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Bible Verses
Explaining the Wisdom of Keeping Silent
while Letting Wrong Thinkers and Wrong Doers Freely Speak From the Holy Bible, King James Version, II Sam 12:1-14: 1 And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: 3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. 4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. 5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; 8 And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. 9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. 13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. 14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. This is the story of how the prophet Nathan reproached King David about his wrongful actions with Bathsheba. Nathan spoke God's condemnation for David's having arranged the death of her husband, Uriah. Note that David, who was blinded by his passions, was not initially told by Nathan all that Nathan knew, was not told that God had already revealed to Nathan all of the facts of David's horrible transgressions. Instead, Nathan simply made a statement, then let David's own sense of equity and justice lead him to freely talk his way "into the trap," i.e. - into the situation where David could not but honestly realize the errors of his way. This tactic works only with those who truly love God and His Word. The biblical point for our understanding is that by not telling David all he knew up front, Nathan wisely walked by the Spirit and effectively let his enemy, King David, freely talk himself into an untenable position that could be clearly and resoundingly rebutted. Why was King David Nathan's "enemy," you ask? Not because David wished to kill Nathan, David didn't; but simply because David had done wrong and had refused to submit to what was right and good in the sight of God. David had elevated his greed and his earthly desires far above what God's word says is Right and Wrong. The result of Nathan's not disclosing all he knew, up front? David immediately realized the truth, realized the error of his ways, genuinely repented and, while still suffering the real world consequences of his free will actions (the death of his first son by Bathsheba), was nevertheless allowed by God to keep his throne. While none alive today is Nathan, this biblical lesson was placed and remains there for our own understanding in this day and time. Other biblical verses also counsel and explain the wisdom of keeping silent while letting wrong thinkers and wrong doers freely speak. For example, Joseph's dealings with his brothers who sold him into slavery in Egypt. Joseph first made the mistake of telling his brothers all he knew: KJV, Genesis 37:5 - And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. So, out of anger caused by their hatred of the truth his brothers sold Joseph into bondage as a slave. Remember this ... some people hate God's messenger because they don't like what they hear! But fear not -- all goes according to God's plans! From this experience Joseph obviously learned his lesson about when to speak what he knew, and when to hold his silence. He used that wisdom well, rising to be second in command over all Egypt. And, in due course, we see that there again came a time to wisely keep his silence: KJV, Genesis 42:6-24 - And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth. 7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. 8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. 9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. 10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. 11 We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies. 12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. 13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. 14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies: 15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. 16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. 17 And he put them all together into ward three days. 18 And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God: 19 If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses: 20 But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so. 21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. 22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required. 23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter. 24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes. Joseph by God's grace was able to reunite his father and his brothers in Egypt. But this occurred as and when it did because Joseph knew when to speak, and when to keep silent. What if Joseph had spoken to his brothers as one of their own, their own long lost brother? They would surely have been afraid to see him because of the wrong they knew they had done, and perhaps would have fled from Egypt never to return for Simeon, thereby frustrating or delaying God's plan to save his covenant people. But God's plan says that to every thing there is a time: a time to speak, and a time to keep silence: The Holy Bible, KJV - Ecclesiastes 3:1-7 - 1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; Other Bible verses teaching this wisdom of silence are more to the point: The Holy Bible, KJV - Proverbs 12:23 - A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. KJV - Proverbs 13:3, 16 - He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. ... 16 Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly. Amplified Bible - Proverbs 14:23-24 - In all labor there is profit, but idle talk leads only to poverty. The crown of the wise is their wealth of Wisdom, but the foolishness of [self-confident] fools is [nothing but] folly. Amplified Bible - Proverbs 15:28 - The mind of the [uncompromisingly] righteous studies how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things. NIV Proverbs 17:27-28 - A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue. We are to be uncompromisingly righteous in our study of God's Word, His examples of how to deal with our adversaries. There are a lot more applicable verses in all the various translations, but I think these few Old Testament verses adequately get the point across. But, if you want a New Testament example, how about Christ Jesus' own words? The Holy Bible, King James Version, Mark 11:27-33: 27 And they [Jesus and his disciples] come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, 28 And say unto him, "By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things?" 29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, "I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things." 30 "The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me." 31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him?" 32 But if we shall say, "Of men;" they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed. 33 And they answered and said unto Jesus, "We cannot tell." And Jesus answering saith unto them, "Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things." Did Christ himself know where his authority to heal the sick, throw out the money changers, raise the dead, feed the hungry, change water into wine, teach God's rightly-divided word, comfort the broken-hearted, etc. come from? Of course he did! Did the chief priests, scribes, and the elders know too? Of course they did! They full well knew that no man, no mere mortal, could do all the miracles which Christ did -- unless it was God working through him to do His Will and His Own good pleasure! They knew Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the promised one -- they just didn't want to publicly admit it! Why? Because Christ came to change the world, to reconcile it back to God ... which meant their personal lives, their life of luxury, their time "on top" would be changed forever! They were afraid of that change! They did not, in their heart and soul, really trust God! Thus Christ utilized a different tactic than Nathan did with King David. This too is for our learning and understanding today. This also explains why the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of Israel -- the "cream of the crop" who liked things "just the way they were, thank you very much" -- were out to get the Savior of Mankind! Why they were out to kill the speaker of God's truths. Sound familiar? The more things change, the more they stay the same. We must learn from this example! What was really going on there? The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders were playing games, asking for the answer they already full well knew! And Jesus simply wasn't going to let them play their game. How did Jesus deal with the situation? He offered to tell them the truth if and only if they first publicly admitted the truth. His adversaries refused, so Christ kept his silence. Why? He knew that you cannot get people who are afraid of the truth to publicly admit the truth of a matter. Such people have another agenda going, usually a desire to gain or retain earthly power, and will not let the truth stand in their way. If Christ Jesus himself knew when to
speak and when not to speak, then surely Christians should learn from his
example, plus all of the other words of instruction and examples in God's word. |