Proverbs 17:7 - Exposition

Excellent speech becometh not a fool. שְׂפַת יָתֶר ; verba composita , Vulgate, i.e. studied, complicated, expressions; χείλη πιστά , "faithful lips," Septuagint. Others translate, "arrogant," "pretentious." It is literally, a lip of excess or superabundance, and is best taken in the above sense, as arrogant or assuming. A nabal , a "vicious fool," ought not to flaunt his unwisdom and his iniquities before the eyes of men, but to keep them hidden as much as possible. As such presumptuous behaviour is incongruous in the case of a fool, much less do lying lips [become] a prince; a noble person, such a one as is called in Isaiah ( Isaiah 32:8 ) "liberal," where the same word, nadib , is used. This is an illustration of the saying, "Noblesse oblige." Thus the Greek gnome—

ἐλευθέρου γὰρ ἀνδρὸς ἀλήθειαν λέγειν

"A free man's part it is the truth to speak."

To John the Good, King of France, is attributed the noble maxim which well became his chivalrous character, "Si la bonne foi etait bannie du reste du monde, il faudrait qu'on la retrouvat dans le coeur des rois" (Bonnechose, 'Hist. de France,' 1.310). "My son," says the rabbi in the Talmud, "avoid lying first of all; for a lie will tarnish the brightness of thy honour." For "prince," the Septuagint has, "a just man," which makes the maxim a mere truism.