Pro 18:8 | KingComments | STEP | Foolish people bring themselves in trouble because of what they say ( ). What “a fool” shouts brings “strife” His language is inflammatory or hurtful. Therefore, with what he calls he calls “for blows”, for punishment. What he says is not innocent. Not only wrong deeds must be punished, but also wrong words. Wrong deeds harm someone, wrong someone. Wrong words also disadvantage another and do him wrong. For this he deserves punishment. That punishment may be administered to him, for example, by his parents, or by his boss, or by a judge. It may also be that he will be disciplined by God, because with what he says, he also calls God’s judgment upon himself. is the continuation of and goes a step further. There are not only blows attached to what he says, but with what he says, he works his own “ruin” ( ). The words he speaks with his lips are “the snare of his soul”, they are directed against his life. He becomes ensnared by his words; he is caught in them and perishes. Everything a fool says, even to defend himself, is the ground for his ruin. Everything he says, God will bring as evidence of the righteousness of his condemnation. In , it is not about the fool’s lips and mouth, but about those who give their ear to it. The fool is also the whisperer, someone who spreads gossip. People enjoy listening to gossip. Gossip is “like dainty morsels”, which is food that is devoured with eagerness. When such ‘tasty’ pieces of food slide in, they fill their “innermost parts of the body”, up to the hiding corners of it, which stimulates the desire for more. The innermost parts function as a storage chamber, where things that have been said are kept so that they can be brought up again later. Thus, we saw earlier that the listener helps the gossiper by listening to his gossip. His words are sucked in without thought and go down into the deepest inner being, where they do their sickening work, sickening soul and spirit to the point of death. The whisperer speaks with words “smoother than butter” and “softer than oil”, but which are “drawn swords” ( ) and therefore have a deadly effect. They kill any remainders of sound spiritual life that may have been left.

‏ Proverbs 18:8

The Words of a Fool and a Whisperer

Foolish people bring themselves in trouble because of what they say (Pro 18:6). What “a fool” shouts brings “strife” His language is inflammatory or hurtful. Therefore, with what he calls he calls “for blows”, for punishment. What he says is not innocent. Not only wrong deeds must be punished, but also wrong words. Wrong deeds harm someone, wrong someone. Wrong words also disadvantage another and do him wrong.

For this he deserves punishment. That punishment may be administered to him, for example, by his parents, or by his boss, or by a judge. It may also be that he will be disciplined by God, because with what he says, he also calls God’s judgment upon himself.

Pro 18:7 is the continuation of Pro 18:6 and goes a step further. There are not only blows attached to what he says, but with what he says, he works his own “ruin” (Ecc 10:12). The words he speaks with his lips are “the snare of his soul”, they are directed against his life. He becomes ensnared by his words; he is caught in them and perishes. Everything a fool says, even to defend himself, is the ground for his ruin. Everything he says, God will bring as evidence of the righteousness of his condemnation.

In Pro 18:8, it is not about the fool’s lips and mouth, but about those who give their ear to it. The fool is also the whisperer, someone who spreads gossip. People enjoy listening to gossip. Gossip is “like dainty morsels”, which is food that is devoured with eagerness. When such ‘tasty’ pieces of food slide in, they fill their “innermost parts of the body”, up to the hiding corners of it, which stimulates the desire for more.

The innermost parts function as a storage chamber, where things that have been said are kept so that they can be brought up again later. Thus, we saw earlier that the listener helps the gossiper by listening to his gossip. His words are sucked in without thought and go down into the deepest inner being, where they do their sickening work, sickening soul and spirit to the point of death. The whisperer speaks with words “smoother than butter” and “softer than oil”, but which are “drawn swords” (Psa 55:21) and therefore have a deadly effect. They kill any remainders of sound spiritual life that may have been left.