James 3:1,2 – “Another Dangerous Tool”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹My brothers, let not many become teachers, knowing that we will receive greater judgment, ²for all stumble much. If someone does not stumble in word, this one is a mature man, able also to bridle the whole body.

I’m reluctantly leaving my study of Ruth (and Hebrew) to come back to James (and Greek) for a while. I’ll probably work through James chapter 3 then go back and study the last chapter of Ruth. Of course, returning here, I’m immediately met with some challenging thoughts – which is exactly what I’m looking for!

Hmmmmm. My mouth. What a subject! There have been commentaries almost ad infinitum written on these very verses in James. I have enjoyed many of them for years. I fondly remember early in my walk with God engaging in studies on “the tongue.” I memorized this entire chapter in James along with many proverbs and sincerely tried to let God change what I did with my mouth. I found early that one of the best strategies to keep me out of trouble was what David said in Psalm 39:1, “I will … keep my tongue from sin.” It was amazing to me how much it helped throughout my days to be determined not to sin with my mouth. It helped me function on a maturity level which was frankly far beyond myself. I simply didn’t say all the stupid things I was thinking!!

All that said, unfortunately, over my 57 years, my mouth has been a huge contributor to my “Hall of Shame.” There have been a hundred thousand million dumb things I’ve said, words I wish I could recall or “right-click-delete.” I seriously have to run for shelter into the Lord’s love just to keep that flood of regrets from overwhelming me.

Before I came to know the Lord one of the things that horrified me was the sudden realization that I could not control my mouth. I would often find myself saying things I knew I would regret, yet be seemingly powerless to stop it. It was a terrible, sinking, hopeless feeling to know I’d said really stupid things (again) but to know in my heart I would only do it again and there was nothing I could do about it. There are not words enough to thank the Lord for this one thing – that as soon as He saved me, He actually gave me the hope that I could “put a lid on it.” I knew the second He entered my life that I wasn’t a slave any more, that somehow He would help me control my mouth. As I said above, I’ve still managed to say a lot of stupid things since then, but the Lord gives me hope. I know that He has helped me change a great deal and He gives me hope I can change more. I know I will always have plenty to regret but, still, with the Lord in my life, I have hope.

So I see it in the Bible and in my own life – this is in fact a subject of considerable importance. What do I do with my mouth? James already said, “Do you see a man who seems to be religious but doesn’t bridle his tongue? His religion is worthless” (1:26). Solomon said, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue” (Prov 18:21). So we wade back into James 3, this major Bible passage on the mouth, hoping to learn more.

What probably strikes me most about these first two verses is this thought: Our mouth is another one of those tools the Lord has given us that can be used either for good or for evil. We saw it in chapter one in regards to wealth. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just a very dangerous tool. Like a gun or a chainsaw or a very sharp knife, our mouths can be very helpful tools. They can help us do a lot of good; but only if we use them with the deepest respect, knowing even as we use them, they are very, very dangerous. As with wealth, as with sharp tools, so our mouth is an instrument capable of great good but also great harm.

I see all this in James’ opening admonition not to be “many teachers.” And why not? Because a teacher is a talker, yet …, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue!” I think back over my own life. Pretty early in my faith, people wanted me to get involved in teaching. As I read James 3:1 and think about it, I wonder if that was a good idea. I actually enjoy teaching, enjoy public-speaking of any kind, and am apparently at least entertaining, but the fact is back then I didn’t have a lick of sense. A great deal of my Hall of Shame is the things I said teaching. It seems like I would have been better off to keep my mouth shut and just learn until I was about 50 years old.

I think, in American Christianity, we very deliberately propel people into teaching positions -- but James’ words make me wonder if that is a good idea. ^“My brothers, let not many become teachers, knowing that we will receive greater judgment, for all stumble much.” Perhaps we’d be better off to have far fewer teachers -- and then have a smaller group actually saying wise things -- than our proliferation of immature teachers disseminating foolishness? It would be easy to hear James and just think we need to cut way back on teaching in the American church. But this is that good/evil balance. One side of me is saying I shouldn’t have been teaching at all and the other side of me wants to say that’s going too far. Just like with wealth, it’s easy to take the Bible admonitions about its danger and conclude we should just avoid it altogether. Yet that isn’t the point of the warnings. The point is to realize these are very dangerous tools – very useful but very dangerous.

David tried this approach in Psalm 39: “I said, ‘I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; …’ So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good. But my anguish increased; my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue.” He thought the answer was to say nothing at all, but quickly found there were things which needed to be said. Once again, it’s not that the tool shouldn’t be used. It’s just that it has to be used with great care.

I suspect we should be far more sober than we are about entering into teaching if we really take to heart the Bible’s warnings, but not to the point we refuse to do what good we can. Like me, there will always be people around who can teach, or what I mean is, there will always be people around who can get up and speak and do it well enough that others will listen. The problem is that the ability to stand up and speak – and do it well – has nothing to do with whether a person has the maturity to actually say anything worth hearing. At minimum, like me, a person may not have walked with God long enough to be able to teach without mixing in a lot of stupidity. At worst, a good public speaker can literally and deliberately lead masses of people astray.

Back to James’ words, “… we will receive greater judgment.” The plain simple fact is “we all stumble much” and our mouths contribute a great deal to that problem.

So, once again, it seems like it would be best just to let no one teach in church until they’re like 80 years old(!). Obviously that is going too far, but I suspect we need to be far more discerning in who we do allow to teach – with youth being a major liability. But then, again, it’s just like a very dangerous, but very useful tool. The answer isn’t to lock it in the shed. We need to put it to good use – all the while realizing this tool we’re using is very, very dangerous and can also do great evil.

To speak or not to speak? To teach or not to teach? Us and our mouths. It is a tricky subject -- one more place where we need the Lord’s wisdom as we grope along the maze of these earthly lives. We just really, really, really need Him, need to stay close to Him, beg His protection, and proceed very consciously in His presence. He alone can take a coal from the altar and touch our unclean tongues so we can say, “Here am I Lord, send me.”

Ruth 3:16-18 – “Amen”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁶and she went to her mother-in-law and she said, “Who [are] you, my daughter?” And she told to her all which the man had done to her. ¹⁷And she said, “The six of the barley the these he gave me because he said to me, ‘Do not go empty to your mother-in-law.’” ¹⁸And she said, “Sit still my daughter, until which you know a matter will fall because the man will not rest until he completes the matter today.”

First of all I have to make a comment which includes verse 15. The end of verse 15 has caused no end of consternation to many commentators because it reads in Hebrew, “and he went to the city.” For some reason, when we read v15, in our minds it should end “and she went to the city.” But the pronoun is not feminine; it is masculine. In support of our intuitions, there are in fact a few old manuscripts which read it as a feminine and the KJV translated it, “and she went …” (in spite of the fact they were usually very faithful to the exact wording of the original). However, the predominance of evidence supports the masculine, “he went.”

My assertion is that, if we disregard the verse divisions, it actually makes perfect sense and flows nicely to accept it as it is written, as a masculine pronoun. In Hebrew (and without noting the verse division) it would read, “… and he went to the city, and she went to her mother-in-law…” Makes me want to say, “Duh,” but that is my cynical side. I was surprised in reading commentaries how many people debated the evidence but apparently never paused to consider the question leaving out the verse divisions. I suspect, to a large extent, it is because they did not take the time to look closely at the Hebrew text. Places like this are exactly why I wanted to study Greek and Hebrew and why I always start my study by carefully scrutinizing the original text itself. If we simply let the Hebrew or Greek say what it says, it often answers the very questions our English translations (and artificial verse divisions) create.

I’m not alone in my conclusion, as I found it written in the Pulpit Commentaries, “If there had been no division into verses, then the departure of both Boaz and Ruth on their respective routes, or in their respective order of sequence, would have been recorded close together: ‘and he went to the city, and she went to her mother-in-law’…” Glad someone else noticed! Obviously, not everyone can have the opportunity (nor the aptitude) to learn the original languages and work in them; but I wish that people who take it on themselves to write commentaries would take more seriously their responsibility to “rightly divide” the Word of Truth. But then again … I am an Engineer. I love to study and actually enjoy scratching around on the bedrock of the original languages. Others have their own aptitudes and probably find my scratchings to be too tedious. “The foot (me) shouldn’t say to the eye, ‘I have no need of you!’” It’s always true that we all need each other.

But, back to our delightful story … One can only imagine the excitement as Ruth arrives home to a waiting Naomi. Interesting how these events occur very early in the morning, yet Naomi is apparently awake and waiting when Ruth returns. In all likelihood, Naomi didn’t get much sleep either – a loving parent anxious and praying through the night for the welfare of this beloved daughter. In the Hebrew, Naomi literally asks, “Who you, my daughter?” Once again, people debate the possible meaning of these words, but I’ll say I strongly suspect this is just a Hebrew way of asking, “How did it go?” As I often note, they thought in pictures, while we think in logical sequences. Often when considering the meaning of an obscure or difficult passage, it seems like it helps a lot to deliberately get into their “picture” mentality and then it makes perfect sense.

Ruth replies by telling her “everything.” Sounds like two ladies! If Ruth was a man, she probably would have walked in the house and said, “Yeah. Looks like it’s a done deal. Is breakfast ready?” Men, it seems to me, generally love to “bottom-line” everything and move on. It’s the ladies who want to (need to) talk through the various details. And so they do here. Ruth tells Naomi “everything!”

I suspect it is significant to note that v17 includes the last recorded words of Ruth, saying “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” It is interesting that Naomi’s lament when she and Ruth first arrived back at Bethlehem were “I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.” It was the same Hebrew word for “empty.” Naomi (Israel), in her grief, thought the Lord had left her empty, but now Boaz (the Redeemer) wants to make sure she, in fact, is not empty and he does it through Ruth (the Gentile). I don’t know if the pattern is simply fractal or if the Lord is deliberately painting a prophetic picture, but it is interesting to note.

Interesting too that Ruth’s last words are actually repeating Boaz’s words – the betrothed bride speaking the Redeemer’s words. How like the Church, yes? Our great Redeemer is the very Word of God, and yet He has called us His bride to speak and live out His words here on earth. Back to pictures – how does the world know of the great kindness of the Redeemer? When the Bride says, “He gave me these … and He doesn’t want you to be empty.” We are blessed to bless, yes?

Then it is of interest to note that v18 presents to us the last recorded words of Naomi. She says, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.” I often think it interesting to note that the Bible was recorded for us entirely by Jewish writers. Even for this church age, this age of glory for us Gentiles, yet the Lord’s words come to us from Jewish hands. And what would be the counsel of our Jewish friends to us Gentiles? “Be patient, then, brothers, unto the coming of the Lord … be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near” (James 5:7,8). A Jewish writer (John) ends the Scriptures with the words, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” And the last recorded words of this Jewish woman to her Gentile daughter are in effect, “Be patient, my daughter, for, in just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay” (taken from Hebrews 10:37, quoting Habakkuk 2:3,4). The prophetic similarities between all of this and our heavenly Redeemer are striking, yes?

Also in a (perhaps) more immediately practical vein, I think it interesting to note Naomi’s words to Ruth. Here is an older woman, counseling a young woman, an older believer counseling this young one. Her counsel is to say, “Be patient. You can count on Boaz.” I think it admirable of Boaz that Naomi apparently knows of his character, that his word is his bond, that he will do exactly what he said he would, and that he will do it diligently. But then, what Naomi is teaching Ruth is that this is a man you too can admire, a man you can count on. Certainly for all of us, patience and waiting are virtues to be cultivated. They don’t come naturally to any of us and certainly not to the young. But there are people in this world we can count on and it behooves us all to figure out who they are! (and aren’t!) I think of Paul’s instruction to Titus to teach the older women “to teach the younger women to be sensible …” (Titus 2:4) That is precisely what Naomi is doing here. The strength of the young is their energy, but that energy begs wise disposal. Sometimes it simply needs to be corralled and the young person counselled to “sit still and wait.” Even those of us with far less energy need that counsel!

Of course, too, we can note the application to our waiting on the Lord. F.B. Meyer said,

In times of difficulty--be still! …hast thou not heard His voice saying: "This is the way, walk ye in it"? Then leave Him to deal with thy foes from whatever quarter they come. He is thy Rock, and rocks do not shake. He is thy High Tower, and a high tower cannot be flooded. Thou needest mercy, and to Him belongeth mercy. Do not run hither and thither in panic! Just quietly wait, hushing thy soul, as He did the fears of His friends on the eve of Gethsemane and Calvary. "Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him." "Be still, for He will not rest, until He hath finished the thing this day." If this day I should get lost amid the perplexities of life and the rush of many duties, do Thou search me out, gracious Lord, and bring me back into the quiet of Thy presence. AMEN.

Amen. And also, before leaving this post, I would like to include an extensive quote of the venerable old Robert Hawker (ca. 1790) who wrote of these verses:

“… I do not know any passage in the whole bible more interesting, considered in reference to the person of the Lord Jesus, and his love and attention to his people, than this; in which Naomi saith: the man will not rest until he have finished the thing this day. A word which every true believer may use. The God-man Christ Jesus will not cease; doth not even now in glory remit one moment his priestly office, in the carrying on, and completing that redemption in his people, which on earth he finished for his people; when by righteousness he justified them, and by the one offering of himself once offered, he perfected forever them that are sanctified. Hebrews 10:14. Lord! help both Writer and Reader to believe the record which God hath given of his Son! 1 John 5:10-12. And there is one circumstance more in those precious words, considered as applicable to the person of the God-man Christ Jesus, which I could wish ever to keep in view myself, And which I would affectionately recommend to every lover of Jesus: namely, that the seeking soul is not more earnest for a speedy issue in his treaty with Jesus, than the Lord Jesus himself is. Reader! it is equally true in the case of every humble follower of Jesus, as in the instance of Boaz and Ruth, and may be said with equal truth and confidence, the God-man will not rest, until he have finished the thing, in this day of salvation. And what a relief would such a thought bring in every dark and trying hour, if cherished with full faith and affection under the influence of the Holy Ghost in the heart, that the soul is not more desirous to win Christ, than Christ to reveal himself to that soul, and to form himself there the hope of glory.

… My soul! In the perusal of this chapter, I would say to thee, as Naomi did to Ruth, Shall I not seek rest for thee? And can there be any rest on this side the grave, but in Jesus? is he not the rest wherewith the Lord will cause the weary to rest, and is he not the refreshing! And as an encouragement to go to him, may I not say as sine did: Is he not of my kindred? Hath he not married our nature: united it to himself, and become bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh? And can I go to one nearer and dearer than he? And doth he not hold a constant feast in his harvest seasons? And are they not in his church perpetual? Oh! for grace to anoint myself, and the sweet washings of the Holy Spirit, that I may go forth and lie low at his feet, and seek from the blessed condescensions of his love, that he may spread his skirt of righteousness, and his garment of salvation, over me, and betroth me to himself forever, in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies: yea betroth me unto himself in faithfulness and that I may know the Lord.

And, dearest Jesus! give me grace while I wait at thy feet, that I may lie passive until the morning. Oh! for the lively actings of faith to believe what my God hath promised, and that he will do the kinsman's part, for he hath said it.

Amen and amen.