Commentary - Proverbs 10:6

Bird's-eye view

This proverb, like so many in this section of the book, sets before us the stark antithesis of the two ways: the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. It is a world of black and white, a world governed by a moral order established by God Himself. The verse presents a sharp contrast not just in outcomes, but in sources. For the righteous, the source of their good is external, a blessing that comes down upon their head. For the wicked, the source of their trouble is internal, a violence that comes out of their mouth. This is a fundamental diagnostic of the human condition. One man receives grace from above, while the other spews poison from within. The proverb teaches us that righteousness attracts divine favor, which is publicly manifest, while wickedness generates a destructive force that is first concealed in the heart and then unleashed through speech.

We must understand that Proverbs operates with a covenantal worldview. The blessings on the righteous are not the result of some impersonal karma, but are the direct, covenantal favor of God poured out on those who walk in His ways. Conversely, the violence of the wicked is not just unfortunate behavior; it is the natural fruit of a heart at war with its Creator. The mouth, in Scripture, is the overflow of the heart, and so the wicked man's speech inevitably reveals the violent rebellion that defines him. This verse, then, is a compact summary of covenantal realities: faithfulness leads to blessing, and rebellion leads to ruin, a ruin that begins in the heart and finds its expression through the mouth.

Outline

Context In Proverbs

Proverbs chapter 10 marks a significant shift in the book's structure. The first nine chapters consist of longer, thematic discourses, personifying Wisdom and Folly as two women calling out to the simple. But with chapter 10, we begin a long series of short, pithy, two-clause antithetical proverbs, often called the "Proverbs of Solomon." Verse 6 is a classic example of this form. It stands in a stream of couplets that continually contrast the righteous and the wicked, the wise and the foolish, the diligent and the lazy. For example, the very next verse contrasts the blessed memory of the righteous with the rotting name of the wicked (Prov 10:7). This constant, relentless juxtaposition is designed to train the reader to see the world in sharp moral categories. There is no middle ground. Every choice, every word, every action places a man on one of two paths, and this verse lays out the respective destinies of those paths in striking terms.

Key Issues

The Great Antithesis

The book of Proverbs is not a collection of secular tips for successful living. It is inspired wisdom literature, grounded in the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of all wisdom. Central to this wisdom is recognizing the great antithesis that God has built into the fabric of the cosmos. This is the absolute and unbridgeable gulf between righteousness and wickedness, wisdom and folly, light and darkness. Our verse for today is a perfect distillation of this principle. It doesn't say that the righteous are mostly blessed and the wicked are occasionally violent. It sets up two opposing realities. You are in one camp or the other.

The structure of the verse forces this choice upon us. On the one hand, you have the righteous man, and blessings are on his head. On the other, you have the wicked man, and his mouth is a Pandora's box of violence. This is not describing two slightly different personality types. It is describing two different kinds of humanity, two different spiritual families. One is the seed of the woman, the other is the seed of the serpent. One is oriented toward God, and receives His favor. The other is oriented toward himself, and his every utterance is tainted by the violence of his rebellion.

Verse by Verse Commentary

6a Blessings are on the head of the righteous,

The first clause describes the state of the man who is in right standing with God. The word for righteous, tsaddiq, is a legal term. It means one who has been declared to be in the right, one who is vindicated. In the ultimate sense, no man achieves this status on his own merit. We are declared righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. But this legal reality must work its way out into a man's life. The righteous man is one who lives out his justified status by walking in integrity and faithfulness.

And what is the result? Blessings. These are not abstract well-wishes. In the Hebrew mind, a blessing is a tangible impartation of favor and vitality. And notice where they are: "on the head." This is a picture of a public coronation. Think of the anointing oil being poured on the head of a king or priest. It is a visible, undeniable mark of divine favor and appointment. God does not bless His people in secret. He crowns them openly. Their life of integrity attracts the favor of both God and man, and this favor rests on them like a diadem.

6b But the mouth of the wicked covers up violence.

Now we turn to the wicked. The contrast is immediate and jarring. While the righteous man is receiving a blessing from above, the wicked man is producing something from within. And what does he produce? Violence. The Hebrew word is hamas, which refers not just to physical brutality, but also to cruel, oppressive, and unjust actions. This violence is the defining characteristic of the wicked man's heart.

But notice the phrasing. The violence is covered, or concealed, by his mouth. This can be understood in a couple of complementary ways. First, his smooth and flattering words can be a mask, a cloak to hide his malicious intentions. He speaks of peace while war is in his heart (Psalm 55:21). His mouth is the instrument of deception that conceals the violence he is plotting. Second, the phrase can mean that his mouth is so full of violence that it overwhelms and covers him. His speech is the very eruption of the violent corruption within. Instead of a crown of blessing, he wears his own violent words like a shroud. Either way, the point is the same: the wicked man's speech is not a fountain of life, but a trapdoor to a cellar full of violence.

Application

This proverb forces us to ask a very basic question: what is coming out of my mouth? And what does it reveal about the state of my heart? Is my speech a conduit for blessing, truth, and encouragement, indicating a heart that is receiving grace from above? Or is it a cover for bitterness, slander, manipulation, and malice, revealing a heart that is a generator of violence?

The world tells us that words are just words. The Bible tells us that by our words we will be justified, and by our words we will be condemned. The wicked man in this proverb thinks he can manage his reputation with his mouth, using words to conceal the true violence of his heart. But God is not fooled. Eventually, that which is covered will be revealed. The violence will out.

The ultimate application, as always, is the gospel. We are all, by nature, the wicked man. Our hearts are deceitful above all things, and our mouths are full of the violence of our rebellion against God. We cannot fix this by trying to speak nicer words, any more than we can fix a polluted spring by painting the pump handle. We need a new source. We need a new heart. This is what Christ provides. He is the truly Righteous One, upon whose head all the blessings of the covenant were poured. And on the cross, He took upon Himself the violence that our mouths and hearts deserved. He was overwhelmed by the hamas of our sin. In exchange, He gives us His righteousness and a new heart, from which can flow rivers of living water. He takes the mouth that covers violence and transforms it into a well of life, so that we, who were once wicked, can have the blessings of the righteous upon our heads.