A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city,
and quarrelling is like the bars of a castle.
From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach is satisfied;
he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
and those who love it will eat its fruits.
He who finds a wife finds a good thing
and obtains favour from the Lord.
The poor use entreaties,
but the rich answer roughly.Proverbs 18:19-23
The AV rendering of 19 is more accurate and reliable than the RSV and should he followed here. The proverb bears witness to the strength of the invisible walls of estrangement and alienation, when once they are built between people. Prevention here is infinitely better - and easier - than cure. In 20 and 21, the latter gives content to the former. Words reap a harvest, good or evil, and will unerringly come to fruition. A chance word, for example, may mean a man's conversion. Life, in this sense, is in the power of the tongue, and when that word is spoken in the power of the Spirit, incalculable good may come. On the other hand, an unhallowed word can lead to a man's destruction. It is by no means unknown for someone to be so hurt and wounded and broken-hearted by an evil tongue as to commit suicide. There is more than one way of committing murder. The wording of 22 should be compared with 8:35. The resemblance is so striking as to be scarcely accidental, and this prompted Kidner to suggest that, next to wisdom, the best of God's blessings is a good wife. One commentator remarks, on 23, 'There is an evil genius in connection with great wealth that, if it be not closely watched against, dries up the milk of human kindness and hardens the heart against the needy. Let those whose temporal riches place them in the position to succour the poor, remember that the ear of God notes every unheeded cry of the poverty-stricken, and His eye beholds every ungracious action on the part of those who could relieve, but do it not.' More than this, however, 23a bears witness to the essential loss of human dignity that the poor suffers. Poverty does something to a man, in reducing him to such low-spiritedness,