Proverbs 14:3 “Shoot!” says the shoot
A fool’s mouth lashes out with pride, but the lips of the wise protect them.
Proverbs 14:3 NIV
Literally: In a fool’s mouth is a shoot for his swelling, lips of the wise keep, watch, preserve.
Lashes out with pride: “is a rod for his back” (NAS) “is a rod of pride” (NKJV), is a haughty rod (EBR)
His own mouth furnishes “a rod for his pride” (R.V. marg.); his own words cause his humiliation. Instead of “rod,” however, we may render “shoot” (R.V. marg.): proud words spring out of his mouth like a sucker or branch (comp. Isaiah 11:1, the only other place in which the same Heb. word occurs). Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges.
Digging into the Hebrew, there are couple of ways to interpret this verse. The focus of the verse is the “rod” that comes from the mouth of fool which literally translated means a “shoot” or “a new growth [from a plant].” Something new. Unproven. Not developed. Over time, parents and disciplinarians conveniently use it as a switch or lash for punishment, so the connection makes sense. The growth is unrefined, undeveloped. Wild. Things need time to grow into what they will become. Experience moderates youth. One needs to mature in order to be around others and get along. As kids develop, the self-centered natural focus — the child being the center of the universe — grows into something much better.
Unless it doesn’t.
By comparison, when my heart has been tempered by life, learned to respect and honor others, received correction and feedback, I learn that every emotion I feel, every word I want to spout (or sprout) isn’t always helpful. Instead, from my heart come words that reflect a character that acts as GoreTech against and angry downpour — it guards me and keeps me dry.
The fruit of one lifestyle brings a lash for discipline and correction — which will again, probably be ignored. The fruit of the other brings safety and security because the one speaking has already considered the cause and effect of well-spoken or ill-spoken words.
Two people. One foolish, one wise. Both have capacity for good. Yet the fruits of both are vastly different. It reminds me of the story of the three little pigs. The house of the first was from hay and stubble. The house of the last was from bricks or stone. Both build, but only one is secure. Jesus told the parable of building on the rock or on the sand.
There is something so incredibly important about s heart that listens. The shoot grows from my thought may be something good. Isaiah speaks of a tender shoot in Isaiah 11:1. It comes from a stump of a tree which has been cut down. But the life in that tree still flows and from it comes the Messiah. I too am a shoot that has been grafted into the Messiah’s vine. And according to the analogy, the Gardner trims the growth so it will produce even more fruit. Shoots and growth are necessary, but best to let it develop into what it should be. And I rest knowing I have the best arborist in the universe.