of his vengeance who is the object of the lying tongues assaults, gives rise also to the same feeling of rankling dislike to him who is the source of it. Thus the slanderer, instead of feeling pity for the man whom his slander wounds, hates him still the more. This appears to have had a very striking exemplification in the case of our blessed Lord and His Jewish unbelieving adversaries. They hated Him without a cause.Wardlaw.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(23) Burning lipsi.e., burning with love, while there is an evil heart within.
A potsherd covered with silver dross.Pottery glazed with dross of silver, a well-known method of ornamentation. For similar proverbs, comp. Mat. 23:27; Luk. 11:39.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. Burning lips Fiery professions of friendship, (Zockler,) and, especially lustful kisses. Mat 26:48.
Potsherd A piece of broken crockery; perhaps put poetically for an earthen vessel.
Silver dross An earthen vessel plated with silver, appearing more valuable than it really is. The proverb teaches the worthlessness of merely pretended friendship.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 26:23. Burning lips, and a wicked heart Splendid lips, with a wicked heart. Houbigant. The LXX read, Smooth lips, disguising a wicked heart.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 26:23 Burning lips and a wicked heart [are like] a potsherd covered with silver dross.
Ver. 23. Burning lips and a wicked heart, &c. ] The tongue of the righteous is as fined silver; but glossing lips upon a false heart is no better than dross upon dirt: counterfeit friends are naught on both sides, having os maledictum et cor malum, as Luther renders this text; – a bad mouth, and a worse heart. Wicked men are said to speak with a heart and a heart, Psa 12:2 , marg. as speaking one thing and thinking another, drawing a fair glove on a foul hand. These are dangerous to be dealt withal; for, like serpents, they can sting without hissing; like cur dogs, suck your blood only with licking, and in the end kill you and cut your throats without biting: so cunning and close are they in the conveyance of their collusion. Squire, sent out of Spain to poison Queen Elizabeth, anointed the pommel of her saddle with poison secretly, and, as it were, doing somewhat else, praying with a loud voice, God save the queen. a When those Romish incendiaries, Gifford, Hodgeson, and others, had set Savage to work to kill the said queen, they first set forth a book to persuade the English Catholics to attempt nothing against her. So Parsons, when he had hatched that nameless villany, the gunpowder plot, set forth his book of Resolution, as if he had been wholly made up of devotion. Caveatur osculum Iscarioticum. Betware the mouth of Judus. It is the property of a godly man to speak the truth from his heart. Psa 15:2
a Camden’s Elizabeth, 57.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Burning lips: i.e. warm professions.
silver dross. Figure of speech Hypallage (App-6). Hebrew = silver of dross.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 26:23-28
Pro 26:23-28
“Fervent lips and a wicked heart Are like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross.
He that hateth dissembleth with his lips; But he layeth up deceit within him:
When he speaketh fair, believe him not; For there are seven abominations in his heart.
Though his hatred cover itself with guile, His wickedness shall be openly showed before the assembly.
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein; And he that rolleth a stone, it shall return upon him.
A lying tongue hateth them whom it hath wounded; And a flattering mouth worketh ruin.”
“Fervent lips” (Pro 26:23). “Lips glorying with affection, uttering warm words of love.” Walls referred to Pro 26:17-28 here as, “A book of scoundrels”; and that is certainly what it is. Pro 26:24 speaks of the man who hates another, but flatters him with a view to finding some way to destroy him.
“Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein” (Pro 26:27). Haman who erected a gallows upon which he intended to hang Mordecai is the classical example of how true this proverb is. Haman himself was hanged on that gallows.
“He that rolleth a stone … etc.” (Pro 26:27). In ancient warfare heavy stones were rolled to the top of some eminence, where they could be released to cause damage or destruction to some attacker. Such a trap, set for others could also, under some change of circumstance, destroy the one that set it.
Pro 26:28 says that, “The lying tongue hates its victim”; and this pinpoints a strange perversity of human nature. One should avoid loaning money to friends; because, true to what is indicated here, the friend, if unable or unwilling to pay back the loan, invariably becomes an enemy of the man that befriended him. From this is a proverb that came not from Solomon. Loan money to a friend; and you will lose both the money and the friend. Of course, it doesn’t always turn out that way.
Pro 26:23. Pulpit Commentary: The next proverbs are concerned with hypocrisy… Silver dross (oxide of lead) is used to put a glaze on pottery…The comparatively worthless article (earthen vessel) is thus made to assume a finer appearance. Thus lips that seem to burn with affection and give the kiss of glowing love may mask a heart filled with envy and hatred. Judas kisses and words of friendship hide the bad feelings that lurk within.
Pro 26:24. Pulpit Commentary: The very word here used bears the meaning to make ones self unknown…hence to make ones self unrecognizable… The man cloaks his hatred with honeyed words…meditating all the time treachery in his heart. Adopting this as the mans allows the rest of the verse to flow and makes this verse go along with the other verses of this section.
Pro 26:25. Yes, there are some people just this wicked; their hearts are full of abominations. Jer 9:8 says, There tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he layeth wait for him. So we are not to believe everything some people say.
Pro 26:26. Ultimately his sin will find him out as Num 32:23 promises concerning sin (your sin will find you out). Somebody with influence, leadership, and wisdom will see through the glaze of deceit and will bring his actions out into the open, and the result is mentioned in Pro 26:27.
Pro 26:27. The pit or hole that such a one had been digging for someone else becomes the fate of the whispering, contentious deceiver himself. That this is often the deserved outcome of such perverted conduct, see Psa 7:15-16; Psa 9:15; Psa 10:2; Pro 28:10; Ecc 10:8.
Pro 26:28. In summary this verse affirms that this whispering tongue was actually a lying tongue, actually hating those it was wounding, and that such a flattering tongue is calculated to work ruin to its victim. What a section of the misuse of the tongue we have just studied!
Proverbs of Solomon – Pro 26:1-28
Open It
1. What characters that youre aware of from television, movies, or novels exemplify foolishness, laziness, and wickedness?
2. What is the funniest practical joke you ever played on someone?
3. How would you describe flattery?
Explore It
4. What three types of people did Solomon discuss in these proverbs? (Pro 26:1-28)
5. How should we answer fools? (Pro 26:4-5)
6. How did Solomon describe the fool? (Pro 26:6-11)
7. What does a fool repeat? (Pro 26:11)
8. Whats wrong with the person who thinks of himself or herself as wise? (Pro 26:12)
9. How did Solomon describe the sluggard? (Pro 26:13-16)
10. What caution should we observe about other peoples quarrels? (Pro 26:17)
11. What did Solomon say about practical jokes? (Pro 26:18-19)
12. How do gossip and quarrels work? (Pro 26:20-22)
13. Why should we be suspicious of a wicked persons speech? (Pro 26:23-26)
14. What kind of damage can lying and flattery do? (Pro 26:28)
Get It
15. How can we help someone who is a fool?
16. What is the danger in trusting a fool to do something?
17. In what way is it worse to be wise in your own eyes than to be a fool?
18. Why might a person be tempted to get involved in someone elses quarrel?
19. What should we do when we are concerned about other peoples quarrels?
20. Why is it dangerous to deceive someone else in fun?
21. In what ways do we need to restrain our jokes and fun so that they are respectful of others?
22. Why do people enjoy gossip?
23. When have you been misled by the deceptive words of an evil person?
24. What is the danger of flattery?
Apply It
25. What can you do to avoid spreading or listening to gossip this week?
26. What quarrelsome situations do you want to avoid at work? at home? at church?
27. What can you do to remind yourself to respect others in your fun and jokes?
28. In what one specific area of your life can you exercise greater discipline?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
That is, ardent professions of friendship from a wicked heart, however smooth, shining, and splendid they may appear, are like a vile vessel covered over with base metal. Pro 10:18, 2Sa 20:9, 2Sa 20:10, Eze 33:31, Luk 22:47, Luk 22:48
Reciprocal: Gen 31:27 – that I 2Sa 3:26 – he sent Ezr 4:2 – Let us Psa 28:3 – mischief Pro 27:6 – the kisses Ecc 7:9 – anger Jer 40:14 – Ishmael Jer 41:1 – they did Jer 41:6 – weeping Dan 11:27 – shall be to Mar 12:14 – Master
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 26:23. Burning lips Either, 1st, Lips pretending much love, that is, words delivered with a show of truth and fervent affection; or, rather, 2d, Burning with malice or hatred; that is, a slanderous or evil tongue; and a wicked heart From whence evil thoughts and malicious words proceed; are like a potsherd covered with silver dross Such a tongue and heart are of no real worth, although sometimes they make a show of it, as dross does of silver.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
26:23 Burning lips and {k} a wicked heart [are like] a potsherd covered with silver dross.
(k) They will soon break out and utter themselves.