The Treason of the Wink and the Folly of the Mouth Text: Proverbs 10:10
Introduction: Two Kinds of Covenant Breaking
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical. It is not a collection of abstract platitudes for needlepoint pillows. It is a divine field manual for navigating the complexities of a fallen world. And a significant portion of that navigation involves how we use our bodies and our words. Our modern world has detached words from reality. We live in an age of spin, marketing, propaganda, and outright lies, where words are used not to reveal truth but to construct a preferred reality. At the same time, we are drowning in a ceaseless torrent of foolish talk, empty opinions, and verbal sludge from every corner of the internet. We are simultaneously a devious generation and a vapid one.
This proverb from Solomon addresses both of these pathologies head-on. It presents us with two characters who, at first glance, might seem quite different. On the one hand, we have the conspirator, the man of subtle signals and hidden meanings, the winker. On the other hand, we have the loudmouth, the babbling fool, the man whose thoughts spill out of his mouth without any filter. One is a man of wicked secrets, and the other is a man with no secrets at all, because he has no thoughts to keep secret. One communicates with a subtle, treacherous gesture; the other communicates with a clumsy, destructive torrent of words. But the Holy Spirit places them side by side in this proverb because they are two sides of the same debased coin. Both are covenant-breakers. Both are agents of chaos. Both are at war with the created order, which is an order established and sustained by the Word of God, a Word that is both true and wise.
The man who winks the eye is engaged in a form of treason. He uses non-verbal communication to create a secret alliance against a third party. He is building a conspiracy, a micro-rebellion against the bonds of fellowship. The fool of loose lips is also a traitor, but his treason is against wisdom itself. He despises the discipline of thought and the careful stewardship of words. One destroys relationships through calculated malice; the other destroys them through careless stupidity. And as we will see, both roads lead to ruin, though the ruin takes a slightly different shape for each.
The Text
"He who winks the eye causes pain, And an ignorant fool of loose lips will be ruined."
(Proverbs 10:10 LSB)
The Conspirator's Signal (v. 10a)
The first half of the proverb deals with the man of wicked subtlety.
"He who winks the eye causes pain..." (Proverbs 10:10a)
In our culture, a wink can be a friendly, harmless gesture. But in the context of Proverbs, it is consistently sinister. It is the non-verbal equivalent of a whispered lie. It is a signal, a secret communication between two parties at the expense of a third. Imagine three men are talking. One says something, and as the third man turns away, the second man winks at the first. That wink says, "We are in this together, and he is the butt of the joke," or "Let's go along with his foolish plan for now, but we will cheat him later." It is a gesture that forges an unholy alliance. It is the silent language of scorn, conspiracy, and deceit. Proverbs 6 warns us about the worthless person, the wicked man, who "winks with his eye, who signals with his feet, who points with his fingers" (Prov. 6:13). It is the body language of a traitor.
And what is the result of this behavior? The text says it "causes pain." The Hebrew word is for sorrow, grief, or trouble. This is not a superficial sting; it is deep relational and emotional anguish. Why? Because this behavior poisons the well of community. It shatters trust. When you discover that you have been the victim of the wink, that people were mocking you or plotting against you in plain sight, the pain is acute. It is the pain of betrayal. The winker introduces a state of cold war into relationships that should be characterized by peace and honesty. He is a sower of discord, which is one of the things the Lord hates (Prov. 6:19).
This is a sin against the ninth commandment. Bearing false witness is not just about courtroom perjury; it is about any communication, verbal or non-verbal, that is intended to deceive and harm your neighbor. The winker is a liar who uses his eyelids instead of his lips. He creates a world of intrigue, suspicion, and sorrow. He may think his actions are clever and hidden, but he is simply a dealer in pain, and that pain will eventually boomerang back upon him.
The Fool's Downfall (v. 10b)
The second half of the verse turns from the man of cunning deceit to the man of open foolishness.
"And an ignorant fool of loose lips will be ruined." (Proverbs 10:10b LSB)
This is the "prating fool" in other translations. The Hebrew speaks of a fool of lips. His problem is not that he is a master of subtle signals, but that he has no mastery over his mouth whatsoever. He is a verbal incontinent. Whatever thought, half-thought, or emotional spasm occurs in his head comes directly out of his mouth, unfiltered by wisdom, discretion, or charity. He is the man who speaks first and thinks later, if at all. He is the one who repeats gossip, makes rash promises, speaks on matters he knows nothing about, and offers unsolicited, idiotic advice.
Notice the parallel. The winker causes pain to others. The fool of loose lips brings ruin upon himself. The verb here is blunt: he will be ruined, he will fall, he will be thrown down. His own words are the banana peel on which he slips. His mouth is a shovel with which he digs his own grave. How does this happen? His foolish words destroy his reputation. They sabotage his relationships. They get him into financial trouble. They reveal his untrustworthiness to all. While the winker operates with a scalpel, causing targeted pain, the fool operates with a verbal wrecking ball, and he is standing right next to the building when it collapses.
This is a different kind of covenant breaking. The fool is not necessarily plotting evil in the same way the winker is. His sin is one of negligence. He has a duty before God to steward the gift of speech, to be quick to hear and slow to speak (James 1:19). But he despises this duty. He loves the sound of his own voice more than he loves wisdom or his neighbor. And so, the very tool that God gave him for building up, his mouth, becomes the instrument of his own destruction.
Two Paths to Destruction
So we have two men, the sly and the stupid. One causes pain, the other comes to ruin. But we must see that these are not entirely separate categories. The winker who causes pain will ultimately come to ruin himself. "Whoever digs a pit will fall into it" (Prov. 26:27). His clever conspiracies will eventually be exposed, and the pain he caused will be repaid to him. And the fool whose lips bring him to ruin most certainly causes immense pain to others along the way. His careless words wound his wife, alienate his children, and frustrate his friends.
Both men are at war with the Logos. God's Word is the foundation of reality. It is true, wise, and life-giving. The winker attacks the truthfulness of the Word by dealing in deception. The fool attacks the wisdom of the Word by dealing in nonsense. Both are rejecting the divine pattern for human community, which is built on truthful and wise speech. The man who winks says, "My secret meaning is more important than the plain truth." The fool says, "My immediate impulse to speak is more important than careful wisdom." Both are expressions of profound pride.
The Gospel for Winkers and Fools
This proverb, like all of Proverbs, diagnoses our sin with pinpoint accuracy. By nature, we are all a mixture of the winker and the fool. In our pride, we engage in subtle deceptions, manipulations, and passive-aggressive behaviors to get our way. We wink. We signal. We plot. We cause pain. And in our folly, we speak carelessly. We gossip. We slander. We babble. We offer foolish opinions as though they were divine oracle. We bring ruin upon ourselves and those around us.
The law of God, summarized in a proverb like this, shows us our guilt. It shows us the pain we have caused and the ruin we deserve. And that is meant to drive us to the one who is the perfect embodiment of truthful and wise speech. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). He never winked the eye. There was no deceit in His mouth (Isaiah 53:9). He never spoke a single foolish word. His enemies tried to trap Him in His talk, but His answers were filled with such perfect wisdom that they were silenced.
On the cross, Jesus took the pain that our winking deserved. He bore the sorrow that our conspiracies created. And He endured the ruin that our foolish mouths earned for us. He was ruined so that babbling fools could be forgiven. He was cast down so that treacherous winkers could be lifted up.
Therefore, the solution for the winker is not simply to "stop winking." The solution for the fool is not simply to "try to be quiet." The solution is repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. It is to be crucified with Him and have His life, the life of the eternal Word, dwell within you. When the Holy Spirit takes up residence, He begins the work of taming the tongue and sanctifying the eyelids. He replaces the desire to cause pain with the desire to bring healing. He replaces the impulse of the fool with the wisdom of Christ.
God's purpose is to make us into a people whose speech reflects His own character. He wants to transform us from winkers and fools into men and women whose mouths are a "fountain of life" (Prov. 10:11). This happens as we are filled with His Word, submitting our every gesture and our every syllable to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the true and wise Word of God.