Never Feed The Fires of Gossip, Proverb 26:20

Nothing destroys relationships more than gossip. Often times those who spread gossip never consider full ramifications of what they are saying, even if the trouble they start, as it often times does, comes back to bite them. I found this quote about gossip, it says it so well;

I am more deadly than the screaming shell of a howitzer. I win without killing. I tear down homes, break hearts, and wreck lives. I travel on the wings of the wind. No innocence is strong enough to intimidate me, no purity pure enough to daunt me. I have no regard for truth, no respect for justice, no mercy for the defenseless. My victims are as numerous as the sands of the sea, and often as innocent. I never forget and seldom forgive. My name is Gossip.

Today I'm sharing Matthew Henry's commentary on Proverb 26:20

Matthew Henry's Commentary On The Whole Bible (Proverb 26:22)

Contention is as a fire; it heats the spirit, burns up all that is good, and puts families and societies into a flame. Now here we are told how that fire is commonly kindled and kept burning, that we may avoid the occasions of strife and so prevent the mischievous consequences of it. If then we would keep the peace; 1.) We must not give ear to talebearers, for they feed the fire of contention with fuel; nay, they spread it with combustible matter; the tales they carry are fireballs. Those who by insinuating base characters, revealing secrets, and misrepresenting words and actions, do what they can to make relations, friends, and neighbors, jealous one of another, to alienate them one from another, and sow discord among them, are to be banished out of families and all societies, and then strife will as surely cease as the fire will go out when it has no fuel; the contenders will better understand one another and come to a better temper; old stories will soon be forgotten when there are no new ones told to keep up the remembrance of them, and both sides will see how they have been imposed upon by a common enemy. Whisperers and backbiters are incendiaries not to be suffered. To illustrate this, he repeats (Proverb 26:22) what he had said before (Proverb 18:8), that the words of a tale-bearer are as wounds, deep and dangerous wounds, wounds in the vitals. They wound the reputation of him who is belied, and perhaps the wound proves incurable, and even the plaster of a recantation (which yet can seldom be obtained) may not prove wide enough for it. They wound the love and charity which he to whom they are spoken ought to have for his neighbor and give a fatal stab to friendship and Christian fellowship. We must therefore not only not be tale-bearers ourselves at any time, nor ever do any ill offices, but we should not give the least countenance to those that are. 2.) We must not associate with peevish passionate people, that are exceptions, and apt to put the worst constructions upon everything, that pick quarrels upon the least occasion, and are quick, and high, and hot, in resenting affronts. These are contentious men, that kindle strife, Proverb 26:21). The less we have to do with such the better, for it will be very difficult to avoid quarreling with those that are quarrelsome.

Proverb 26 (NKJV)

Honor Is Not Fitting for a Fool

01 As snow in summer and rain in harvest,
00 So honor is not fitting for a fool.

02 Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow,
00 So a curse without cause shall not alight.

03 A whip for the horse,
00 A bridle for the donkey,
00 And a rod for the fool's back.
04 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
00 Lest you also be like him.
05 Answer a fool according to his folly,
00 Lest he be wise in his own eyes.
06 He who sends a message by the hand of a fool
00 Cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.
07 Like the legs of the lame that hang limp
00 Is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
08 Like one who binds a stone in a sling
00 Is he who gives honor to a fool.
09 Like a thorn that goes into the hand of a drunkard
00 Is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
10 The great God who formed everything
00 Gives the fool his hire and the transgressor his wages.
11 As a dog returns to his own vomit,
00 So a fool repeats his folly.
12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
00 There is more hope for a fool than for him.

13 The lazy man says, "There is a lion in the road!
00 A fierce lion is in the streets!"
14 As a door turns on its hinges,
00 So does the lazy man on his bed.
15 The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl;
00 It wearies him to bring it back to his mouth.
16 The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes
00 Than seven men who can answer sensibly.

17 He who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own
00 Is like one who takes a dog by the ears.

18 Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death,
19 Is the man who deceives his neighbor,
00 And says, "I was only joking!"

20 Where there is no wood, the fire goes out;
00 And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases.
21 As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire,
00 So is a contentious man to kindle strife.
22 The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles,
00 And they go down into the inmost body.

23 Fervent lips with a wicked heart
00 Are like earthenware covered with silver dross.

24 He who hates, disguises it with his lips,
00 And lays up deceit within himself;
25 When he speaks kindly, do not believe him,
00 For there are seven abominations in his heart;
26 Though his hatred is covered by deceit,
00 His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly.

27 Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,
00 And he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.

28 A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it,
00 And a flattering mouth works ruin.