“The prudent hold their tongues.” (Proverbs 10:19)
The popular knowledge has different ways to say it. 'Words are silver, silence is golden', or 'In a closed mouth no flies can enter'. Have you ever heard that we have two ears and one mouth so we should listen twice as much as we speak? how about: 'It's better to keep quiet and make the other person wonder whether you're stupid than say something and confirm it'.
Although society seems to value the eloquence of speech and communication, the wisdom of keeping quiet is rather recurrent, also in the Bible.
Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise;
When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent. (Proverbs 17:28)
The more faithful translation from the Hebrew to the expression 'to be quiet' or 'to not answer' in the Bible is 'to hold ones peace'. It's quite interesting, because when we have the urge to answer or to contra argument, usually the last thing we have on our mind is to seek peace. We want to be right or we want to vent.
'The story is told of a wealthy grandfather who went to his doctor to be fitted for a unique hearing aid. The device not only allowed him to hear perfectly, it was hidden so no one could see it. When he went back for a follow-up visit, the doctor said, “Your family must be happy to know that now you can hear.” The grandfather said, “Well, I haven’t told them about my hearing aid. I just sit around and listen to their conversations—and I’ve already changed my will three times!”
The Bible says, “The prudent hold their tongues.” And this isn’t only a law of speech, it’s a law of science. The odds of putting food in your mouth grow exponentially the more times you open it. To put it another way, the potential for saying the wrong thing rises proportionately to the amount of words you say. Ever notice that the person who habitually throws in their “two cents’ worth” frequently says something that’s worth about two cents, or less?
The writer of Proverbs says, “Do you see someone who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for them” (Pr 29:20 NIV). A man walked into a pet shop one day, where a colorful parrot was sitting on a perch. The man looked at the bird, and in a cocky tone asked, “Hey, stupid, can you speak?” To his amazement the parrot replied, “Yes, stupid, can you fly?”
Why does God say so much about offenses of the tongue? Because when you sin with your tongue, you offend Him, affect others, and hurt yourself.' https://t.me/bibleverses
It's hard, right? I am myself guilty and thought this text was quite interesting for a Shabbat reflection. How about we all try to 'hold our peace' next time we feel the urge to answer someone who said something stupid or something that offends us? I have tried it in the past and it felt frustrating at first, however I quickly forgot about it and it was the best decision!
Have a beautiful Shabbat !
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