Pro 15:4 | KingComments | STEP | That the tongue, that is, the words spoken with the tongue, is presented as “soothing”, literally “healing”, presupposes that the hearer is dejected. Soothing words are as a medicine, they are gentle, soothing, beneficent words. This fits well with the picture of “a tree of life” signifying a source of vitality for others. The tree of life is mentioned here for the fourth time in Proverbs ( ). Whoever manages to cheer up someone who is in misery with his good and comforting words, thereby restores his connection to the tree of life, as it were. Life then regains luster and meaning, it regains something of the splendor of paradise. The words spoken are words from and about the Lord Jesus and refer to Him. He is the Tree of Life. Words with “perversion” in them have the opposite effect. They are deceptive words that crush the spirit. Perversion in words inwardly affects the person addressed, breaking him down and causing him to languish ( ). What Job’s friends said was not medicine of the tongue for Job. There was perversion in what they said, with the result that the breach in Job’s mind about the suffering that befell him remained.

‏ Proverbs 15:4

The Soothing Tongue

That the tongue, that is, the words spoken with the tongue, is presented as “soothing”, literally “healing”, presupposes that the hearer is dejected. Soothing words are as a medicine, they are gentle, soothing, beneficent words. This fits well with the picture of “a tree of life” signifying a source of vitality for others. The tree of life is mentioned here for the fourth time in Proverbs (Pro 3:18 ; Pro 11:30 ; Pro 13:12 ; Pro 15:4).

Whoever manages to cheer up someone who is in misery with his good and comforting words, thereby restores his connection to the tree of life, as it were. Life then regains luster and meaning, it regains something of the splendor of paradise. The words spoken are words from and about the Lord Jesus and refer to Him. He is the Tree of Life.

Words with “perversion” in them have the opposite effect. They are deceptive words that crush the spirit. Perversion in words inwardly affects the person addressed, breaking him down and causing him to languish (Isa 65:14). What Job’s friends said was not medicine of the tongue for Job. There was perversion in what they said, with the result that the breach in Job’s mind about the suffering that befell him remained.