MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 12:23
THE CONCEALMENT OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE PROCLAMATION OF FOOLISHNESS
I. The concealment of knowledge is always a mark of self-control. It proves that a man has himself “well in hand.” He is like a skilful workman whose tools are all arranged in order, so that he can select or reject them according to his need, or the need of others. Or he resembles a skilful rider who is thoroughly master of his steed, and can either arrest his course or urge him to put forth all his speed at any moment. If a man does not possess this power over himself he can never be a king among men, and even the possession of knowledge will not prove very serviceable either to himself or others. All the treasures of his mind ought to be under the lock and key of his will, and his will under that of his conscience, for,
II. Under some circumstances the concealment of knowledge is a mark of prudence.
1. It is so when to proclaim it would feed personal vanity. To reveal our knowledge from no other motive than to let others know that we know is to sin against ourselves by ministering to our pride. In such a case to conceal our knowledge is a means of grace to a man’s own soul, and will carry with it the approbation of conscience.
2. It is also prudent to conceal knowledge when we know that it would not benefit others. It is not always seasonable to reveal even the most precious knowledge that we possess. Men are sometimes manifestly unprepared for its reception—unable to appreciate it. God concealed the gospel of salvation from the men of the early ages of the world because the “fulness of time” (Galatians 4:4) had not come, by which we understand that the world then was not in a condition to profit by a revelation of it. Our Lord charged His disciples not to disclose what they had witnessed on the mount of transfiguration until “the Son of Man should be risen again from the dead” (Matthew 17:9). He exhorts them also not to “cast pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6). Hence we learn that concealment of knowledge is sometimes to be preferred to a revelation of it, and that a due regard must be had to the mental and moral condition of those to whom we would impart it. The revelation of scientific truth would only bewilder people of little education and small capacity, and the revelation of even moral truth would sometimes increase men’s guilt. It would only lead them to blaspheme the God of Truth and scoff at His messengers, and thus harden them instead of enlightening them. And even when this is not the case men cannot always receive all kinds of moral truth. A parent conceals from his son when he is a boy a knowledge of things which he will reveal to him when he is a man. A wise teacher does not at once disclose to his pupil all that he desires him to learn. Both bring prudence into exercise, and give “line upon line, here a little and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10), following the example of the Great Father and Teacher in His dealings with His ancient people, and that of the Incarnate Son when He said to His disciples, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). All who are possessors of knowledge should always remember to bring prudence into exercise in proclaiming it, whether it be Divine or human truth that they have to reveal.
III. The man who tells out all he knows without any regard to the fitness of time and circumstance proclaims only his foolishness. He is as much a proclaimer of his own folly as he who should sow seed on the high road instead of in ploughed ground. He may be very injurious to others. If a teacher of the young were to tell out all he knows about men and things to those under his care he might inflict on their spiritual nature a life-long injury. Indiscreet parents who utter all their mind and tell out all their experience in the hearing of their children not only “proclaim their foolishness,” but are a curse to their family. They are like an unskilful surgeon who takes the first instrument that comes to hand, regardless of its fitness for the needs of the patient. They are like men upon a fiery steed without power to guide him—they not only put themselves in jeopardy but endanger the well-being of others.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Not that he grudges to impart his knowledge to others, but he does not obtrude it or make a display of it, nor babble out all that he knows, in order that he may be counted wise.… The fool, trying to make a display of knowledge, only betrays foolishness. Fools, wise in their own esteem, babble out everything at random; not wisdom, which they have not, but foolishness, which they have. Proclaiming foolishness is attributed to a fool’s heart, not to his mouth, for a fool’s heart is in his mouth. He has no sense within. On the contrary, “The mouth of the wise is in their heart” (Sir. 21:26)—Fausset.
The Apostle concealed his knowledge for fourteen years, and even then mentioned it reluctantly, to vindicate his own rightful claims of apostleship (2 Corinthians 12:1-6). Elihu, though “full of matter,” and longing to give vent, yet prudently concealed his knowledge, till his elders had opened his way (Job 32:6; Job 32:18-19). Circumstances may sometimes prudently dictate concealment. Abraham spared the feelings of his family, and cleared his own path, by hiding the dreadful message of his God (Genesis 22:1-7). Joseph concealed his kindred for the discipline of his brethren (Genesis 42:7). Esther, from a prudent regard of consequences to herself (Esther 2:10). Nothing can justify speaking contrary to the truth. But we are not always obliged to tell the whole truth. Jeremiah answered all that he was bound to speak; not all that he might have spoken (Jeremiah 38:24). In all these cases “the wise man’s heart will discern both time and judgment” (Ecclesiastes 8:5; Ecclesiastes 10:2).… The fool is dogmatical in dispute, when wiser men are cautious. He is teaching, when he ought to take the learner’s place; his self-confidence proclaiming his emptiness (1 Timothy 6:3-4).—Bridges.
True are the words of Paul, “knowledge puffeth up,” and the augmentation of it may only puff up the more. This produces a very anomalous and incongruous combination, a mind filled with solid information and a heart distended with the emptiness of vanity. And this generates the pedant, one of the most contemptible and disgusting of all characters—the man who is ever showing off, ever aiming at effect, ever speaking as nobody else would speak, ever dwelling on his own theme in his own terms, and in every word and look and movement, courting notice of self, as the only object of his own admiration, or worthy of the admiration of others. What a fool even the man of knowledge does at times make of himself! exemplifying the truth of the old quaint adage, “An ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of clergy.” Still it is true that, the more extensive the knowledge which a man acquires, he is, generally speaking, the more conscious of remaining ignorance, and consequently the less vain; that it is in the early stages of acquirement that self-sufficiency and conceit are most apparent. It is the empty that are usually the most prone to vain glory.—Wardlaw.
“Prudent.” subtle, from a root meaning crafty, cunning; opposed to “stupid,” literally, fat, crass. The saint has the highest craft, and the lost are more fat in mind than even the beasts around them.—Miller.
Another aspect of the truth of chap. Proverbs 10:14. The wise is not quick to utter even the wisdom that deserves utterance. He broods over it, tests it, lives by it.—Plumptre.
We deem them not the most thrifty husbands and wealthiest men that will lock up nothing in their coffers, nor keep anything close in their purses, but carry all their money in their hands and show it to every comer-by, and so do they that have no more matter within their hearts, than all the standers-by shall hear their lips deliver. It is a point of humility to be silent in modesty, and their words are so much more desirable, and better accepted as they are rare, and few, and seasonable. The ointment that is close kept in a box will yield a sweeter savour when it is poured out, than that which is continually open. A wine fresh from the vessel hath a better relish than that which was drawn long before there was any need of it.—Dod.
Think not silence the wisdom of fools, but, if rightly timed, the honour of wise men who have not the infirmity but the virtue of taciturnity; and speak not of the abundance, but the well-weighed thoughts of their hearts. Such silence may be eloquence, and speak thy worth above the power of words. Make such an one thy friend, in whom princes may be happy, and great counsels successful. Let him have the key of thy heart who hath the lock of his own, which no temptation can open; where thy secrets may lastingly lie, like the lamp in the urn of Olybius, alive and alight, but close and invisible.—Sir T. Browne.