The tongue, that fiery rudder

By Elizabeth Prata

Satan convinced a third of the angels to follow him and not God. How? He spoke. His tongue seemed like it was a quicksilver miracle speaking truth and beauty. But it was actually a serpent tongue speaking lies and corruption.

That is the second instance in the Bible of how powerful the tongue is. (The first is God Himself speaking the universe into existence, but humans do not have that power). We see the fall of Lucifer was caused by his tongue in Ezekiel 28:16, 18 where satan’s evil beginnings are recounted. He turned from his beautiful, righteous self to a person of corruption and profaneness:

“By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned;” (Ezekiel 28:16).

“By the multitude of your wrongdoings, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned your sanctuaries.” (Ezekiel 28:18).

What is this ‘trade’ spoken of? Other translations say “merchandise.” Was satan running a store? He had items to sell? No, obviously.

“One of the elements of Satan’s sin was his widespread dishonest trade. The word for trade comes from the verb rāḵal which means “to go about from one to another.” Source- The Bible Knowledge Commentary.

He wasn’t trading hard goods. Satan was trading suggestions, gossip, and slander. His very name of Lucifer changed to a title, devil, which means slanderer. He is called an accuser in Revelation 12:10.

The Bible warns against sins of the tongue many times. God hates slander, lies, and gossip. This sin is even in one of the Ten Commandments! Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor, says Exodus 20:16.

When my Sunday School class was going through Esther, I learned much. One of the notes I took was the difference in speech between Esther, Haman, and Xerxes (Ahasuerus). King Xerxes was known for being rash, mercurial, and inconstant. These qualities were also part of his speech as well. He rashly made a decree at the urging of his serpent-tongued right hand man Haman, to kill all the Jews. Haman also used his tongue unwisely. He grumbled and complained to his wife and friends, he bore false witness against Mordecai, he gossiped and slandered intemperately.

In contrast, Esther held her peace. She considered what to say and when to say it. She listened more than spoke. Esther listened to the advice of Mordecai (Esther 2:10; 20), to the King’s eunuch Hegai and his advice (Esther 2:15), and to King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) (Esther 4:10). When she did speak, her words carried the gravity of God with them.

Speaking quickly often carries with it the layer of our flesh and its desires. That’s when we get into trouble with our tongue. We are warned to speak less than we listen. Listening then speaking deliberately more often carries with it the words and desires of God.

Being Quick to Hear and Slow to Speak:

Jesus listened to sinners for the same reason that He spoke to them: because He loved them (Mark 10:21). He conversed even with those who were seeking to kill Him, and even to them He said, “I say these things so that you may be saved” (John 5:34). Jesus did not listen to the musings or even the accusations of sinners in order to quickly formulate a rebuttal that would “put them in their place.” Rather, He listened to them in order to engage them with the good news of His love so they could be saved (John 3:17). Thus, when we grow as good listeners, we are not only reflecting God’s image; we are reaching out with God’s love. From TableTalk Magazine, September 2019.

Even when Jesus overturned the tables in the Temple, He was not speaking rashly. He stopped and made a cord whip first, (John 2:15) thus acting deliberately and considering what His Father would have Jesus say.

We should model our speech after Jesus, who listened first, then spoke words of God to the listeners.