A Word in Season: Apples of Gold (Proverbs 25:11-12)

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Some words are like daggers, some words are like bludgeons, but some words are like apples of gold in settings of silver.

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Those are the words that are fitly spoken according to Proverbs 25 verse 11.

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Now the language is not necessarily the most simple, but it seems to refer to some beautiful piece of ornamentation, perhaps jewellery, perhaps something else that's on display somewhere.

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But these apples of gold in settings of silver, there's something that is beautifully precious in itself and beautifully presented in addition.

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And so it is with a word that is fitly spoken. Here is a wise man or woman who is choosing the right words at the right time for the right purpose with the right motive.

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The care with which they are chosen, the balance of them, the thought that goes behind them, the angle of approach in order that they may be well received, the moment that you select in order to communicate what is in your heart.

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Now that may be a word of encouragement, that may be a word of instruction, it may be a word of exhortation, it may be a word of admonition, it may be a word of rebuke.

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But the point is that these words are well chosen for time, purpose, weight, direction in order to accomplish what they're intended to accomplish.

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And when that's so, there is a beauty that is in them, there's something that is delightful about them.

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If that's true in the more positive senses, how much more so when it is in that matter of admonition or rebuke?

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Admonition is putting somebody in mind of something, it's bringing something back to somebody's attention that perhaps has slidden away or is in danger of doing so.

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Rebuke, the reproof that brings to one's attention that in which they are going wrong and calling them back into the right way.

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Well, if a word fitly spoken generally is like an apple of gold in a setting of silver, then like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise rebuker to an obedient ear.

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I wonder if there's something in the fact there that the earring of gold hangs upon the ear that carries over to that wise rebuker speaking into the obedient ear.

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When we're called to bring something to somebody's attention in this way, then how much more careful do we need to be?

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The issue is not so much whether or not we are going to offend somebody. It often happens that rebuke does offend, and that's not going to be our first concern.

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But our question will be, how can I bring this so that even if there is an offence, even if it does provoke for who likes to be reproved, there is still a reception of it?

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So here you have the wise rebuker who is again thinking thoughtfully and carefully about how and where and when and to what end he's going to bring this matter to the attention of the person who needs to be rebuked.

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But notice there's something on the other side here as well. This is an obedient ear.

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There is an anticipated humility and readiness to receive this reproof.

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And to be honest, it's even rarer to find an obedient ear than it is to find a wise rebuker.

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We naturally rebel against being told that we are not in the right way and that we need to get back into it.

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So there are two parts to this that we need to take into account. First of all, there's a higher level and then a lower level.

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And then on the lower level, if you will, as you get down into the nitty gritty, there's this concern to be right on both parts.

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On the higher level, let's consider the words that we use, how and where and when we speak, that our speech may be like apples of gold in settings of silver.

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And particularly when we come to deal with sin or confusion or error, that we should be speaking with wisdom.

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A wise rebuker who is like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold, but also the obedient ear that our hearts are prepared to hear and where appropriate to properly heed the wise rebukes that come our way.

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There really is a beauty in wise, gracious speech.

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And there's a beauty, too, in humbly receiving such words. Let us, by God's spirit and for the sake of our crucified