When the Outcome of Hatred is Flattery and Slander
Commonplace –
“He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool” (Proverbs 10:18).
The first seventeen verses of Proverbs 10 juxtaposed good and evil. This is the first verse without a ‘but’. Solomon gives two scenarios: hiding hatred with lying lips and uttering slander and both actions are those of a fool. There is no good in them.
In the first action, hiding hatred with lying lips is hypocritical. We should hate evil, so hatred isn’t bad, if it is directed correctly. Hating and hiding it is bad, because, if we know something is evil, we should not lie and say we do not hate it. There is a time to speak out, there is a time to remain quiet, but there is not a time to lie about it in order to make ourselves easier or appease the hearer.
In the second action, Solomon points out that turning hatred into slander is also foolish. This seems pretty straight forward. Slander is awful; the slanderer is lying about someone in order to harm their reputation. Yet, gossip is often the outcome of hatred. People love to hear bad things about other people.
Matthew Henry connects the two actions in his Commentary. Hatred isn’t good when it “is concealed by flattery and dissimulaiton”, but it is also not good when it is “vented in spiteful and mischievous language” (693). If we have hatred toward something, we must learn self-control.
Works Cited
Henry, Matthew. “Proverbs 10:18.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.
Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.
© 2025 Angela Hormberg
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