Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it [was] an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?
Ver. 6. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin.] Heb., Nec des, Give not liberty to thy mouth, which of itself is so apt to overflow and run riot in sinful and superfluous language. Rein it in therefore, and lay laws upon it, lest it "cause thy flesh to sin," thyself to become a sinner against thine own soul. Say to it in this case, as Christ did to those Pharisees in the gospel, "Why temptest thou me, thou hypocrite?" or as the witch said to Saul, that sought to her, "Wherefore layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?" 1Sa 28:9 Shall my prayer become sin, and my religious vows, through non-payment, a cause of a curse? Psa 109:7 When thou art making such an ill bargain, say to thy mouth, as Boaz said to his kinsman, "At what time thou buyest it, thou must have Ruth with it"; Rth 4:5 so thou must have God's curse with it - for that is the just hire of the least sin, Rom 6:23 how much more of thy crimson crime! And let thy mouth answer, No, I may not do it; I shall mar and spoil a better inheritance; I shall anger the angel of the covenant, who, if his wrath be kindled, yea, but a little, "he will not pardon my transgression, for God's name is in him," Exo 23:21 who, as he is pater miserationum, "the Father of mercies," so he is Deus ultionum, "the God of recompenses." Psa 94:1 True it is that anger is not properly in God; "Fury is not in me"; Isa 27:4 but because he chides and smites for sin, as angry men use to do, therefore is anger here and elsewhere attributed to him, that men may stand in awe and not sin, since sin and punishment are linked together with chains of adamant.