Whohas not felt the superiority of the power of Job’s words compared with those of the words of his friends?
How is this? Job suffered, struggled, and sorrowed, and therefore he learned something of the human heart. Irritating to him were the words of his friends. Those words were as nothing; they reproved nothing; they appealed to nothing in the sorrow-stricken man. Righteous words would have been precious to him; hence his bitter disappointment after listening to the effusion of Eliphaz. Who has not felt the feebleness of mere platitudes when the soul has longed for sympathy?
I. That words may possess a righteous or unrighteous character. “Right words.” God declared to Job’s friends, “Ye have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath.”
1. The power of speech is a Divine gift. Whether words were originally given, or were elaborated by the faculty of speech, does not alter the question of the Divine origin of the gift. Without speech, where would have been the outcome of man’s spiritual energies? How the soul speaks in the voice! “Burning words” proclaim the power of the spirit that is in man.
2. The Divine gift of words is intended to be a righteous power. By perversion of words sin was introduced; by the righteousness of words error and evil shall be destroyed. The words of God “are spirit and life.”
3. In proportion to the excellence of the gift will be the responsibility of the speaker. “By thy words shalt thou be justified,” etc.
II. The power of words for good or evil is in proportion to their righteousness or unrighteousness. “Doth not the ear try words?” “Righteous words reprove.”
1. The words of God are instruments of righteousness. “Do not My words do good?” (Mic_2:7.)
2. The words of man are only righteous as they harmonise with the words of God. “Let your speech be always with grace” (Col_4:6).
3. In the “war of words” the righteous words shall be victorious. Great is truth, and must prevail.
4. Divine power operates through the words of the good. “I will be to thee a mouth and wisdom.” Therefore “how forcible are right words!”
5. Evil words are destructive. “Whose word doth eat as doth a canker.” The unrighteous words of Job’s friends possessed a power that forced him to exclaim, “How forcible are right words!” (Bishop Percival.)
Right words
Wordsare right three ways.
I. In the matter, when they are true.
II. In the manner, when they are plain, direct, and perspicuous.
III. In their use, when they are duly and properly applied; when the arrow is carried home to the white, then they are right words, or words of righteousness. When this threefold rightness meets in words, how forcible, how strong are such words! (J. Caryl.)
The potency of language
Language is more than the expression of ideas. It sustains a more vital relation. Thought is a remote abstraction until it becomes visible, tangible, concrete, in words. Hence Wordsworth, with profound philosophy, wrote, “Language is the incarnation of thought.” But more than this, a man knows not what he thinks until he tries to put it into words. The tongue or pen sometimes like a whetstone sharpens thought, giving it edge and point; sometimes like a painter’s pencil, it communicates definiteness, precision, and exquisite colouring to the outlines of thought; again, like a prism, it seems to analyse and separate blended ideas; again, like a crystal, it imparts clearness, symmetry, brilliance; or like a mirror, it reflects and multiplies the rays of light. Verily, “how forcible are right words!”(A. T. Pierson, D. D.)
