This Proverb says, “He who despises his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding keeps silent. He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy conceals a matter.”
This Proverb is speaking about those who gossip about others and those who do not gossip. What is gossip? Gossip is defined as revealing the private matters of another person. Gossiping is a bad thing, and the Bible condemns it.
When a person confides in us and reveals sensitive things about themselves, we must not reveal this person’s secrets to others. Doing so would cause damage to the person who has confided in us. It would harm their reputation.
The larger issue here is that gossiping would be violating God’s commandment of loving our neighbors as ourselves. When we reveal the secrets of another person, we are certainly not demonstrating love for that person.
This Proverb also says that a person of understanding will keep silent and conceal the personal or private matters of another person. This is because the person of understanding is one who believes in God and lives by God’s Word. Such a person is motivated to obey God’s commandment of loving their neighbor.
The Bible says that God will hold us accountable for the words we have spoken to other people. This includes gossiping. Therefore, we should be careful to not reveal the secrets of another person.
