The Ethics of Silence
When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise. Proverbs 10:19 NASB
Restrains – Did you enjoy sitting in silence (see TW for December 21)? Did it make you feel alive? One of the central themes of the Hebraic worldview is the necessity of community and community requires interaction. If you want to be involved with others, you have to talk. The question is “What kind of talking delights God?”
Midrash Yalkut Shimoni, Bamidbar 12 translates this verse, “In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking; but he who restrains his lips is wise.” Notice the subtle change in the first part of the verse translation. The midrash concludes that YHVH does not want us to live in silence (no vows here please) but “only to refrain from evil talk.”[1] Monk makes several important observations about the letter Pey, the Hebrew consonant associated with the mouth.
“The mouth is given to man to serve the ethical goal of using speech in the service of God (Tefillah Zakkah). If the mouth does not carry out its mission, it should be closed.”[2]
“The utterance of the mouth must be in consonance with the feelings of the heart.”[3]
Finally, there is a fascinating opinion from Kabbalah. “The blank space within the [Pey] as written in the Torah has the shape of a [Bet] (Beis Yosef, Orach Chaim 36), hinting that HASHEM miraculously folds His unlimited Presence into a defined place . . .”[4] We can imagine this as white fire in black fire, a development of later rabbinic thought, that suggests the divine Presence is the crucial background for all divine instruction but is written in an alphabet that cannot be spoken because it is the white space of the text. Perhaps this is also the purpose of the mouth: to say what can be said and to not say what cannot be said but can only be felt. The limit of speech is not simply the ethical demand of words pleasing to God’s purpose. It is also knowing what cannot be uttered and refraining from the penchant to speculate. That does not mean what cannot be uttered cannot be voiced. It just can’t be voiced in words. But Hebrew allows groaning, growling, muttering and cooing as forms of prayer and worship. Voicing the Presence without an alphabet.
The ethics of silence is two-fold. First, it is reflection of the purpose of speaking: to reveal what pleases God through the instrument He created to sound out His glory. And second, to voice the Spirit when the emotion of Presence goes beyond words.
Topical Index: silence, mouth, Pey, white fire, Proverbs 10:19
[1] Rabbi Michael L. Munk, The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet, p. 183.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid., p. 187.
We should talk about singing. The angels sing a lot. We are instructed to sing, too. Singing can be a form of prayer. We were given voices not just to say words, you are very right. Music profoundly affects the spirit, not just mirrors it, so it is a genuine instrument of faith; one of the best. You can sing your way out of a foul mood a lot faster than you can talk your way out of it, and singing in dungeons could start just anything!
I think people used to sing a whole lot more than they do nowadays. We have become enchanted with our mechanical devices that channel sophisticated sounds to shape our moods and fill in the blank spaces where we MIGHT have felt our feelings, but instead we seek only to manipulate OR MEDICATE them. Music, you see, cuts both ways just like everything else. If we use it like a drug (all altered states of reality keep us out of our present – life – and so therefore are sin) there is a good chance that it could be a sin. That could include ‘praise music’, or classical music, or even hymns (we are NOT going to talk about elevator music or earworms. Not going there.). I have noticed that we were not instructed to LISTEN to music: we were instructed to open our mouths ourselves. I think that there could be a difference. Still working on this one.
Ooooh, I like this.
I have often wondered whether or not Yeshua had a sense of humour or told jokes or was a “funny” guy in any way. The Bible certainly doesn’t ever sound funny to me. Now I have me wondering the same about singing, if so, what did they sing about. Did they put psalms to music or create their own? How about entertainment, dance, same thing.
Me too! I have been told that the Psalms were originally composed to music, or put to it, and that some of the designations at the beginning of some of them are musical notations. The Song Of Moses was a tune for sure. When I started playing with putting Scripture to music (so that I could remember it) I found, to my delight, that in places the structure started to make sense where it didn’t before. Take the repeat in Psalm 139, for instance, verse 6 where it says “my soul waiteth for the LORD more than they that watch for the morning; I say, more than they that watch for the morning”. Try that with a musical repeat, with differing emotion, and you find that you NEED it to repeat! So fun!
That would be Psalm 130.
I think the text does show his humor and sarcasm, although translators do a lot to get rid of it because it isn’t “spiritual.” I pointed this out in a few of the studies in my first book.
Laurita, your are one wise women!
Ouch…”every ideal word will be rendered back at the judgment”…ouch that hurt so good! I am reminded continually of the importance of the spirit vs the inclination of the mind/will; the other yetzer. I am reminded of the import of actively pressing into the Ruach. The presence and the timing of the Spirit for guidance in all things alone allows us to enter into the Kingdom. See also Link Removed
Skip,
Your two-fold ethics of silence will be permanently added
to my moments of meditation. Thanks.
And to ours!