Proverbs 18:13 Commentary and Bible Study

James says, ‘Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath’ (James 1:19), but this person is swift to speak and slow to hear. The picture is of someone having a discussion, or an argument, or dealing with a complaint. He will not wait to speak until he has heard the other party speak, because he thinks he already knows what is going to be said. The speaker has not grasped the matter, digested it, or weighed it, but he wants to respond. He thinks he has so mastered the subject that nothing his opponent says will add to their case, or needs any consideration. All of their arguments have been stated before and the answer he has ready to give does not need to be changed or altered or enlarged to take account of their words, so why bother to wait till they have finished? It is tedious to have to listen to people repeat their case so why not cut it short by interrupting them? The one replying finds it hard to have to listen to any other point of view but his own. It is an attitude that is not prepared to learn anything new, and indicates a dangerous level of confidence. He has made up his mind about his opponent and prejudice will not allow him to change it, for he does not know how to listen or to open himself up to new truth. Why not? Because pride has inflated his opinion of his own understanding, and nothing will be allowed to call it into question. But there is another area in which this unteachable spirit is even more dangerous. There are those who even show the same response to God. Thinking that he can say nothing they do not already know and that the gospel has nothing to teach them, they shut their ears to divine truth. If anyone tries to witness to them or to explain the gospel, they are interrupting before they have had a chance to hear anything. The very raising of the subject of the gospel in their presence triggers well-rehearsed objections. They stick to the prejudiced understanding of God’s word which they think they have and will take on board no new information. In fact their understanding is so poor that they have grasped virtually nothing. The seed of the word of God does not penetrate the soil of their hearts at all, but lies on the surface of the hard trodden path. It is impossible to get through to them. This is not because they are intellectually incapable of understanding what Christ has done, but because they do not want to hear about it. They sense that God would have them change and they do not want to change, so they put up the barricades of prejudice and this often involves a refusal to take on any new information. One objection after another pours out of them; before they have given time to properly process the answer to their first objection, they have leapt to the second. Religion and politics are subjects that should not be talked about. If there were a God, he would not allow so much suffering in the world. The churches are full of hypocrites. Religion is for weak-minded people. Atheists are perfectly capable of constructing their own moral system without God. And so it goes on. They have never even grasped the plan of salvation and yet are ready to stop the mouths of any witness for Christ and dismiss the word of God before it has even reached their ears, let alone before it has been carefully considered in their hearts. And yet finite man, especially in his fallen state, should cling for dear life to every word that comes out of the mouth of God. It is a matter of deep shame that he is not prepared to do so. It is also great folly for it cuts us off from all help.