24 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
The pleasant words here commended must be those which the heart of the wise teaches, and adds learning to (Proverbs 16:23 Proverbs 16:23), words of seasonable advice, instruction, and comfort, words taken from God's word, for that is it which Solomon had learned from his father to account sweeter than honey and the honey-comb,Psalms 19:10. These words, to those that know how to relish them, 1. Are pleasant. They are like the honey-comb, sweet to the soul, which tastes in them that the Lord is gracious; nothing more grateful and agreeable to the new man than the word of God, and those words which are borrowed from it, Psalms 119:103. 2. They are wholesome. Many things are pleasant that are not profitable, but these pleasant words are health to the bones, to the inward man, as well as sweet to the soul. They make the bones, which sin has broken and put out of joint, to rejoice. The bones are the strength of the body; and the good word of God is a means of spiritual strength, curing the diseases that weaken us.
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