RR Psalm 34:12-15 Part 11
Shalom,
Psalm 34:12(11) Come, children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of Adonai. 13(12) Who is the one who delights in life, and loves to see good days? 14(13) Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking treachery. 15(14) Depart from evil and do good. Seek shalom and pursue it.
Verse 13 begins in (transliterated) Hebrew, “Mi-Haish Chafetz-Cha’im?” It means, “Who (is) the man (who) delights in life?”
Rabbi Trail: Most all of the great rabbis and sages have nicknames. These are easy ways to identify them (importantly, to tell them apart). Probably the most famous is the RaMBaM (which stands for Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon), aka Maimonides. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides A similar sounding nickname is Ramban or Nachmanides.
I’m bringing this discussion forward today to direct your attention to yet another famous rabbi who adopted the name “The Chafetz Chaim” which he borrowed from our subject verse today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yisrael_Meir_Kagan He wrote a book titled similar to his nickname https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chofetz_Chaim The book deals with “Loshon Hara” the “evil tongue,” which will be our subject today. End RT.
The instruction of verse 14 is “keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking ‘Mirmah,’” which is deception, fraud, false, treachery. Why is gossip such a serious sin? Because it is a sin for which there is no adequate remedy. We may want to repent and provide restitution to a person about whom we have gossiped, but, as you will soon see, that is impossible.
The famous Yiddish author “SHOLEM ALEICHEM,” (https://sholemaleichem.org/), whose writings were the basis for the stage play, “Fiddler On The Roof,” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddler_on_the_Roof) wrote a short story to illustrate how futile it is to try to make amends for the sin of gossip. He compared gossip to the feathers of a pillow that had been cut open and left on the front porch all night. By morning the feathers had blown all over the village. Then he compared making restitution for the sin of gossip to gathering the feathers and putting them back into the pillow. It can’t be done, and neither can we restore the reputation of the one who has been victimized by gossip.
The bible calls the tongue both a creative force and a destructive force. Jacob 3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If someone does not stumble in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well….5 So also the tongue is a small member—yet it boasts of great things. See how so small a fire sets a blaze so great a forest!
Please take this message to heart and avoid destroying God’s creation by speaking inappropriate things to inappropriate people. After all, it is one of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:16 Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. And, if that’s not enough, consider this… Jacob 1:26 If anyone thinks he is religious and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is futile. Receive it. Shalom shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Mon18-Aug 202524th of Av, 5785
De 12:11-28Ez 471 Ch 252 Ti 3 (Jn 12:1-19)
Psalm 34:12(11) Come, children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of Adonai. 13(12) Who is the one who delights in life, and loves to see good days? 14(13) Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking treachery. 15(14) Depart from evil and do good. Seek shalom and pursue it.
Verse 13 begins in (transliterated) Hebrew, “Mi-Haish Chafetz-Cha’im?” It means, “Who (is) the man (who) delights in life?”
Rabbi Trail: Most all of the great rabbis and sages have nicknames. These are easy ways to identify them (importantly, to tell them apart). Probably the most famous is the RaMBaM (which stands for Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon), aka Maimonides. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides A similar sounding nickname is Ramban or Nachmanides.
I’m bringing this discussion forward today to direct your attention to yet another famous rabbi who adopted the name “The Chafetz Chaim” which he borrowed from our subject verse today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yisrael_Meir_Kagan He wrote a book titled similar to his nickname https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chofetz_Chaim The book deals with “Loshon Hara” the “evil tongue,” which will be our subject today. End RT.
The instruction of verse 14 is “keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking ‘Mirmah,’” which is deception, fraud, false, treachery. Why is gossip such a serious sin? Because it is a sin for which there is no adequate remedy. We may want to repent and provide restitution to a person about whom we have gossiped, but, as you will soon see, that is impossible.
The famous Yiddish author “SHOLEM ALEICHEM,” (https://sholemaleichem.org/), whose writings were the basis for the stage play, “Fiddler On The Roof,” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddler_on_the_Roof) wrote a short story to illustrate how futile it is to try to make amends for the sin of gossip. He compared gossip to the feathers of a pillow that had been cut open and left on the front porch all night. By morning the feathers had blown all over the village. Then he compared making restitution for the sin of gossip to gathering the feathers and putting them back into the pillow. It can’t be done, and neither can we restore the reputation of the one who has been victimized by gossip.
The bible calls the tongue both a creative force and a destructive force. Jacob 3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If someone does not stumble in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well….5 So also the tongue is a small member—yet it boasts of great things. See how so small a fire sets a blaze so great a forest!
Please take this message to heart and avoid destroying God’s creation by speaking inappropriate things to inappropriate people. After all, it is one of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:16 Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. And, if that’s not enough, consider this… Jacob 1:26 If anyone thinks he is religious and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is futile. Receive it. Shalom shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Mon18-Aug 202524th of Av, 5785
De 12:11-28Ez 471 Ch 252 Ti 3 (Jn 12:1-19)
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