Proverbs 14:3, The Rod that Blisters or Blesses!

July 29, Proverbs 14:3

James 3 “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Pt. 2:22).

The Rod that Blisters or Blesses!

Pride grows from a root of bitterness in the heart. This in turn produces a rod of insolence and folly that inflicts great harm and hurt. Pride and scorn are but briar and thorn, and both are a fruitful source of misery. “He who sows brambles will reap thorns,” thorns that tear both the proud man and those around him.

1. Pride Exposed: Rod in this verse is not the same as in 13:24. The only other place it is used in the Hebrew Bible is Isaiah 11:1, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” This is a prophecy and refers to Messiah’s humble human origin, as a lowly branch or small twig. If that is the meaning here, then we have the picture of proud words sprouting out of this proud mouth only to reveal their folly. Pride minus wisdom equals a dangerous fool. “He who sows thorns should not go barefoot.” In other words, those who do mischief should look out and be very careful that they do not wound themselves. This mouth speaks boasting, scorning, lying words, lording it over others. This rod grows into a branch that can only be overcome by pulling it up by its sin-root. Today’s proverb, however, may also suggest that the rod has a punitive effect (Isa. 11:4). It either hurts the fool himself, or, which seems more immediate here, hurts others. As a fool, he has not the wisdom to recognise his folly, hence his danger. It seems best to take this as a rod that smites others with the proud words of his mouth. True, the rod will, in the end, beat the back of the fool (Ps. 12:3-4;v64:8). His speech will prove self-destructing. David Thomas called it “the instrument of spiritual suicide”. The proudest nettle grows on dirt, and that which grows out of a dunghill is apt to smell of pride! The lower the ancestry, the more offensive the approval. All pride works ruin always!

2. Wisdom Expressed: The lips of the wise shall preserve them. This is the speech that is the guardian of our souls. Wise lips are preserved lips, and they speak that of which they need never be ashamed. These are the lips of humbled hearts that produce the language of meekness and grace. Let us thank God for such grace that curbs the unruly tongue of sinful man. “He is indeed a wise man who thinks twice before he speaks once.” To this old saying someone added, “and after the twice thinking, it often happens that he does not speak the once!” Jesus said, Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh (Mt. 12:34). What an even worse world of iniquity we would have without some control of this “little member” (Ps. 57:4-5)! Hear Sidlow Baxter’s wise word on the topic of the tongue in this age of charismatic madness. “One of the first things that happens when a man is really filled with the Spirit is not that he speaks with tongues, but that he learns to hold the one tongue he already has.” May God grant you this grace.

Thought: “In company, guard your tongue – in solitude, your thoughts.”

Prayer: Lord, keep my tongue from being a loose cannon.