What can an untamed tongue be compared?
To a dog tied with an iron chain and locked in a room within a room within a room, yet when it barks the entire populace is terrified of it. Just for a moment, imagine if this animal were to get loose and escape on the outside!
So too the untamed tongue: it is secured behind the teeth and behind the lips, yet it does no end of damage. [Yalkut Shimoni]
A sharp tongue is a weapon, no less as effective as a pointed spear or a sword honed to a razor’s edge. A sharp tongue has no place among the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). It does not express love, spread joy or promote peace. It shows no patience, kindness or goodness in its words. It betrays faithfulness and gentleness, and most of all, it shows no measure of self-control.
Uncontrolled and untamed, without interference, the untamed tongue is as a fire, it can spread to leave absolutely nothing untouched, unscorched, and unaffected. It is startling to think that fire, of itself, could erase all life from the earth! Were it to burn and spread unaffected by rain, wind, or the efforts of man, it could conceivably cover the earth and burn all life and all oxygen from our world.
Obtained Wisdom
Before we speak, we who are wise must learn to be master of one’s own words. For after you speak, one’s words will master you. Evil talk, slander, rumors and empty gossip kills three people: the speaker; the listener, and the one who is spoken of.
- The speaker commits a grave sin by speaking negatively about an individual.
- The listener is a co/partner to this evil.
- The one who is spoken of negative traits are worsened by the fact of the evil talk of the speaker.
By speaking negatively of a person’s trait, deed or person, the evil speaker are with their words, granting substance and validity to it. On the other hand, the same applies in the reverse: speaking favorably of another, accentuating their positive side, will assist them in realizing themselves in the manner that you have defined them in.
Additional site that are useful:
http://hubpages.com/literature/Words-That-Penetrate-The-Human-Soul
Grace and Peace
https://www.facebook.com/First-Fruits-Perspectives-487225171447417/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
This study is the result of my study of Parashah 28 M’tzora, Leviticus 14:1-15:33. Contents was gleaned from A Taste of Text: www.chabad.org/1583409 James 3:5-6 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%203