Pro 13:2 | KingComments | STEP | By “the fruit of [his] mouth” ( ) is meant the speaking of the righteous. Fruit here is the result of inner considerations, of deliberations in the heart. We can only have good fruit come from our mouth if there are good considerations in our heart ( ). The desire that animates the heart of the treacherous is nothing but violence. There is a different source. “Good” and “violence” prove what is in the heart. The good is pleasant in taste and smell; violence is hurtful, harsh and hard. The Christian who walks in fellowship with God will communicate God-fearing language with his mouth. However others may react to it, it will at least do his own soul good, invigorating and edifying it. For himself, the words he speaks are good food. The same is true for those to whom he speaks. They are refreshed by his words. The result in turn is that he receives blessing from those whom he has refreshed through his words. The treacherous are the faithless, the untrustworthy. Their desire, their ‘appetite’, is not to give others something good to eat, but to commit violence. Their aim is not to help others, but to harm them through violence. This can be physical violence, but they can also use verbal violence and speak hurtful words. Hurtful chants at soccer games are an example of this. connects to . The lips are fed by what comes from the heart, says . At the same time, the mouth must be guarded ( ), for not everything that is good should always be said. It is also to be guarded against something bad coming out of the mouth after all. Even in the believer, sin still dwells. The mouth is represented here as a city or a house that must be guarded. We can also make the application to the use of ‘modern mouths’ like Facebook and twitter, which are quite often used to hurt. What misery this has already caused. Just think of the bullying via ‘social’ media among high school students. To guard one’s mouth means to heed what comes out of one’s mouth, what one says, the words one speaks (cf. ). It is safest to keep one’s mouth shut. The lesson is that tight control over what one says prevents problems. The advice to ‘sleep on’ something before responding is valuable. An old Arabic proverb says: Be careful not to cut your throat with your tongue. That does apply to “one who opens wide his lips”, that is, always blurting out everything at once. It refers to someone who without any self-control and without any thought always thinks he has to have his say. The contrast in the previous verse is the fruitful tongue versus the false tongue. Here the “unrestrained tongue” is contrasted with the “bridled tongue”. He who is careful with his tongue takes a safe route to preserve his life. His life is often endangered by speaking much and rashly, by blurting everything out. He who cannot restrain his tongue faces his ruin.

‏ Proverbs 13:2

The Fruit and Protection of the Mouth

By “the fruit of [his] mouth” (Pro 13:2) is meant the speaking of the righteous. Fruit here is the result of inner considerations, of deliberations in the heart. We can only have good fruit come from our mouth if there are good considerations in our heart (Lk 6:45). The desire that animates the heart of the treacherous is nothing but violence. There is a different source. “Good” and “violence” prove what is in the heart. The good is pleasant in taste and smell; violence is hurtful, harsh and hard.

The Christian who walks in fellowship with God will communicate God-fearing language with his mouth. However others may react to it, it will at least do his own soul good, invigorating and edifying it. For himself, the words he speaks are good food. The same is true for those to whom he speaks. They are refreshed by his words. The result in turn is that he receives blessing from those whom he has refreshed through his words.

The treacherous are the faithless, the untrustworthy. Their desire, their ‘appetite’, is not to give others something good to eat, but to commit violence. Their aim is not to help others, but to harm them through violence. This can be physical violence, but they can also use verbal violence and speak hurtful words. Hurtful chants at soccer games are an example of this.

Pro 13:3 connects to Pro 13:2. The lips are fed by what comes from the heart, says Pro 13:2. At the same time, the mouth must be guarded (Pro 13:3), for not everything that is good should always be said. It is also to be guarded against something bad coming out of the mouth after all. Even in the believer, sin still dwells. The mouth is represented here as a city or a house that must be guarded. We can also make the application to the use of ‘modern mouths’ like Facebook and twitter, which are quite often used to hurt. What misery this has already caused. Just think of the bullying via ‘social’ media among high school students.

To guard one’s mouth means to heed what comes out of one’s mouth, what one says, the words one speaks (cf. Psa 141:3). It is safest to keep one’s mouth shut. The lesson is that tight control over what one says prevents problems. The advice to ‘sleep on’ something before responding is valuable.

An old Arabic proverb says: Be careful not to cut your throat with your tongue. That does apply to “one who opens wide his lips”, that is, always blurting out everything at once. It refers to someone who without any self-control and without any thought always thinks he has to have his say. The contrast in the previous verse is the fruitful tongue versus the false tongue. Here the “unrestrained tongue” is contrasted with the “bridled tongue”. He who is careful with his tongue takes a safe route to preserve his life. His life is often endangered by speaking much and rashly, by blurting everything out. He who cannot restrain his tongue faces his ruin.