Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
One who is full loathes honey,
but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.
Like a bird that strays from its nest
is a man who strays from his home.
Oil and perfume make the heart glad,
and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.Proverbs 27:5-9
5 and 6 refer to the desirability of frankness between friends. 'Love that is hidden' (or 'love that conceals') means a love that never rebukes, and is therefore morally valueless (Kidner). It is a duty of friendship to fulfil this kind of ministry, and the wounds that such friendship will sometimes make have healing in them. If you really love, you have earned the right to be frank with your friend. This is seen very clearly in a true husband/wife relationship. A wife may often be her husband's severest critic - and after he has got over the pricking of the bubble of his conceit, he will learn to appreciate really constructive criticism. This is the function of a 'help-meet', and this, alas, is often where failure is often manifest. Sometimes, by worshipping her man instead of loving him she fails him in his best interests. She can see no fault in him. If she had loved him more and worshipped him less, she might have made a man of him. The question posed by 7 is, 'How hungry are we for spiritual things?' It is easy to become used to rich food and become faddy. Some people do not learn to appreciate spiritual ministry until they have been removed far from it. In 8 the idea is of a charge that has been deserted, a stewardship that has been abandoned. To every man his work and his place; and we must beware of discontent with either work or place that God has given, for this leads to 'out-of jointness'. Are we where we should be, or have we strayed from the place God put us? We should follow the AV rather than the RSV in 9. The meaning is that loving, solicitous counsel on the part of a true friend is as refreshing and stimulating to the soul as oil and perfume to the body (cf David and Jonathan). How much more so when that friend is Christ: (cf Psalm 23:3, 5).