With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live: before our brethren discern thou what [is] thine with me, and take [it] to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.
Ver. 32. Let him not live.] This was a rash sentence. Hasty speech may work much woe. How sorry would Jacob have been if Laban had found the images under Rachel, and taken him at his word! What a snare befell Jephthah by his rash speaking! It is a proverb among the Arabians, Cave ne feriat lingua tua collum tuum. a "He is a perfect man that offends not in word," saith St James; for "the tongue is an unruly evil". James 3:2 ; Jam 3:8 Sooner may a man teach a camel to dance upon a rope, than bridle his tongue from evil speaking. Pareus b reckons up five virtues of the tongue that perfect a man: but Peraldus c recounts twenty-four various vices of it, that, if not restrained, will work his ruth (distress) and ruin. It should seem by that of our Saviour Mat 12:37 that a man's most and worst sins are his words. And St Paul, making the anatomy of a natural man, stands more upon the organ of speaking than on all the other members: Rom 3:9-18 Let therefore thy words be few, true, and ponderous. An open mouth is a purgatory to the master. Carry a pair of balances betwixt thy lips. Nescit poenitenda loqui, qui proferenda prius suo tradidit examini, saith Cassiodone. d Jacob might have learned of the heathen Romans, to speak warily in passing sentence on, or giving testimony of, another. Romani semper Videri in sententiis, in testimoniis Arbitrari, dicebant, saith Cicero.
a Scal., Prov. Arab ., cent. i. Pro 75.
b Veracitas, constantia, docilitas, taciturnitas, urbanitas. - Pareus on James iii. 5.
c Perald., tom. i., p. 264.
d Cassiod., lib. x., Ephesians 4:1,32 .