Bird's-eye view
This proverb, like so many others, sets before us the stark antithesis between the wise man and the fool. The contrast is not one of native intelligence or educational attainment, but rather one of fundamental orientation to God. The wise man fears the Lord, and this is the beginning of his knowledge. The fool has said in his heart that there is no God, and this is the beginning of his unraveling. This core difference in their hearts inevitably manifests itself in their words. The wise man's speech is a life-giving stream, a generous sowing of seed, while the fool's is, at best, a sterile void. The proverb hinges on the relationship between the inner man (the heart) and the outer man (the lips), showing that what comes out is always a true indicator of what is within.
The verse is a study in spiritual agriculture. The wise man is a sower, scattering good seed wherever he goes. His words are not random but are intended to bring forth a harvest of understanding in others. The fool, on the other hand, has a heart that is "not so." The Hebrew is terse, pregnant with meaning. His heart is not right, not stable, not a source from which anything good can be sown. It is fallow ground, or worse, a field full of weeds. Therefore, his lips cannot do what the wise man's lips do. He has nothing of value to disperse, and so his speech is either silent on matters of truth or actively disperses folly.
Outline
- 1. The Fountain and the Cistern (Prov 15:7)
- a. The Generous Sower: The Lips of the Wise (Prov 15:7a)
- b. The Barren Source: The Heart of the Fool (Prov 15:7b)
Context In Proverbs
Proverbs 15 is a chapter dense with contrasts between the righteous and the wicked, the wise and the foolish. It opens with the famous line about a soft answer turning away wrath (Prov 15:1) and continues to explore how one's inner state affects speech, conduct, and relationship with God. Verse 2 notes that "the tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of fools pours out folly." Our verse, verse 7, is a direct parallel and amplification of this theme. It is situated among other proverbs dealing with the Lord's omniscience ("The eyes of the LORD are in every place," v. 3), the integrity of the righteous house (v. 6), and the abomination of wicked sacrifices (v. 8). The context is one of total accountability before a holy God. Every part of a man's life, from his financial dealings to his worship to his everyday speech, is an expression of his core allegiance, either to God in wisdom or to himself in folly.
Key Issues
- The Relationship Between Heart and Lips
- The Nature of True Knowledge
- The Generosity of Wisdom
- The Emptiness of Folly
- The Antithesis in God's Moral Universe
The Sower and His Seed
The central image here is agricultural. The word for "disperse" or "spread" is the same word used for winnowing or scattering seed. The wise man is like a farmer walking through his fields, generously casting seed. He does not hoard his knowledge. He does not keep it to himself. Wisdom, by its very nature, is generative and outgoing. It seeks to replicate itself. A wise man wants others to become wise. He speaks in such a way that true, godly knowledge is sown in the minds and hearts of those who hear him.
But what is this "knowledge?" In the Bible, knowledge is never a collection of abstract, neutral facts. Knowledge is relational and ethical. It is knowing God and understanding His world in light of His Word. It is skill in the art of living according to God's created order. So when the wise man disperses knowledge, he is not merely sharing trivia. He is sharing a worldview. He is teaching others how to live. He is planting seeds that, by God's grace, will bear the fruit of righteousness. His words have weight, substance, and purpose. They build up, they instruct, they correct. They are a means of grace to the hearers.
Verse by Verse Commentary
7a The lips of the wise disperse knowledge,
The proverb begins with the action of the wise man. Notice the instrument: his lips. Speech is the primary vehicle for the transmission of wisdom. While a wise life is a powerful testimony, the content of that wisdom must be articulated. The lips are the gate of the heart, and for the wise man, that gate is open for the purpose of giving. The verb is active: they disperse. This is not an accidental leak. It is a deliberate, generous, and widespread sowing. The wise man understands that knowledge is not a treasure to be locked in a chest, but seed to be sown in a field. He is not afraid of running out, because his wisdom comes from a fountain that never runs dry, the Lord Himself. He speaks, and as he does, the world becomes a more orderly and understandable place for those who have ears to hear. He is a verbal steward of the grace of God.
7b But the hearts of fools are not so.
The contrast shifts from the lips of the wise to the hearts of fools. This is a critical move. The problem with the fool is not primarily his lips, but his heart. His lips are just the delivery system for the emptiness, or the poison, that is within. The Hebrew phrase lo-ken, translated "not so," is stark and potent. It means "not right," "not stable," "not sound." The fool's heart is a cracked foundation. It cannot support a structure of truth. It is a broken cistern that can hold no water.
Because his heart is "not so," his lips cannot do what the wise man's lips do. He has no true knowledge to disperse. He might disperse something, of course. Other proverbs tell us he pours out folly (Prov 15:2) and proclaims foolishness (Prov 12:23). But he cannot disperse knowledge because he does not possess it. His heart is a vacuum when it comes to the fear of the Lord. Therefore, his speech is either a corresponding vacuum, full of meaningless chatter, or it is an active agent of chaos, spreading lies, slander, and nonsense. The fundamental issue is a heart problem. The fool is not right with God, and so nothing that comes from him can be truly right.
Application
This proverb forces us to ask a diagnostic question: What do my lips disperse? When we speak, are we sowing seeds of truth, clarity, encouragement, and godly understanding? Or are we scattering the chaff of gossip, foolishness, complaint, and error? Jesus tells us that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt 12:34). Our words are a reliable printout of our spiritual condition. If we find ourselves consistently speaking foolishly, the solution is not simply to try harder to control our tongue. The solution is a heart transplant, which is precisely what the gospel offers.
For the Christian, this verse is both a calling and a comfort. The calling is to be people whose lips disperse knowledge. We have been given the ultimate knowledge, the knowledge of Jesus Christ. We are called to sow this seed generously in our homes, our churches, and our communities. Our speech should be seasoned with grace, aiming to build others up. The comfort is that God does not expect us to do this from our own empty wells. He has given us a new heart, the mind of Christ, and the indwelling Holy Spirit. The wisdom we are to disperse is not our own. We are stewards of the mysteries of God. As we fill our hearts with His Word, our lips will naturally become fountains of life, dispersing the knowledge of the one who is Wisdom incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ.