Proverbs 26b

This series of proverbs revolves around a central theme: misinformation would not go far if those who gobble it up didn’t pass it along. Think about it; the saying is true on many levels. I don’t know about you, but I am guilty of having passed along gossip that turned out to not be true. I could have kept my mouth shut, or fact-checked, and then still kept my mouth shut so as to not stoke the conflict.

26: 20-21 For lack of wood 

the fire goes out,

     and where there is no whisperer, 

quarreling ceases.

As charcoal is to hot embers 

and wood to fire,

     so is a quarrelsome person 

for kindling strife.

It seems that our proverb is true, ‘Some things never change’. What gossip is in a village, propaganda is in a country. What the orators were to Greece and the newspapers were to Germany, social media sites are to the world today.

This set of proverbs warns us that, even if we didn’t originate a deep fake, we are complicit if we pass it along. Some people repeat everything they hear, and retweet every post they get. Who is fact-checking? Unfortunately, almost no one. In today’s world, it turns out that we have more than one village idiot. 

If we Bible-believing Christians would refuse to pass along gossip or propaganda, then the heat of a quarrel would die down. If we stopped listening to quarrelsome people, then they would be no more influential than birds tweeting in the woods. It is not just the story-teller, it is also the story-hearer who fans the flames of conflict. There is no innocence, no disclaimer that exonerates the retweeter. How many times have you heard. “I don’t know, I read it somewhere, but listen to this….” And you listened, and you passed it along. Why?

26: 22-23. The words of a whisperer 

are like delicious morsels;

     they go down 

into the inner parts of the body.

Like the glaze 

covering an earthen vessel

     are smooth lips 

with an evil heart.

The example given here is that there is something false about pottery which the salesman in the marketplace hawks. He does not reveal that a thick glaze or wax fills the crack and thus hides the defect. Today we might understand better the example of the used-car salesman who won’t show us the Carfax. The same is true of the ‘news commentator’ who twists the story so we don’t see the faults in the story.

26: 24-26. An enemy dissembles in speaking

     while harboring deceit within;

when an enemy speaks graciously, 

do not believe it,

     for there are seven abominations 

concealed within;

though hatred is covered 

with guile,

     the enemy’s wickedness 

will be exposed in the assembly.

What are ‘seven abominations’? Remember what ‘seven’ means. Seven sins is a perfect set of sins. An enemy, a person with a proven record of working against us, is always suspect. Scams appear on your phone, on your computer, and on your news feed. A true hater does not want to appear that way, and so the speaker pretends that it is the opposition that is doing the things he himself is guilty of. The sly and crafty speaker turns it all around. 

26: 27-28. Whoever digs a pit 

will fall into it,

     and a stone will come back 

on the one who starts it rolling.

A lying tongue 

hates its victims,

     and a flattering mouth 

works ruin.

There are so many stories in the Bible that could be in view here. In the story of Esther, the wicked Haman built a scaffold in order to hang the Jew Mordecai. Yet, Esther, the queen, was able to expose Haman’s lying tongue and intrigue. In the end, Haman himself was hanged on the gallows that he built to kill Mordecai (Esther 7:10). 

In another story, government officials conspired against Daniel by tricking Darius to pass a law that people could only pray to the king. They knew Daniel would have to break it. So, Daniel was accused and thrown in the lion’s den. When Daniel survived and the plot was exposed, “The king gave a command, and those who had accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions–they, their children, and their wives. Before they reached the bottom of the den the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces” (Daniel 6: 24).   

The Rolling Stone (not the ones who sang “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”) is a meme that relates to several stories. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that he could not interpret, so he called for Daniel. In the dream there was a great statue, an idol really, composed of different metals, gold, silver, bronze, and iron; but with feet of clay. The layers represented the great kingdoms of the world: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. All that sounds good for the earthly kingdoms. However, next Nebuchadnezzar saw a great stone that was cut from a mountain but not with human hands. It rolled and smashed the statue. Daniel explained, “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom be left to another people. It shall crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever…” (Daniel 2: 36-44).

In a psalm, another stone is prophesied: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118: 22-23). In Matthew (21: 42), Jesus asks the Pharisees if they had never read that psalm, implying that the prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus. 

Jesus the king has established the Kingdom of God, and we stand to inherit that kingdom. “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for indeed our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12: 28). Let the rolling stone demolish all wicked pretenders and the kingdom they try to build.