Proverbs 17:9 teaches that “covering an offense promotes love.” John Gill defines this type of confidentiality as follows:
He that hides the transgression of another, or of his friend, committed against himself or against another, which he is privy to; but the matter being made up, and the offence forgiven, he forgets it, and no more speaks of it to his friend, or upbraids him with it, nor spreads it among others: such a man shows that he loves his friend.
“Covering” is confidentiality. Confidentiality is hiding a transgression, forgetting the offense, not speaking of it, and not spreading it among others. Showing this type of confidentiality promotes love. Likewise, “whoever repeats the matter separates close friends” (Prva 17:9). Again, it is clear that “repeating the matter,” bringing up “a past offense” to the offender and to others is a form of gossip, unlike the preferred “burying it in the oblivion.” This “malevolent communicator is the gossip, who destroys a community already threatened by transgression,” Waltke notes, and is one who damages relationships by separating “close friends.” The closest friendships (literally, “chief friend” ) can be ruined by people who let out personal things about others. …show more content…
In fact, the verse instructs the reader to “avoid anyone who talks too much” (20:19). The meaning of the proverb is reinforced by its structure as a synonymous parallelism: A gossip betrays a
He that hides the transgression of another, or of his friend, committed against himself or against another, which he is privy to; but the matter being made up, and the offence forgiven, he forgets it, and no more speaks of it to his friend, or upbraids him with it, nor spreads it among others: such a man shows that he loves his friend.
“Covering” is confidentiality. Confidentiality is hiding a transgression, forgetting the offense, not speaking of it, and not spreading it among others. Showing this type of confidentiality promotes love. Likewise, “whoever repeats the matter separates close friends” (Prva 17:9). Again, it is clear that “repeating the matter,” bringing up “a past offense” to the offender and to others is a form of gossip, unlike the preferred “burying it in the oblivion.” This “malevolent communicator is the gossip, who destroys a community already threatened by transgression,” Waltke notes, and is one who damages relationships by separating “close friends.” The closest friendships (literally, “chief friend” ) can be ruined by people who let out personal things about others. …show more content…
In fact, the verse instructs the reader to “avoid anyone who talks too much” (20:19). The meaning of the proverb is reinforced by its structure as a synonymous parallelism: A gossip betrays a