Posted on 09/16/2020 6:01:46 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends” (Proverbs 16:28).
There are three types of men here in these verses. An ungodly man (27), a forward man (28), and a violent man (29). By the time we get to verse 30, it is probably all the same fellow.
The ungodly man is digging up evil, constantly looking for trouble. A forward man, or a man with a perverse heart, sows’ strife. A whisperer, or a gossiper, separates good friends. And the violent man tempts his neighbor to do wrong.
“A froward man soweth strife,” certain people get all excited when they see this word, “froward.” “See there, the King James Bible has errors in it! Look here, they even spelled ‘forward’ wrong!” Nope, sorry. It isn’t ‘forward,’ it is ‘froward,’ just as the Author intended. The word means perverse or crooked. It speaks of someone not going the right way. “For” is forward, while “fro” is backward, as in “to and fro.” Sorry, Bible correctors. Better luck next time!
“. . . and a whisperer separateth chief friends,” this is the fellow (same man as the forward) that runs around pretending to be everybody’s best friend while telling stories behind the backs of all about the others. “He said that about me?” He happily watches as two friends go at each other while they don’t even stop to think that it is he that is sowing the discord among them.
God hates that business, as we saw back in Proverbs 6: “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:16-19).
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