Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Amsal 18:20

King Solomon, of blessed memory, said: “A man’s belly is filled by the fruit of his mouth; he will be filled by the produce of his lips” [Proverbs, 18:20]. The verse teaches us what a very good thing the tongue is when he speaks Torah and commandments and punishes the people for good. His reward from the Holy One is good. However, when he speaks slander and gossip, his reward is also prepared. He will have enough because of it. Therefore, the verse tells us here, first that the person will be satiated and have enough troubles and suffering when he will speak slander and gossip. Afterwards, he says that if he speaks positively, God will pay him well. Therefore, the verse later says, “death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit” [Proverbs, 18:21]. That is to say, life and death depend on the tongue. However, the wise person who loves to talk with the tongue always thinks to speak Torah and commandments, in order to have a good reward. Similarly, the person who speaks much slander and gossip, he brings much trouble and suffering upon himself. Therefore, the Torah wrote [the portion of] Mezora, which is like the two words, speaks evil. That is to say, the one who speaks evil gets leprosy and the person brings a sacrifice for the slander. He is not purified except through the priest.¹Bahya, Mezora, Introduction.

In this verse Solomon told us something about the power of the tongue (speech), be it for good or for evil. If man employs the power of speech to speak words of Torah, to admonish people to live according to Torah and to thereby help Jewish society to acquire spiritual merits for themselves, then his reward is with him, and his works are a beacon shining before him.” [He will be recognized for his true worth. Ed.] (Isaiah 40,10). On the other hand, if he uses the power of speech to engage in slander, character assassination, and the like, his punishment will be served up to him and he will have to consume it to his being more than sated with it. We must therefore understand the beginning of this verse as applying to the dissemination of evil gossip and the like; and the end, i.e. the words “his mouth will be filled by the produce of his lips,” as referring to the reward in store for those who use their power of speech judiciously, providing spiritual merits for the society in which they live. This is also the meaning of another saying of Solomon in Proverbs 18,21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.” What the author is saying is that seeing the tongue controls death and life, if someone loves the tongue, i.e. is anxious to keep talking at all times, he should endeavour to choose subjects which are liable to enhance his life, i.e. speak words of wisdom, moral and ethical exhortation, etc. If he does so he will get to eat (as a reward) the fruit of the power of speech. Only in that case will people who are fond of talking increase their own merit in proportion to their frequent use of the tongue.
In the reverse case, i.e. someone who loves to talk but uses his tongue indiscriminately, so that he engages in gossiping and worse, as his punishment he will eat “the fruit of that punishment.” Considering all this it is important to be most circumspect in the use of one’s tongue. The Torah has shown us on several occasions that if someone abuses his power of speech and uses it negatively he will be afflicted with the disease of tzoraat. Our sages in Vayikra Rabbah 16,2 have found that the very words introducing the subject of the מצורע could be paraphrased as זאת תורת המוציא שם רע, “this is the law about people who indulge in character assassination.”