Proverbs 15:1 Commentary and Bible Study

God’s children should be peacemakers like their heavenly Father. In a world of strife, where we meet with many unworthy things, peace cannot be obtained unless we are ready to absorb evil. The natural tendency is for disagreements to escalate, and the vengefulness of the human heart coupled with self-righteousness makes each one want to have the final say. At each stage in a dispute each side adds a little bit more to the stakes and increases the temperature. It is rare to find someone who is working in the other direction and trying to calm things down. The proverb views one of the disputants as committed to peace. He is going to have to make peace not by intervening on behalf of another as a disinterested outsider to the conflict, but as one who is intimately involved. In order to make peace, he is going to have to avoid reacting to genuine offence, offence to himself. He cannot do this if he loves to have the last word and if he cannot bear to let any wrong go unanswered. He must learn to absorb offences and not let problems grow, so that at the earliest possible stage a potential dispute is brought to a halt. Often this is done by not responding in kind to provocation. We are spoken to in a way that we judge is overly harsh, or provocative, but we turn a blind eye to this and respond with kindness that ignores the obvious offence. We do this because we do not want our brother or sister to further offend, and our soft answer is a means of helping them to recover. It may be that the gentleness of our reply speaks to their conscience about the hastiness of their own words and they are ashamed. Solomon is not speaking of quiet smugness which is guaranteed to stir up strife, but of genuine humility and evident love of peace. Neither is he speaking of something that could be interpreted as cowardice, for this may well encourage the bully. There is much strength in true self-restraint, but the soft answer must come at the earliest possible time before there is a hint of responding in kind. The wise man therefore takes responsibility for the whole dispute and not just for his side of it. He wants to continue good relations with the one who has temporarily become his adversary.But a harsh word is fuel to the fire. The other sees that we will not yield or back down and respond with more of the same. This follows the natural course of human disputes and there is nothing remarkable about it.