The
mouth of the righteous
is a fountain of life,
is a fountain of life,
but
the mouth of the wicked
conceals violence. (Proverbs 10:11)
conceals violence. (Proverbs 10:11)
Hebrew poetry,
especially in the Book of Proverbs, is quite fond of parallels. In Proverbs, the mouth of the righteous is
many things, good things. Here, it is a
fountain of life, and there are three others – the teaching of the wise;
revering the Lord; and big-W Wisdom.
I wondered what the mouth of righteousness as a fountain of life might be like and I
finally settled on it being the sound of our daughter’s voice when she
sings. Elsewhere in Proverbs (10:20),
“the tongue of the righteous is choice silver,” which reminds me of her
voice when she merely speaks.
But the mouth of the
wicked…
That could be anything
from a sinister whisper to an uncontrolled bellow. What unthinking and unexpected violence do
the wicked unleash when they merely speak?
Words are powerful; we
know this from reading Scripture. But
they can also be hurtful; and when they are used to conceal the violence behind
them, they can kill, provoking a moment of anger that cannot ever be taken back
once released.
The mouth of the wicked
speaks to the weak, the flawed, the damaged but not broken, whose actions then reveal
the violence. We gather to pray for
their victims, but pray also for them, that someday they may ask for
forgiveness, from our Creator God in heaven and from those whose lives they
have destroyed.
I know the Lord
forgives and pours out grace upon grace on us all. I pray that God’s loving grace can remove our
demons and heal all wounds and comfort the grieving. And I remember the words of Ecclesiastes, who
said:
For God will bring every deed into judgement,
including every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:14)
Amen.
