He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets, But he who is trustworthy conceals a matter. Proverbs 11:13

Did you hear what so and so did?  Thus begins the phrase of the talebearer.  The sin of gossip is alive and well in our world - at least that's what I heard from a friend of mine who has it on good authority that people are gossipping about others.  But for anyone who has ever been hurt by those who spread falsehoods about them, gossip is a very harmful thing.

The "tabebearer" is the one who gossips.  The word means to spread falsehoods about someone.  This particular word has the distinction of never being used in a positive way.  Gossip was expressly forbidden in the Mosaic Law in Leviticus 19:16, and the book of Proverbs is not terribly high on it either.  When the Jeremiah and Ezekiel were declaring the prophesies that gave them - the Lord said some strong words against it as well. 

The main condemnation here though is how a gossip "reveals secrets."  Confidentiality is at the root of this issue.  Information about others - especially that which is shared in confidence - is to remain a secret to all but the two who have shared it together.  That confidence is shattered when someone takes the information and makes it public.  The gossip goes even further and adds to the damaging information to make it worse. 

A pastor who was the brunt of a woman's gossip in a city had his reputation severely damaged by what this woman said.  She later came to him and apologized for saying the things she said.  The story is told that he asked her to come with him to the bell tower in the church.  As they stood overlooking the town, he took a feather pillow and tore it open.  He then let the wind take the feathers and spread them into the sky where they immediately went a hundred different directions.  The woman, puzzled by his actions, asked why he did this.  He said to her, "I can forgive you for what you've said - but the damage falsely done to my reputation is as far spread as the feathers we just released.  To undo that damage you would have to do out and track down every feather."  This illustration hopefully will help us see the ultimate damage done by gossip.  Everyone who heard our juicy tidbit may tell another - and that one another - until the ability to track down everyone who has passed the gossip on becomes utterly impossible.

The second half of this proverb reminds us that the faithful one is the one who is trustworthy.  This one conceals the matter.  The idea conveyed by the word "trustworthy" is one who supports, nurtures, and establishes another person.  It is used as the term for the comfort and support a baby receives from the arms of its parent.  Whether we initially realize it or not, when someone shares painful intimate details of their lives with us - we can either cradle them in our arms, providing love and support, or we can crush them and cause great pain.  People share these painful things because they need the nurture and encouragment of someone who will love and conceal these things.  They don't conceal them to be an accessory to their sin.  They conceal them from others only because they are taking the confidence shared with them seriously.  This information was shared so that we might help bring God's healing to their hearts.  The information was shared so that we might counsel and encourage them - seeing the pain soothed rather than exacerbated. 

If you want to know why God would allow you to know anything harmful about your brothers or sisters in Christ, it is so that you might be a part of God's healing in their lives.  The primary thing God wants you to do with this information is to PRAY!  You were given these embarassing details so that you might intercede for the person - and be an instument of grace and mercy in their lives.  God wants to use you to aid this person in recovery.  Don't take such information lightly.  You are being given a precious trust.  You've just been handed the very heart of that person.  Handle with prayer and with loving biblical care.  Conceal the matter to all except God, Who knows already - and who has just brought you into the situation to be His instrument of love, concern, and godly counsel.  This is the choice of the wise man or woman - and it is one that shows you are worthy of God's trust.  Carry that heart as you would a newborn baby.  To God it is just as precious and worthy of loving care.

A just balance and scales belong to the LORD; All the weights of the bag are His concern. Proverbs 16:11

When it comes to how we live - and how we do business - God is concerned with how we proceed in integrity.  Thus we find today's proverb.  It deals with the call for a just balance and scales.  Since this was an agricultural society, most if not everything was sold by weight.  Thus the scales that a person used was the most important part of the transaction, since a false weight and scales would be a deceptive business owner who was trying to cheat his customers.

God desires a just balance and scales.  The Lord wants us to be honest in business - to be fair and equitable.  The "weights" mentioned later were actually rocks that were a standard of measure.  These rocks needed to be a certain weight.  The way that they maintained measurements was by having the temple regulating them.  This is why the statement is made about all the weights of the bag being God's concern.  There was the shekel of the sanctuary - as well as the various weights that were used there.  These weights were considered the official weights of the society.  If someone thought that a weight was being skewed in its true weight - the official sanctuary weights would be the place where they would be checked.  If there was cheating going on, they would be punished for their unjust and ungodly standards. 

What we are told here though goes beyond that.  We are told that all the weights of the bag are not just kept at the temple - they are kept in the thoughts of God Almighty.  They are his concern.  That takes the whole idea of integrity in the workplace to another level.  The Lord is keeping track of our weights and measurements.  He knows the work ethic that we seek to maintain - and He knows every time that we use an unjust weight or measure.  Surely in our society as well as in theirs, there were men who sought to bend the rules to their adantage.  And, like in our society, we cannot catch everyone who seeks to be unjust in their business dealings.  But we do have a God who can see eery transaction - every time we weigh out our time, our efforts, and our produce.  He sees and knows what we are doing - and He also realizes that in the end - the place of judgment will be His throne.  Oh that we might learn this - and walk through this world with the appropriate fear of God - and respect for His commandments.  Yes there will be those who think they can "get away" with it as they cheat others.  But the reality is that those who do such things never get away with it.  The Lord holds all the weights of the bag - and the judgment for not just religious works - but for how we operate in business as well - will be before Him.

Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, But who can find a trustworthy man? Proverbs 20:6

I love it when one of the proverbs has a perfect biblical example in the New Testament.  This is the case with today's proverb.  It speaks of those who declare their own loyalty - but then asks the question of whether anyone can even find a trustworthy and faithful man. 

The situation we learn of in the New Testament is the history of Peter - who declared that though all the other disciples would abandon Jesus - he would not!  Peter made this statement during the Last Supper - and it was followed by strong declarations made aby all the rest of the disciples.  But what we saw at the crucifixion was a very different situation.  Peter followed Jesus at a distance and eventually denied he even knew Jesus.  The others did not even make it that far - abandoning Christ in the garden when the mob came to arrest Him.  So much for the prideful declarations of those who proclaim their own loyalty.

There is something fundamentally wrong with a man who trumpets his own loyalty.  Filled with pride - he makes boasts of how loyal and trustworthy and faithful he is.  Such declarations really should be made by those whom he serves.  They are the ones who have evidence of his loyalty - and they should be the ones who speak of that loyalty.  Yet this passage states that this guy is blowing his own horn.  Be careful then with those who boast of how faithful and true they are.  And . . . if you are one who has done this in the past, take the advice of another proverb and, "Let another praise you, and not your own lips." 

The question that is asked in the second part of this proverb is also interesting.  "Who can find a trustworthy man?"  Let us take a look at that for a few moments.  There are trustworthy men found in the history of the Bible.  Solomon knew of one because of his own mother.  She was married to a man named Uriah.  Now he was a trustworthy man.  He was faithful to God and to David.  When David brought him home under the guise of asking about the battle - he would not go to his home and sleep with his wife.  That was what David desired so that he could cover his own adultery with Bathsheba.  But Uriah was a trustworthy man.  He said he would sleep in the open like his fellow soldiers - and not go to his home and to his wife.  His faithfulness eventually cost him his life.  David, who was not being a trustworthy man, had Uriah killed by taking him too close to the wall - where the archers would be able to kill him.

The history of the world is more a history of men being unfaithful.  When Solomon asks if anyone can find a trustworthy man - he is asking a very poignent question.  There are actually no trustworthy men on the face of the earth - except one.  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  All have turned aside and become worthless.  There is a sin nature that is in every man and woman alive that will assure us that they are not an absolute trustworthy person. 

There has only been one trustworthy man - the man Christ Jesus.  God testified to that at His baptism where He declared, "This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased."  Near the end of his time on earth - God allowed James, John, and Peter to see Jesus' inner nature at the Mount of Transfiguration - where the absolute purity and trustworthiness of Jesus was allowed to shine forth.  And His resurrection from the dead was absolute proof that He was the only trustworthy man ever. 

Solomon's question is a good one.  There is only One Who is trustworthy.  That man is Jesus Christ - the God-man.  He was trustworthy and faithful in all God's commandments.  That is why He was able to go to the cross and die for all our sins and rebellion.  It is also why God can now declare us righteous.  It was because of the One Man Who was a trustworthy man.  Although it was said in a different context - Pilate was right when he declared, "Behold the Man!"  Even Pilate could not find any fault in Jesus.  And the only sentence Christ was declared guilty of - was the fact that He said that He was the Christ.  The Pharisees and Saducees on the council declared Him a blasphemer - but God declared Him the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead!  Cling to that faithful and trustworthy Man.