DO NOT GO UP AND DOWN AS A TALEBEARER

The word, talebearer, is used six times in the Authorized Version and is a translation of two different Hebrew words. The one con­veys the idea of a scandalmonger and slanderer and the other of a whisperer. Both are distasteful to God so here He prohibits the shameful business of peddling in gossip.

Going ‘up and down as a talebearer’ infers that there are those who specialize in tittle-tattle and love to be carriers of the juicy material that whets the appetite of the chattering classes. Nowadays, a ‘tattler’ has no need to ‘wander about from house to house’. Technology has created a paradise for him or her in the form of telephones, e-mails and text messages!

The talebearer should take note that he or she is in contrast to a man who is ‘of a faithful spirit’, Prov. 11.13. Which would you rather be, the sort of person who delights to betray confidences, or the faithful type whose lips are sealed? The talebearer’s words ‘are as wounds’, Prov. 18.8; 26. 22. He thinks nothing of injuring people by exposing their failures and rubbing salt into already painful wounds. The embarrassed believer could be further shamed if I fail to remember that ‘love covereth a multitude of sins’, 1 Pet. 4. 8. R.V. Young’s literal trans­lation leaves the impression that the talebearer’s words are self-inflicted wounds. His activity is self-destructive, creating bit­terness in his own heart. other translations describe his words as ‘dainty morsels’. There is perverse pleasure in giving ear to gossip!

The talebearer’s gossip should never be welcomed, Prov. 20. 19. Even if a story were true, do I need to hear it; is it being told with malicious intent; would it be kind to repeat it? Don’t meddle with the talebearer! Give him no encouragement at all.

The talebearer’s words can fuel the flames of conflict, Prov. 26. 20. His spiteful intervention is like adding wood to a fire, a fire that would soon be extinguished were it not for the activity of the busybody. Doeg incriminated Ahimelech the priest and the result was genocide. His tale bearing had stoked the flames of hatred in the heart of king Saul, 1 Sam. 22. 6-23. ‘Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people’.