Bird's-eye view
This proverb is a masterful summary of the biblical doctrine of communication. It establishes the unshakeable connection between the inner man and the outer man, between the heart and the lips. In the economy of God, wise speech is not a matter of technique, rhetoric, or having the right talking points. It is fundamentally a matter of the heart. A wise heart is a regenerated heart, a heart that fears the Lord, and this proverb teaches us that such a heart functions as an internal tutor for the mouth. The flow is one way: from the inside out. The heart instructs, and the mouth learns and speaks accordingly. Furthermore, this internal instruction does not just produce correct speech, but persuasive and effective speech. It "increases learning" or "adds persuasiveness" to the lips. This is not the persuasion of the manipulative salesman, but the compelling weight of truth spoken from a place of integrity. Ultimately, this proverb points us to Christ, who is the wisdom of God, and in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. His heart was perfectly wise, and therefore His words were perfect wisdom, full of grace and truth.
Solomon is giving us a diagnostic tool for the soul. If you want to know the state of a man's heart, you don't need a spiritual MRI machine; you just need to listen to him talk for five minutes. As Jesus would later confirm, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34). This proverb is the Old Testament foundation for that principle. It tells us that wisdom is not a veneer applied to our speech, but a wellspring overflowing from our hearts. The application is therefore radical: if you want to change how you talk, you must first allow God to change your heart.
Outline
- 1. The Fountainhead of Wise Speech (Prov 16:23)
- a. The Internal Tutor: The Heart Instructs the Mouth (v. 23a)
- b. The External Result: The Lips Increase Learning (v. 23b)
Context In Proverbs
Proverbs 16 is a chapter dense with contrasts between the way of the wise and the way of the fool, all under the sovereign gaze of God. The chapter opens by establishing God's sovereignty over man's plans and words (Prov 16:1, 9). It discusses the Lord's weighing of the spirit (v. 2), the importance of committing works to Him (v. 3), and His ultimate purpose in all things, even the wicked (v. 4). Our verse, 23, sits in a cluster of proverbs dealing with speech and its effects. It is immediately preceded by a statement on understanding being a wellspring of life (v. 22) and is followed by a description of pleasant words as a honeycomb, sweet and healing (v. 24). This placement is intentional. The "wellspring of life" in the heart (v. 22) is what feeds the wise instruction to the mouth (v. 23), which in turn produces the "honeycomb" of pleasant and healing words (v. 24). This section powerfully illustrates the organic connection between a wise heart, wise words, and the blessed results of those words in the world.
Key Issues
- The Heart as the Source of Speech
- The Nature of True Wisdom
- The Difference Between Rhetoric and Godly Persuasion
- The Sovereignty of God in Communication
- Sanctification of the Tongue
The Heart's Curriculum
We live in an age obsessed with communication techniques. We have seminars on active listening, books on how to win friends and influence people, and corporate training on effective messaging. All of it is aimed at the lips, the mouth, the presentation. But Scripture starts elsewhere. It starts with the heart. This proverb tells us that the heart is the schoolmaster, and the mouth is the pupil. The curriculum is wisdom. If the schoolmaster is a fool, the pupil will speak folly, no matter how polished his elocution might be. If the schoolmaster is wise, the pupil will speak wisdom.
The Hebrew word for heart, leb, refers to the center of the human being, the seat of the will, the intellect, and the emotions. It is the command center. When Solomon says "the heart of the wise," he is speaking of a person whose entire inner being has been oriented toward the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10). This orientation doesn't happen by accident, and it certainly isn't something we can generate ourselves. "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool" (Prov 28:26). A wise heart is a gift of God, a result of His regenerating grace. It is this transformed heart that begins the process of re-educating the tongue, a member which James tells us is otherwise an untamable evil, full of deadly poison (James 3:8).
Verse by Verse Commentary
23 The heart of the wise gives insight to his mouth...
The first clause establishes the chain of command. The heart is the teacher, and the mouth is the student. The verb translated "gives insight" or "teaches" or "instructs" indicates a process of making someone skillful and prudent. This is not a one-time data dump. This is ongoing discipleship. A wise heart is constantly training the mouth in what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. It also trains the mouth in what not to say. As another proverb puts it, "he that refraineth his lips is wise" (Prov 10:19). Part of the curriculum is knowing when to be silent. This internal governance system is what separates the wise man from the fool, whose heart blurts out folly (Prov 12:23). The fool's mouth is an open sewer, venting whatever is festering in his heart. The wise man's mouth is a guarded spring, releasing waters that have first been purified at the source.
...And increases learning to his lips.
The second clause describes the result of this internal education. The New King James says it "adds learning to his lips," while the ESV renders it "adds persuasiveness to his lips." Both ideas are contained in the Hebrew. The word leqah refers to learning, instruction, and persuasive speech. The idea is that a wisely-tutored mouth speaks in such a way that it is received by others. The words have weight. They are instructive. They are compelling. This is not the slick persuasion of a sophist who can make the weaker argument appear stronger. This is the inherent authority of truth spoken plainly and from a heart of integrity. When a man's heart is right with God, his words are more likely to land with effect on the hearts of others. He is not just reciting wise sayings; his lips are dispensing learning because his heart is a fountain of it. This is why the words of Jesus were so powerful. He spoke with authority, and not as the scribes, because His heart was perfectly and infinitely wise.
Application
The central application of this proverb is that all our efforts at communication reform must begin with the heart. If you have a problem with your tongue, if you gossip, slander, flatter, lie, or speak rashly, the solution is not to put a bit in your mouth, but to cry out to God for a new heart. The project is not behavior modification, but spiritual regeneration. Jesus said it plainly: "Make the tree good, and its fruit will be good" (Matt 12:33). You cannot get good apples from a crabapple tree, and you cannot get wise words from a foolish heart.
This means our daily prayer should be, "Create in me a clean heart, O God" (Ps 51:10). We must fill that heart with the wisdom of God, which is His Word. The man whose "delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night" (Ps 1:2) is the man whose heart will have a curriculum of wisdom to teach his mouth. As the heart is saturated with Scripture, the mouth will begin to speak Scripture, naturally and without affectation.
Finally, we must recognize that the ultimate wise heart belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the incarnation of the wisdom of God. When we are united to Him by faith, His wisdom becomes ours. The sanctification of our speech is part of the process of being conformed to His image. We will never speak perfectly in this life, but as we grow in grace, our hearts will become wiser tutors, and our lips will become more adept students, increasingly adding the learning of the gospel to a world that desperately needs to hear it.