Thoughts on the topic of speech from the book of wisdom

This will be my third post on the topic of speech from the book of proverbs. Proverbs has much to say on the topic and due to the shear number of verses available on this topic, will provide ate a number of posts related to it

Speech

We are going to continue with the topic of speech in the book of proverbs, since it is so full of guidance and wise observations by the authors. This post will dwell on the effectiveness of softness.

Softness? My youngin’s, as they grew up struggled with the idea of softness, sometimes getting it mixed up with smoothness. They would refer to teddy bears and pillows as being smooth, and in a way they may have been right, but they always squeezed the bear or pillow as they told me how smooth it was. They got it now, but for our sake, let’s consider a couple of proverbs referring to softness, and then understand the idea of softness for the Hebrew mind that was originally reading these passages.

Proverbs 25:15 With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.

Proverbs 15:1 ESV – A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

“Soft” in these two passages, speaks of gentleness. The Hebrew word רַךְ rak, can even be translated as tender, even weak. Though I opened with the idea of softness as being related to teddy bears and pillows, it is not exactly what the Hebrew mind may have thought of.

To be soft for us is to have no structural frame within the body. No bones or frames that would restrict “squeezing” No internal supporting structure.

Although this may be a reach, I do not understand the reference to softness in these two verses to mean the same as my youngins finally figgered out. A soft or tender answer to the ruler (or to wrath) does not imply a softness of the one giving the answer, but a softness or tenderness of delivery of the answer.

As a matter of fact, in my experience, to give a gentle, “soft” answer requires much conviction. To deliver a word of wisdom in a tender way tells me that the communicator has convictions, that the giver is strong enough in the truth, that he or she understands a peaceful tender delivery, without volume or argument, has great impact.

You might be thinking, a soft person may provide a soft answer. Solomon isn’t thinking of a malleable, syncophantic character mimicking an answer for the sake of being noticed. He is describing one who provides an alternate answer, an answer that hasn’t been provided yet, an answer that will change the situation!

These verses speak of strong people with convictions, delivering an answer that takes guts, but in a gentle, even a weak way, depending on the truth of the matter to sway the hearer rather than the volume of the message.

How awesome is the communication of truth dependent on it’s own strength. We need not argue for the truth, other than to present a defense in love for the truth. Volume and a bombastic delivery, or an over dependence on eloquence or style, may actually do damage to the reception of truth by the hearer.

1 Corinthians 2:4 ESV

and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power

Paul did not depend on plausible words of wisdom. He spoke depending on the Spirit and the power of the truth.

And yet we know that Paul surely wasn’t soft! He was the apostle of the gentiles! The one who planted multiple churches, and guided many in their Christian lives. He influenced many of the church’s leaders, even the original apostles. Yet as you read his writings later in his life, his answers dripped in a gentleness that is wholly unexpected. He seemed to depend on God instead of his own plausible words of wisdom.

How different he seems to be when compared to some in authority within the church seem to be. Gosh golly, how different he seems to be when compared with me!

Oh to have the power of truth in a velvet glove. To have the truth and deliver it with a soft answer.

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