Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
Though wickedness is sweet in the mouth and hidden under the tongue, the verse belongs to Zophar's description of the wicked and their portion in the debate with Job about his afflictions. It teaches that fallen human nature loves wrongdoing without effort, tasting and savoring it with delight like sweet food rolled under the tongue, letting visible and felt desire lead the moral nature into forbidden paths as rivals to God. It exposes the one who cherishes and keeps loving the very sins he confesses with apparent contrition, making a glib profession while refusing to give them up and rolling them as something sweet. Above all it pictures sin cherished for pleasure like tobacco held in the mouth and turned over as a sweet morsel instead of given up, even when judgment and reason testify the course is wrong, until indulged appetite blunts the conscience and gratification overrules moral principle and duty. Though pleasant while taken in, such cherished indulgence is slavery and becomes bitter in its consequences, like sweets that taste sweet in the mouth but disturb digestion and foster unnatural craving.
Setting in Job
The line belongs to Zophar's description of the wicked and their portion, set within the account of their eventual punishment. It stands inside the extended debate between Job and his three friends concerning his afflictions, a dispute spanning Job 4-31 and unfolding through three rounds of speeches. It forms part of the book's poetic argument about the fate of the wicked, whose general principles about retribution are true in themselves yet were misapplied to Job, so that it is not to be taken as a direct explanation of his suffering. Because it comes from the lips of one of Job's friends, whose claims about God and about Job are unreliable wherever they contradict inspired truth, its words must be tested by comparison with the rest of Scripture.
Sin Savored and Hidden
Human nature loves wrongdoing without effort and turns away from God by inward tendency, cherishing and savoring sin unawares as sweet food rolled under the tongue. Physical desire leads the moral nature into forbidden paths after visible and felt objects that become rivals to God and choke out love to Him. Guarding against this requires vigilance and continued warfare against outward influence.
Wickedness is sweet in the mouth and hidden under the tongue when a person cherishes and keeps loving the very sins being confessed with apparent contrition in prayer. This is feigning to be what one is not and telling God a pious lie, making a glib profession of worthlessness and love to Christ while still rolling those sins as something sweet and refusing to give them up. It is trying to put a character upon fellow men that cannot be put upon God, which the honest-hearted Christian does not do. In the same way evil is tasted and savored with delight by enemies of the cross, who eagerly catch everything that can be made to appear evil and swallow it as a sweet morsel. Wickedness can seem pleasant while it is being taken in yet become bitter in its consequences, as with sweets and confections that taste sweet in the mouth but may disturb digestion and produce unnatural cravings. Some candy even contains alcohol, helping foster intemperance and harm to young people.
Tobacco as Cherished Sin
Wickedness is sweet in the mouth when sin is cherished and kept for pleasure like tobacco held in the mouth, enjoyed and turned over as a sweet morsel instead of given up even when judgment, reason and common sense all testify the course is wrong. Indulged appetite blunts and sears the conscience until its sensibilities are dead and its perceptive faculties toward that sin are destroyed, so that it loses power of utterance and takes no cognizance of the wrong, while remaining wide awake to the faults of others. This exposes the church member and even the deacon who condemns drink and the steeping of the soul with liquor as the weaker bane, yet goes on unsmitten with the stronger poison in his own mouth, grinding the accursed weed between his teeth while lifting his hand to exclude his brother for not withholding his lips from the destroying bowl. Carrying bodily appetite beyond its bounds weakens control over right propensities, blunts moral taste, and makes gratification of lust overrule moral principle, obligation to the Divine command, and duty to family.
Holding on to tobacco chewing as a sweet morsel rolled under the tongue for twenty years and more is wickedness enjoyed as something sweet kept in the mouth and hidden under the tongue. Such indulgence is slavery and a sin trifled with, an intolerable annoyance and a blighting curse upon a city pastor's ministry, and scorning reform against it shows ignorance of what is indispensable to elevate and save the race. The same savoring and keeping close of something sweet hidden under the tongue is seen when a minister indulges tobacco while preaching purity and so treats a harmful appetite as a cherished sin. It is wickedness enjoyed and concealed like a sweet morsel kept under the tongue when tobacco chewing becomes a sinful habit that brings pleasure while the user hides or tries to conceal it from others, even as it enslaves him and makes him feel hypocritical.
Tobacco use is wickedness sweet in the mouth and hidden under the tongue, rolled as a sweet morsel though it is expensive, hurtful, extremely filthy, and more injurious to health than alcoholic drinks. It is a habit loved only by man among creatures and so unnatural that even the tobacco worm that lives on the green plant will not touch it once dried.
Though wickedness is sweet in the mouth and hidden under the tongue, the verse belongs to Zophar's description of the wicked and their portion in the debate with Job about his afflictions. It teaches that fallen human nature loves wrongdoing without effort, tasting and savoring it with delight like sweet food rolled under the tongue, letting visible and felt desire lead the moral nature into forbidden paths as rivals to God. It exposes the one who cherishes and keeps loving the very sins he confesses with apparent contrition, making a glib profession while refusing to give them up and rolling them as something sweet. Above all it pictures sin cherished for pleasure like tobacco held in the mouth and turned over as a sweet morsel instead of given up, even when judgment and reason testify the course is wrong, until indulged appetite blunts the conscience and gratification overrules moral principle and duty. Though pleasant while taken in, such cherished indulgence is slavery and becomes bitter in its consequences, like sweets that taste sweet in the mouth but disturb digestion and foster unnatural craving.
Setting in Job
The line belongs to Zophar's description of the wicked and their portion, set within the account of their eventual punishment. It stands inside the extended debate between Job and his three friends concerning his afflictions, a dispute spanning Job 4-31 and unfolding through three rounds of speeches. It forms part of the book's poetic argument about the fate of the wicked, whose general principles about retribution are true in themselves yet were misapplied to Job, so that it is not to be taken as a direct explanation of his suffering. Because it comes from the lips of one of Job's friends, whose claims about God and about Job are unreliable wherever they contradict inspired truth, its words must be tested by comparison with the rest of Scripture.
Sin Savored and Hidden
Human nature loves wrongdoing without effort and turns away from God by inward tendency, cherishing and savoring sin unawares as sweet food rolled under the tongue. Physical desire leads the moral nature into forbidden paths after visible and felt objects that become rivals to God and choke out love to Him. Guarding against this requires vigilance and continued warfare against outward influence.
Wickedness is sweet in the mouth and hidden under the tongue when a person cherishes and keeps loving the very sins being confessed with apparent contrition in prayer. This is feigning to be what one is not and telling God a pious lie, making a glib profession of worthlessness and love to Christ while still rolling those sins as something sweet and refusing to give them up. It is trying to put a character upon fellow men that cannot be put upon God, which the honest-hearted Christian does not do. In the same way evil is tasted and savored with delight by enemies of the cross, who eagerly catch everything that can be made to appear evil and swallow it as a sweet morsel. Wickedness can seem pleasant while it is being taken in yet become bitter in its consequences, as with sweets and confections that taste sweet in the mouth but may disturb digestion and produce unnatural cravings. Some candy even contains alcohol, helping foster intemperance and harm to young people.
Tobacco as Cherished Sin
Wickedness is sweet in the mouth when sin is cherished and kept for pleasure like tobacco held in the mouth, enjoyed and turned over as a sweet morsel instead of given up even when judgment, reason and common sense all testify the course is wrong. Indulged appetite blunts and sears the conscience until its sensibilities are dead and its perceptive faculties toward that sin are destroyed, so that it loses power of utterance and takes no cognizance of the wrong, while remaining wide awake to the faults of others. This exposes the church member and even the deacon who condemns drink and the steeping of the soul with liquor as the weaker bane, yet goes on unsmitten with the stronger poison in his own mouth, grinding the accursed weed between his teeth while lifting his hand to exclude his brother for not withholding his lips from the destroying bowl. Carrying bodily appetite beyond its bounds weakens control over right propensities, blunts moral taste, and makes gratification of lust overrule moral principle, obligation to the Divine command, and duty to family.
Holding on to tobacco chewing as a sweet morsel rolled under the tongue for twenty years and more is wickedness enjoyed as something sweet kept in the mouth and hidden under the tongue. Such indulgence is slavery and a sin trifled with, an intolerable annoyance and a blighting curse upon a city pastor's ministry, and scorning reform against it shows ignorance of what is indispensable to elevate and save the race. The same savoring and keeping close of something sweet hidden under the tongue is seen when a minister indulges tobacco while preaching purity and so treats a harmful appetite as a cherished sin. It is wickedness enjoyed and concealed like a sweet morsel kept under the tongue when tobacco chewing becomes a sinful habit that brings pleasure while the user hides or tries to conceal it from others, even as it enslaves him and makes him feel hypocritical.
Tobacco use is wickedness sweet in the mouth and hidden under the tongue, rolled as a sweet morsel though it is expensive, hurtful, extremely filthy, and more injurious to health than alcoholic drinks. It is a habit loved only by man among creatures and so unnatural that even the tobacco worm that lives on the green plant will not touch it once dried.