A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.
Ver. 28. A froward man soweth strife.] The Belialist before mentioned, Pro 16:27 as he digs, so he sows; but as ill seed as may be, that which comes not up but with a curse, as cud-weed, a and devil's bit. He is a sedulous seedsman of sedition; this bad seed he sows in every furrow where he can find footing.
And a whisperer separateth even very friends.] A pestilent tale bearer that carries tales, and so sows strife. Such were Doeg and other abjects that tare David's name, "and ceased not," Psa 35:15 tossing it with their carrion mouths as dogs, buzzing into Saul's ears ever and anon that which might set him agog against him. Such also were those malicious make baits the Pharisees, who, when they thought the disciples had offended, spake not to them, but to their Master, "Why do thy disciples that which is not lawful?" As when they thought Christ offended, they spake not to him, but to his disciples. Thus these whisperers went about to "separate very friends," to make a breach in the family of Christ, by setting off the one from the other. "The words of such whisperers are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly." Pro 18:8 They are like the wind that creeps in by the chinks and crevices in a wall, or the cracks in a window, that commonly prove more dangerous than a storm that meets a man in the face upon the champion [the plain].
a The common name for the genus Gnaphalium of composite plants, having chaffy scales surrounding the flower heads; originally proper to G. sylvaticum; extended to other plants, of allied genera, or similar appearance.