“A talebearer
goes about revealing secrets:but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a
matter” (Prov. 11:13).

        Talebearing,
even though the tales be true, is most mischievous. If there be a fault, to
lovingly admonish in private, and then conceal from all others, is in
accordance with the mind of God.

        There is an
instructive word in this connection in Exodus 37. Verses 17-24 relate to the
making of the candlestick, or lamp stand, for the tabernacle. Among the
accessories to it, we read in verse 23 that Moses “made his seven lamps, and
his snuffers, and his snuff-dishes, of pure gold.” We find here something that
is intensely interesting and unspeakably precious. No lamp will long burn well
without occasional snuffing. Hence God has made provision even for so
apparently insignificant a matter as this. To the mind of man it might seem of
trifling importance as to how a light was snuffed, and what was done with the
black snuff afterwards. In God’s eye, nothing is trivial that concerns the
glory of His Son, or the welfare of His people.

        The snuffers
were made “of pure gold”—that which symbolizes the divine glory, and speaks,
too, of perfect righteousness. It may often happen that some saint of God is
losing his brightness, and no longer shining for Him as he once did. It is the
priest with the golden tongs to whom is entrusted the delicate task of
“snuffing.” “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest you
also be tempted” (Gal. 6:1). Thus will the “snuffing” be accomplished according
to God, and the restored brother’s light burn all the brighter for it.

        But what then? Is
the evil to be spread abroad, and made a matter of common knowledge? Ah, there
were not only the snuffers, but the snuff-dishes; and they too were of pure
gold! The priest was to put carefully away, in these golden receptacles, the
black, dirty snuff which he had removed from the wick. To have gone about
spreading the filth upon the spotless garments of other priests would have been
to defile them all. It must be hidden away in the presence of God! Is not this
where we often fail?

        How much grief
and sorrow might have been prevented in many an assembly if the golden
snuff-dishes had been more often used! On every hand we hear of strife and
discord brought about through evil speaking; and it is remarkable how ready we
are to listen to that which we know can only defile. Oh that there might be
more “angry countenances” among us when the backbiter is out seeking to spot
and blacken the snowy garments of God’s holy priests (Prov. 25:23)!

        In the New
Testament the divine way of dealing with a brother’s fault is clearly defined:
“Moreover if your brother shall trespass against you, go and tell him his fault
between you and him alone:if he shall hear you, you have gained your brother”
(Matt. 18:15). If brethren would sternly refuse to listen to complaints against
others until this first condition has been complied with, it would go far to do
away with evil speaking. Many a brother would be won if approached in priestly
nearness to God by one who carried with him the golden snuffers and the
snuff-dish.

        But if he
refuse to hear? Then “take with you one or two more.” And if still willful, as
a last resource, “tell it unto the church” (Matt. 18:16,17). But this is not to
be done until the other means have failed.

        By thus acting
in accordance with the Word of God, much shame and misery might be spared
innocent persons, and many wandering ones recovered who, through backsliding,
are driven deeper into the mire. God, too, will be glorified, and the Lord
Jesus honored; for He has said, “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed
your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet…. If you know these
things, happy are you if you do them” (John 13:14,17).

        (From Notes
on the Book of Proverbs, Loizeaux, Neptune, New Jersey.)

* * *

        More Scriptures
concerning talebearing:

        “A froward man
sows strife; and a whisperer separates chief friends” (Prov. 16:28).

        “He who covers
a transgression seeks love; but he who repeats a matter separates very friends”
(Prov. 17:9).

        “The words of a
talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the
belly” (Prov. 18:8; 26:22).

        “Where no wood
is, there the fire goes out; so where there is no talebearer, the strife
ceases” (Prov. 26:20).

        “Whisperers,
backbiters, haters of God” (Rom. 1:29; 2 Cor. 12:20).