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...and by his light I walked through darkness! JOB 29:3 NIV
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Tongue by Pat Nordman
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Words are like leaves; And
where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is seldom found." Pope. One cannot talk about nothing forever, so the talk finally degenerates into small rap about people. Some wonderful advice comes to us from the ancient Orient. We should test our words to see if they can pass through three golden gates: 1) Is it true?; 2) Is it necessary?; and 3) Is it kind? And someone left us this wise advice: "Nature has given to men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak." Dr. James T. Jeremiah gives an apt description of the backbiter: "It has been suggested that biting is not always done with the teeth. The tongue feels soft compared to your teeth, but it is twice as sharp. A back-biter is not a person who bites back, but one who bites behind your back." Hannah More handled backbiters and talebearers by asking them to go with her to the person slandered to see if the story was really true. Cuts from a knife heal, but we have no guarantee that cuts from our tongue will heal. "R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said to Tabbai his servant: `Go and buy me good food in the market.' He went and bought him tongue. He said to him: `Go and buy me bad food in the market.' He went and bought him tongue. Said he to him: `What is this? When I told you to get good food you bought me tongue, and when I told you to get bad food you also bought me tongue!' He replied: `Good comes from it and bad comes from it. When the tongue is good there is nothing better, and when it is bad there is nothing worse.'" (Misrash Rabbah, The Interpreter's Bible, V.4, page 890.) |
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