Proverbs 25:23

The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(23) The north wind driveth away rain.—The marginal rendering is probably more correct: “The north wind bringeth forth rain;” but as this seems to be opposed to Job 37:22, it has been thought that the north-west, which is a rainy wind, must be intended here.

So doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.—Rather, So doth a backbiting tongue (bring forth, or cause) troubled faces.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 25:23. The north wind, &c. — “As the sharpness of the north wind scatters clouds, and drives away rain, so a severe countenance, full of indignation against him that traduces his neighbour, not only gives a check, but puts a stop to his slanderous tongue; which would not tell such lies if they were not greedily received.” So Bishop Patrick, who justly observes, however, that the verse will admit of a quite contrary sense; as, indeed, the reader may see by the margin, where he finds a translation of the words very different from that in the text, but more agreeable to the Hebrew original, and countenanced by most of the ancient interpreters. Thus the Chaldee renders the first clause, The north wind, משׂנא, concipit, conceives, or produces, rain: and the Seventy, ανεμος βορεας εξεγειρει νεφη, the north wind raises clouds. Undoubtedly the north wind brings clouds and rain in some climates, and if, as some assert, it generally does so in Judea, as according to Aristotle it does in those parts of Africa which border on the Mediterranean sea, this interpretation ought certainly to be preferred. Either of them, however, shows the odious disposition and character of backbiters; and that they ought to be discountenanced and frowned upon by all that love their fellow-creatures, and wish peace to be promoted among men.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:19. Confidence in an unfaithful man is painful and vexatious; when we put any stress on him, he not only fails, but makes us feel for it. 20. We take a wrong course if we think to relieve those in sorrow by endeavouring to make them merry. 21,22. The precept to love even our enemies is an Old Testament commandment. Our Saviour has shown his own great example in loving us when we were enemies. 23. Slanders would not be so readily spoken, if they were not readily heard. Sin, if it receives any check, becomes cowardly. 24. It is better to be alone, than to be joined to one who is a hinderance to the comfort of life. 25. Heaven is a country afar off; how refreshing is good news from thence, in the everlasting gospel, which signifies glad tidings, and in the witness of the Spirit with our spirits that we are God's children! 26. When the righteous are led into sin, it is as hurtful as if the public fountains were poisoned. 27. We must be, through grace, dead to the pleasures of sense, and also to the praises of men. 28. The man who has no command over his anger, is easily robbed of peace. Let us give up ourselves to the Lord, and pray him to put his Spirit within us, and cause us to walk in his statutes.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The marginal reading is far more accurate and gives a better sense. The northwest wind in Palestine commonly brings rain, and this was probably in the thought of the writer.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23. Better, "As the north wind bringeth forth (Ps 90:2) or produces rain, so does a concealed or slandering tongue produce anger."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

An angry countenance in the hearer, who by his countenance showeth his dislike of such persons and practices.

A backbiting tongue, Heb. a secret tongue, which privily slandereth his neighbour, as it is expressed, Psalm 101:5, and as the manner of backbiters is. But this verse is otherwise rendered in the margin, and by divers others, the north wind bringeth forth (as this verb properly and most frequently signifies, and as it is rendered by all the ancient interpreters, and by many others) rain (which it doth in Judea, because the sea lies northward as well as westward from it, as also in Africa, as Aristotle observes, though it drive away rain in countries of another situation):

so doth a backbiting tongue (cause)

an angry countenance; it causeth much anger and mischief; both to the person slandered, and to the slanderer, and to other persons who may be concerned with or for either of them, as is manifest from common experience.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The north wind driveth away rain,.... So the geographer (w) says, the swift north wind drives away the moist clouds; which usually come from the opposite quarter, the south. The word used has the signification of conceiving, and begetting, and bringing forth; hence some (x) render it to a different sense, and so the Targum,

"the north wind bringeth forth rain;''

and in this sense Gersom interprets it, and says,

"the north wind produces rain in Jerusalem, because it brings there the vapours that ascend from the sea, which lies north unto it;''

and the philosopher (y) says, that in the northern parts of the world the south wind produces rain; and in the southern parts the north wind produces it, as in Judea. But in Job 37:22, fair, fine, golden, serene, "weather", is said to "come out of the north"; agreeably to which, the north wind is by Homer (z) called the producer of serene weather; and by Virgil (a) "clarus aquilo", i.e. what makes serene. The Arabic version reads it, "the south wind"; and that does bring rain, and, as that version has it, excites the clouds. But the first reading and sense of the words seem best (b), and agree with what follows:

so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue; drives it away, discourages and silences it. When a man puts on a stern countenance, a frowning and angry look, on such who bring him slanderous reports and idle tales of their neighbours, and reproach and backbite them, it checks them, and puts a stop to their practices; whereas listening to them, and especially with an air of pleasure, encourages them in them; were there not so many that take pleasure in hearing those talebearers and backbiters, were they more roughly dealt with, as the blustering north wind does with the rain, there would not be so much of this evil practised.

(w) Dionysii Perieg. v. 532. (x) "parturiet", Montanus; "gignit", Junius & Tremellius; "parturit", Schultens. (y) Aristot. Metaphysic. l. 2.((z) Iliad. 19. v. 358. Odyss. 5. v. 295. (a) Georgic. l. 1. prope finem. (b) "Ventorum frigidissimi quos a septentrione diximus spirare, et reliquos compescunt, et nubes abigunt", Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 47.

Geneva Study Bible

The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

23. driveth away] Rather, bringeth forth, A.V. marg., R.V. text. The rendering of A.V. text follows the Vulg., dissipat pluvias, and is apparently supported by Job 37:22 : “Fair weather,” or “golden brightness, cometh out of the north,” a phenomenon which is there attributed to the action of the wind blowing from that quarter (see Proverbs 25:21 and note in this Series). But by “north” may perhaps here be meant “north-west.” (“Intelligendus ille ventus qui inter aquilonem et occasum flat, Thrascias sive Caurus, qui a Seneca in Hippol. 25:1130 imbrifer dicitur,” Rosenm.) The comparison thus becomes clear and forcible: The north wind bringeth forth rain. The secret action of the wind covers the heaven with clouds, so doth (adopting R.V. in preference to A.V.) a backbiting tongue an angry countenance; its secret malignity is sure to be discovered and to clothe the countenance of its victim with dark anger.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 23. - The north wind driveth away rain. So St. Jerome (Ventus Aquilo dissipat pluvias), Symmachus, Aben Ezra, and others. The north wind is called by the natives of Palestine "the heavenly," from the bright effect which it produces in the sky. "By means of the north wind cometh he (the sun) forth as gold" (Job 37:22). But the verb here used (חול) means "to bring forth, produce" (Psalm 90:2); hence the Revised Version rightly renders, "The north wind bringeth forth rain." This is quite true if "north wind" be taken as equivalent to "wind from the dark quarter" (Umbreit), like ζόφος in Greek; and, in fact, the northwest wind in Palestine does bring rain. Septuagint, "The north wind arouseth (ἐξεγείρει) clouds." So doth an angry countenance a backbiting, tongue. Carrying on the interpretation intended by the Authorized Version, this clause means that an angry leer will check a slanderer and incline him to hold his peace from prudential motives. But with the rendering given above, "bringeth forth," another explanation is involved, viz. "So does a secret, slandering tongue cause a troubled countenance." When a man discovers that a secret slanderer is working against him, he shows it by his gloomy and angry look, as the sky is dark with clouds when a storm is threatened. "Countenance" is plural in the Hebrew, denoting, as Hitzig points out, that the calumniator does not affect one person only, but occasions trouble far and wide, destroys friendly relations between many, excites suspicion and enmity in various quarters Septuagint, "An impudent countenance provokes the tongue." Proverbs 25:23

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The next group of proverbs extends from Proverbs 25:23 to Proverbs 25:28.

23 Wind from the north produceth rain;

     And a secret tongue a troubled countenance.

The north is called צפון, from צפן, to conceal, from the firmament darkening itself for a longer time, and more easily, like the old Persian apâkhtara, as (so it appears) the starless, and, like aquilo, the north wind, as bringing forward the black clouds. But properly the "fathers of rain" are, in Syria, the west and the south-west; and so little can צפון here mean the pure north wind, that Jerome, who knew from his own experience the changes of weather in Palestine, helps himself, after Symmachus (διαλύει βροχήν), with a quid pro quo out of the difficulty: ventus aquilo dissipat pluvias; the Jewish interpreters (Aben Ezra, Joseph Kimchi, and Meri) also thus explain, for they connect together תחולל, in the meaning תמנע, with the unintelligible חלילה (far be it!). But צפון may also, perhaps like ζόφος (Deutsch. Morgenl. Zeitsch. xxi. 600f.), standing not without connection therewith, denote the northwest; and probably the proverb emphasized the northern direction of the compass, because, according to the intention of the similitude, he seeks to designate such rain as is associated with raw, icy-cold weather, as the north wind (Proverbs 27:16, lxx, Sir. 43:20) brings along with it. The names of the winds are gen. fem., e.g., Isaiah 43:6. תּחולל (Aquila, ὠδίνει; cf. Proverbs 8:24, ὠδινήθην) has in Codd., e.g., the Jaman., the tone on the penult., and with Tsere Metheg (Thorath Emeth, p. 21) serving as העמדה. So also the Arab. nataj is used of the wind, as helping the birth of the rain-clouds. Manifestly פנים נזעמים, countenances manifesting extreme displeasure (vid., the Kal זעם, Proverbs 24:24), are compared to rain. With justice Hitzig renders פנים, as e.g., John 2:6, in the plur. sense; because, for the influence which the tongue slandering in secret (Psalm 101:5) has on the slandered, the "sorrowful countenance" would not be so characteristic as for the influence which it exercises on the mutual relationships of men: the secret babbler, the confidential communication throwing suspicion, now on this one and now on that one, behind their backs, excites men against one another, so that one shows to another a countenance in which deep displeasure and suspicion express themselves.