“The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue” (Proverbs 25:23).
“The north wind driveth away rain,” that’s the cold wind. When you have a north wind, it gets cold. You don't have any rain, but you might have ice and snow, but you don’t get any rain.
“. . . so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue,” here is the time to be angry, I guess, what it is here, is somebody is gossiping to you or in front of you and you want to stop it. Immediately you show a countenance that does not accept it, that shows its disapproval. The Bible says, “be angry and sin not” (Ephesians 4:26). Now, here's a good time to be angry.
“But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5:22).
Christ spoke of being angry “without a cause,” well, here is a good cause. This is the proper time.
The new versions have taken “without a cause” from the corrupted Bibles and so they turn Jesus Christ into a sinner because He definitely became angry with the money changers in the temple, but he also had a cause. Well, no matter, the new versions condemn any kind of anger.
“The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance,” I mean, somebody starts backbiting the preacher, or is backbiting your brother or sister in Christ; you show anger, “I don't want to hear that! That's not right! You got a problem with them? you go to them.” You won't hear much more from them on this issue.
“. . . so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue,” anger is good when someone criticizes a person not present. Get indignant! Tell the person to stop running others down. Tell the person to take up their attack with the party directly. Tell them, if they cannot say something good, then not to say anything at all.
But now, don't let the sun go down on your wrath. Don't stay angry. Let them take care of their problem on their own. That’s between them and God. You’ve done all you can do. So, it’s time to get let it go, unless they approach you on the subject again. They probably won’t.
Most commentators violently pervert these words of God, much like the serpent in Eden, by making the first clause read: “The north wind brings forth rain.” But even a child can know they are wrong, by a simple comparison with the parallelism of the second clause. Does an angry countenance bring forth backbiting, or drive it away? Let God be true!
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