At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

Hatred stirreth up strifes: But love covereth all sins.

Proverbs 10:12

The second half of this proverb is quite familiar to us. It is quoted two places in the New Testament, and a variation of it is found elsewhere in Proverbs. “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; But he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends” (Prov. 17:9). “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). In all these places, the practice of covering sin is contrasted with an alternative behavior, or amplified by a compatible attitude.

Solomon contrasts this covering of sins with the attitude of hatred, which stirs up strife. Elsewhere in Proverbs, the contrasting behavior is that of talking out of school. And Peter tells us that we are to have fervent love for one another, with the implication that it is this kind of love that is capable of covering a multitude of sins. In James, we are shown that the behavior that actually covers sin is the evangelistic endeavor of turning a sinner away from his wandering path.

If we put all this together, what do we find? We cover a multitude of sins when we refuse the temptations of tale-bearing, when we refuse stir up strife by digging up bones, when we seek to persuade someone away from a pattern of behavior that is destroying him, and when we love one another fervently.  

This last item, the one that Peter mentions, is the key to all of it. Without fervent love, refusal to be a tale-bearer can be silent complicity. Refusal to stir up strife can be craven compromise, accompanied by a fearful reluctance to address something that should have been addressed years ago. Without fervent love, evangelistic endeavors are nothing but a hectoring nuisance.

This word is particularly important for pastors, who are called to cover things up for a living, which is obviously a calling that can go badly wrong. Without fervent love for the flock, warning the people about their sins is just being a time-serving hireling, not to mention a pain in the neck. Without fervent love, neglect of the people’s sins is cowardice and compromise masquerading as a judicious pastoral approach.

Fervent love imitates the love of Christ, which provides the only real covering for sin.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper:
But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy

Proverbs 28:13

One of the basic questions of practical religion is the matter of covering sin. We all acknowledge that sin must be covered, and so the question relates to who is authorized to do it. Related to this is the question of who can do it effectively.

This proverb starts by saying that a man ought not to cover [his own] sin. In other words, this kind of covering is actually a covering up. If a man does this, his sins are hidden, not dealt with, and this will keep him from prospering. What he has done is to get tangled up in the sins that so easily entangle us (Heb. 12:1).

When you sweep sins under the carpet, the end result is a lumpy carpet. But in the second half of the proverb, the sinner is promised mercy. But what is mercy but the effectual covering of sin? The path to this desired result is the path of confession and forsaking. In other words, an honest and open acknowledgement of sin is the confession, and the forsaking of sin, turning away from it, abandoning it, is what we call repentance. So when a man is honest about what he has done, and when he walks away from it in repentance, the Lord promises mercy. That which is exposed is thereby covered. But when we try to cover things ourselves, we do not prosper, and our folly will be exposed.

All this relates to what the New Testament teaches us in a similar vein. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Confession means that we are to say the same thing about our sins that God says about them. We must not try to cover our sins through a clever renaming of them—where adultery is called indiscretion, where a bad temper is called passionate, where cold anger is called parental firmness, and so on.

Prospering is in the hand of God, as is mercy, and we should always remember that He is the ones who sees everything.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

The legs of the lame are not equal: So is a parable in the mouth of fools (KJV).

Like a lame man’s legs, which hang useless, is a proverb in the mouth of fools (ESV).

Proverbs 26:7

Legs are not merely decorative. They have a function, and the function is that of being applied to the actual circumstances of life.

The verb that refers to speaking of proverbs is mashal, and it also means to rule. But rule is not simple punditry. Rule is not a spectator sport. A good and godly ruler makes things happen that would not otherwise happen.

However, we must be careful here. Jesus taught with authority, and not like the scribes (Matt. 7:29). But both the scribes and Jesus taught. Although Jesus also did things (like healing the sick or feeding the multitudes), there was a difference between Him and the scribes in how He taught. In other words, in the mouth of a wise man, a proverb is not a lame set of legs. The word is active. The word is potent.

God created the worlds by speaking. In the beginning God said the heavens and earth (Gen. 1:1). In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1). God created all things through the Son, and He upholds everything by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3).

In the same way, God wants us to reshape the world through speaking. Christ told us to disciple all the nations of men, and to teach them obedience to Him (Matt. 28:18-20). We believed, and therefore we have spoken (2 Cor. 4:13). How will they hear without a preacher (Rom. 10:14)?

But fools talk to the back wall. Fools talk to the ceiling. Fools talk to the air in the classroom, and that’s about it. Fools write books full of words.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come (KJV).

Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not alight (ESV).

Proverbs 26:2

This proverb is the scriptural equivalent of “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Now like all proverbs, there are times when it is not strictly speaking true. Words can hurt, and the book of Proverbs contains numerous instances where it describes that. The tongue is a restless evil, and like a small spark can result in a forest burning down, so also a loose word can set fire to the course of nature (Jas. 3:6). That can happen.

Nevertheless the proverb is a true proverb, and this means that it is generally true. People who curse without cause are cursing in a way that cannot land. And because their curses cannot really land, we ought not to worry about what they say—any more than we are concerned about what the sparrow flitting back and forth above our heads might be thinking.

This does not mean that such words are not sinful. Where words are many, sin is not absent (Prov. 10:19). But in such an instance as this, the damage that is being done is being done to the speaker, and not really to the object of his ire.

We live in an era of social media, and it has to be confessed that there is a great deal of verbal scribbling out there, and almost as much verbal squabbling. But most of it is being hurled into the void, and so we ought not to be distracted by it. Internet snark, for the most part, should be filed where the sparrow flits and the swallow flies.

When a joke or a meme catches traction, like Jeffrey Epstein not killing himself, and it goes viral, this is generally because the hook is not baseless. There is something to it; there is a there there. Otherwise we shouldn’t worry too much about it.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.

Proverbs 25:26

The thing rejected here is the spectacle of a righteous man giving way before wicked men. The righteous ought not to be flexible in that way. When it comes to compromise with evil, they should be as rigid and unyielding as Daniel’s three friends refusing to bow before Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, or Mordecai refusing obeisance before Haman. When it comes to deference, the righteous must notdefer to those who are evil.

But what is the consequence if they do? This proverb compares it to two things. The first word indicates the source or the headwaters of a stream. When the righteous give way to the wicked, that action fouls the water at the source. When the righteous give way to the wicked, that sin corrupts the spring.

When you combine fresh water and polluted water, what you get is not half and half. What you get is still polluted water. What James tells us about our individual behavior applies to the corporate societal level as well.

“Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?” (James 3:10–11).

Water does not work that way. And notice that what causes this corruption in public discourse is the righteous surrendering or giving way to the wicked, letting them do it their way. And this in our day is one of our besetting sins—righteous individuals in positions of influence refusing to use that influence to resist those who would corrupt everything.

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