Proverbs 25:24

These verses belong to “the proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out” (Proverbs 25:1), a collection that runs on to the end of Proverbs 29. Hezekiah’s men gathered them centuries after Solomon, and their work shows how God’s wisdom kept its worth from one generation to the next.

Proverbs 25 is full of comparisons taken from common life. Before these verses it speaks of humility in the king’s presence (Proverbs 25:6–7), of handling disputes wisely (Proverbs 25:8–10), of the power of fitting words (Proverbs 25:11–15), of restraint in eating honey (Proverbs 25:16) and of singing to a heavy heart (Proverbs 25:20). Each of the six sayings here stands on its own, usually with a picture in one line and its lesson in the other. The last three belong closely together, since all of them are about a person’s character and what it does to the people who depend on him.

“The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.” In Israel the north wind (tsaphon) was known as a dry, cool wind that swept the clouds away and brought clear skies. Everyone had watched it happen, and the proverb sets a scene from human life beside it. When a slanderer comes with his whispered talk and meets a face that plainly shows displeasure, the talk has nowhere to go, and it dies away like the rain before the wind.

The KJV’s “driveth away” renders chûwl, a verb that elsewhere means to bring forth or to form, and in another form to make something tremble or to put it in anguish. Here the KJV takes it of the wind putting the rain to flight. The word for “angry” is zâʻam, to be indignant or enraged, and joined to “countenance” it describes a face that shows strong disapproval. “Backbiting” is çêther, a word for a cover, a hiding place or a secret, so the Hebrew speaks of a tongue of secrecy (çêther lâshôwn), talk that goes on behind a person’s back. The secret tongue is met by an open face, and what was hidden is brought into the light.

Proverbs takes speech very seriously, because “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). Slander spreads strife, for “a whisperer separateth chief friends” (Proverbs 16:28). The one who utters a slander is a fool (Proverbs 10:18), while the one who covers an offence seeks love (Proverbs 17:9). The man who may dwell with the LORD is “He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour” (Psalm 15:3), and Paul names “whisperers, backbiters” among the sins of a world that has turned from God (Romans 1:29–30). In a culture where honour mattered greatly and news passed from mouth to mouth, a reputation could be ruined quickly by talk that went unchecked.

The proverb gives the listener a part to play. Slander lives on a willing ear, and a hearer who quietly goes along with it shares in the harm. A stern face takes away its welcome, protects the neighbour who is absent, and keeps the truth from being twisted.

Houses in Israel had flat roofs, which were used for drying crops, for sleeping on hot summer nights, for prayer and as a place to keep watch. A corner of that roof was its most exposed part, open to sun, wind, rain, heat and cold, with no privacy at all. To “dwell” there (yâshab) means to live there day after day. The phrase “corner of the housetop” joins pinnâh, a corner, with gâg, a roof. Set against it is a “wide house”, bayith with cheber, a spacious and comfortable home that could speak of wealth and standing. Bayith is the ordinary word for a house, and it can also mean a household or family. Yet the proverb calls the roof corner better, ṭôwb, a broad word for what is good, pleasant and beneficial.

What spoils the fine house is “a brawling woman”, midyân with ʼishshâh. Midyân is a form of mâdôwn, a quarrel or contention, and it describes a settled habit of strife, the steady nagging and friction that wear away the peace and joy of a home. Wind and weather are hard, but they come from outside, and a person can manage them. Strife inside the walls reaches the heart, and it turns even the grandest house into a place of misery.

Proverbs says this more than once. Proverbs 21:9 repeats this verse almost word for word, and Proverbs 21:19 goes further and prefers the wilderness itself to life with a contentious and angry woman. The same scale of values appears in “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith” (Proverbs 15:17). The other side of it is the joy of Psalm 133:1: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” God made the home to be a place of rest and nurture, and he measures its blessing by the peace and love inside it more than by its size.

“As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” Israel is a dry land, and water was a matter of life. Cold water, drawn from a deep well, a spring or a cistern, was a great blessing in the long, hot summers, and everyone knew the relief of drinking it when parched. The word for “cold”, qar, comes from a root meaning to chill, and it speaks of refreshing coolness. “Thirsty” is ʻâyêph, from a root meaning to languish or faint, so this is a person weary and faint with need. “Soul” is nephesh, the whole person, body and inner life together, and so the relief reaches all of him.

The word for “news”, shᵉmûwʻâh, means something heard, a report or tidings, and “good” is ṭôwb, the same word as “better” in verse 24. News from a far country came slowly. Messengers travelled on foot or by animal, through danger and delay, and word could take weeks or months to arrive. Families waited anxiously to hear of a loved one far away or of a distant conflict. When the news finally came and it was good, the long worry ended, and the relief was like water to a man who had been fainting with thirst.

Proverbs prizes a word that comes at the right time (Proverbs 15:23), and this verse shows the power of words to give life. It also speaks of hope fulfilled after waiting, as Paul says that we hope for what we do not yet see and wait for it with patience (Romans 8:24–25). The Psalms use the same thirst for the soul’s longing for God himself: “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Psalm 42:1–2), and “my soul thirsteth for thee” (Psalm 63:1). God alone can satisfy that thirst.

“A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.” The righteous man, the tsaddîyq, is someone just and upright, whose life lines up with God’s standards, and his community looks to him for truth and steadiness. “Falling down” is môwṭ, to totter, shake or slip, and in another form to dislodge or let fall. Here it describes a moral collapse, a man who gives way and loses his footing when he faces “the wicked” (râshâʻ), the ungodly who press him to yield. A judge might pervert justice, a witness might give false testimony, or a respected leader might drop his principles under pressure. The law had already warned judges against wresting judgment and taking gifts (Deuteronomy 16:19).

The picture shows what his fall does to others. A “fountain”, maʻyân, is a natural source of water, and “troubled”, râphas, means trampled or stirred up until the water turns muddy and foul. A “spring”, mâqôwr, is a source or origin, and “corrupt”, shâchath, means ruined or decayed. The two lines say the same thing twice for emphasis. In a dry land a village depended on its well, and a spoiled spring meant thirst, disease and ruin for everyone who drew from it. In the same way, when the righteous man gives way, the people who looked to him for justice and moral clarity find the source muddied. A king establishes the land by just judgment (Proverbs 29:4), and when the people who should uphold the right fail, things end as Isaiah warned, with men who “call evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20).

So the public side of this failure is in view first. Fountains and springs are shared, and the harm of the fall spreads to all who depended on the righteous man’s integrity, as well as bringing guilt on the man himself. Scripture pictures the steadfast righteous man as a tree planted by the rivers of water (Psalm 1:3), and Jesus calls his followers the salt of the earth and warns of salt that has lost its savour (Matthew 5:13).

“It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.” Honey was prized in Israel. It was the main sweetener, a source of energy and a medicine, and it was a sign of God’s blessing on the land “flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8). Proverbs even uses its sweetness for wisdom (Proverbs 24:13). Yet everyone knew that too much of it turns the stomach, and the chapter has already counselled restraint in eating it (Proverbs 25:16). “It is not good” uses ṭôwb again, the broad word for what is pleasant and beneficial.

The second line applies the picture to honour. “Search” is chêqer, from a root meaning to examine or find out, and it describes a diligent, deliberate pursuit. “Glory” is kâbôwd, which means glory, honour, splendour and wealth. The word comes twice, and the repetition makes the point: when people hunt for their own glory, what they find is no glory at all. Self-promotion wins little true respect, and it often ends in emptiness and the disdain of others, just as the good taste of honey turns to sickness when it is overdone.

“He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” The word for “rule”, maʻtsâr, comes from a root meaning to restrain or hold back, and it means control or restraint. “Spirit” is rûwach, a word whose senses are wind, breath and spirit, and here it means the inner self, with its temper, passions, desires and will. The person in view is ruled by his impulses and reacts to every pressure from outside and every whim from within.

City walls were a matter of life and death in Israel. A city’s people lived with the threat of siege and invasion, and the “walls” (chôwmâh) were its defence. A city broken down and without walls lay open to every invader, its goods ready for plunder and its people exposed to enemies and famine. The person who cannot govern his own spirit is just as exposed. Temptation, outside pressures, destructive habits and turmoil within all have free entry, and his life heads for ruin, broken relationships and spiritual harm. Proverbs warns that a man cannot take fire into his bosom and stay unburned (Proverbs 6:27–28), and earlier in this chapter it counsels against rushing into a quarrel (Proverbs 25:8–10).

The same book gives the other side: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32). There, ruling one’s spirit is a greater feat than conquering a city, and here, losing that rule makes a man like a city conquered. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

These six sayings cover ground that can look small: a look on a face, a quarrel at home, a letter from abroad, a spoonful of honey. God’s wisdom reaches into all of it. He cares about the neighbour who is slandered behind his back, about the peace of a household, about the relief of a weary person, about the people who depend on the integrity of the righteous, about where our honour comes from and about the inner life that governs all the rest.

They also point to Christ, who kept every one of them. He confronted sin with a righteous face, gives a peace the world cannot give, and is himself the good news from the farthest country and the living water for the thirsty. He never fell before the wicked, he humbled himself and was exalted, and he ruled his own spirit under the worst provocation. What the proverbs set before us as wisdom, he lived out, and by his Spirit he works it into his people.