Proverbs 10:20-21 The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.
‘The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.’ What a just man speaks is like silver, but what comes out of the heart of a wicked man is like worthless dross. A gentle tongue speaks truth and life, but a piercing tongue kills the soul (15:4). The circle of human life is continually excited by the tongue unless it is kept sanctified. Evil surmisings, misrepresentations, falsehoods, jealousies, envyings, wrath, and malice, all form part of the destroying flames of fire from the tongue of the ungodly (Jas. 3:6). Salvation alone can help a man control the tongue (2Cor. 5:17-18).
‘Feed many’ – They shepherd or instruct many. Six examples of godly instruction: Job (Job 4:3-4; 29:21-22); David (Ps. 78:70-72); Peter (Acts 4:1-4); Philip (Acts 8:5-8); Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:32-35); Judas and Silas (Acts 15:32-33).
‘Fools die for want of wisdom.’ Three examples of fools dying: are Korah and company (Num. 16:1-50); Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:20-25) and the rich fool (Luke 12:16-26).
Living the Word 