Introduction
In this part of chapter 10, King Solomon continues his comparison between the wise person and the fool. At its core stands the matter of speech: the destructive power of evil speech (lashon hara), the responsibility of one who is able to speak but does not, and the way a fool's words betray and swallow him up. We will proceed verse by verse, presenting the explanations along with the teachings of Chazal and the commentators.
"If the Serpent Bites Without Enchantment" - What Is a Lachash?
אִם יִשֹּׁךְ הַנָּחָשׁ בְּלוֹא לָחַשׁ וְאֵין יִתְרוֹן לְבַעַל הַלָּשׁוֹן׃ - If the serpent bites without enchantment, there is no advantage to the master of the tongue.
Let us begin with a definition. We do not have the Malbim's commentary on Kohelet, but the Malbim in Yeshayahu (3:18) explains the difference between a lachash (whisper/charm) and a sod (secret). A lachash is the actual act of speaking in a hushed, faint voice, whispering mouth to ear. For this reason, he explains, ear ornaments are called lechashim - named after the place where one whispers. By contrast, sod does not necessarily refer to quietness at the moment of speaking, but rather that afterward it is not revealed or publicized, but kept confidential. A lachash denotes the quietness in the very act of speaking - when speaking, one says it softly, in a whisper. This is also the meaning before us: "If the serpent bites without enchantment [lachash]."
The Deaf Cobra - A Snake Unmoved by Enchantment
The Pesikta Zutarta states: "'If the serpent bites without enchantment' - this refers to a snake called the deaf cobra (peten cheresh), as it is said, 'Like a deaf cobra that stops its ear.'" In ancient times, there were snake charmers who knew how to whisper specific incantations to snakes that influenced them - whether to bite or not to bite - and they were called charmers. But the cobra is deaf, and whispering to it is useless, as it cannot hear. This is an explicit verse: "Which will not listen to the voice of charmers." The charmers may come and whisper to it to prevent the bite, but it will avail nothing.
Incidentally, many snakes are deaf. Some people think that shouting near a snake will startle it, but it cannot hear at all. What does matter? Near a snake, it is critical not to move. Snakes are acutely aware of every movement and tremor, which they sense with their tongue - flicking it out and detecting vibrations. A slight, jerky movement is enough to provoke a strike, because it fears an attack. But if a person stands completely still in one spot, even for hours, the snake will do nothing to him.
Returning to our subject: "'There is no advantage to the master of the tongue' - just as this snake kills and there is no cure for its bite, a snake unmoved by enchantment, with nothing that can be done and no whisper that can halt it - so too, the slanderer kills, nothing can stop him, and there is no remedy for him.
Questions Posed to the Serpent
They asked the serpent: Why does your tongue constantly protrude? It answered them: My tongue caused it for me. Why does the snake always go about with its tongue sticking out? "Shotet" simply means flowing, like trickling water, meaning the tongue hangs out. And the reason for this is: "My tongue caused it for me" - for this was the snake's punishment for speaking slander against the Holy One, blessed be He.
And why is its body afflicted with tzara'at (leprosy-like scale)? It said to them: Because it is an informer, for scripture indicates that a slanderer is stricken with tzara'at. And why does it dwell in fences? The serpent would hide among fences, within walls and crevices, where it is convenient to conceal itself. This is the plain meaning of the verse, "And whoever breaches a fence, a serpent will bite him" - since you breached the fence, who is hiding there? Snakes, and the snake hiding there will bite you. And when they asked it, "Why are you found in fences?" it answered: "Because it breached the fence of the world." The Holy One, blessed be He, had erected a fence - "But from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat" - and it breached the fence and permitted Chavah to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.
The Gra: The Serpent Always Begins with the Fences
Yet beneath the surface lies deeper insight. The Gra explains why the serpent is found specifically within the fences: the serpent does not come to cause a person to stumble in major matters; he does not tell him, "Come, desecrate Shabbat." Rather, he trips a person up in things that serve as a fence - minor matters, muktzeh, matters concerning the fences and safeguards enacted by Chazal. He does not approach him immediately with capital offenses punishable by stoning, but only through the protective fences.
And indeed, this is how it happened: How did the serpent entice Chavah? Through the fence. What was the fence that Adam HaRishon erected? Not to touch. Did the Holy One, blessed be He, say not to touch? No, rather Adam warned her not even to touch it. What did the serpent do? He pushed her against the tree and said: Look, you touched it and nothing happened to you; so too you may eat. Thus, he began causing her to stumble through the fence - he breached the protective fence of the world, seeing that this is the method that works. To approach a person directly and tell him to go worship idols is exceedingly difficult. But begin with him through the fences and safeguards, and rationalizations immediately follow: "It is true that the Gedolei Yisrael said so, but that is an exaggeration," or "I do not know whether they truly understand the reality." Whether they understand it or not - afterward one sees where he has ended up and how far he has deteriorated, all because he failed to safeguard the fences. When one guards the fences, one does not fall.
Rashi: One Who Can Charm but Does Not Charm
Rashi explains: If the snake bites a man without a charm, because the charmer (chover) did not whisper a charm to prevent it from biting - a chover is a snake charmer, from the phrase chover chaver - then there is no profit for the wicked charmer who could have charmed it and did not charm it. A common textual error appears in our standard printed editions of Rashi: "who could have charmed it without a charm," which makes little sense. An examination of the manuscripts of Rashi shows the reading to be: "who could have charmed it and did not charm it" (ve-lo lachash) - with a vav. And this is readily understood: What advantage do you have? You were able to charm it and prevent the snakebite, yet you did not do so. What did you gain from this? What benefit did you achieve?
Rashi continues along this line: If the people of your city stumble into transgressions because there is no Torah scholar to expound to them and teach them the statutes of the Torah, there is no advantage to him in his silence, nor will he profit from it. What did you gain by remaining silent? Had you spoken, you could have set them right, corrected their error, and shown them the upright path. Just as the one who failed to charm the snake did not prevent the harm and gained nothing, so too you, by failing to prevent them from sinning, will gain nothing from it. Not only that, but he will certainly suffer loss: if you were appointed, in the words of the prophet, as a watchman over the city, and your purpose was to alert and deter, yet you did not do so - when the enemy arrives, it is you who will be held accountable, and the blame will fall upon you, for it was your duty to warn them.
"The Heavens Become Tainted Like Copper" - There Is No One to Whisper
Chazal expound: Rabbi Ami said, what is the meaning of the verse, "If the serpent bites without a charm, then the master of the tongue has no advantage"? If you see a generation in which the heavens become tainted like copper - that is, rust-colored like copper - holding back dew and rain, this is "without a whisper (charm)," on account of the lack of whisperers of whispers in that generation. The Torah Temimah explains: "whisperers of whispers" refers to people who pray properly. Why is prayer called a whisper? Because regarding Chana's prayer it is written, "and her voice was not heard," which is the manner of a whisper. In other words, if you see the heavens locked like copper, it is "without a whisper" - because there is no one to whisper, no one to pray.
And what is their remedy? Let them go to someone who knows how to whisper, as it is written in Iyov, "His companion will tell concerning him" - let them go to another person, a wise man, and he will pray. "Then the master of the tongue has no advantage" - one who is capable of whispering in prayer and does not whisper, what benefit does he have? You are able to pray on behalf of the generation and bestow goodness upon them; what satisfaction or gain do you have in withholding this from them?
"Were It Not Decreed for Me from Heaven to Bite"
The Gemara states in Taanit (8a): Rav Shmuel bar Nachmani said: People ask the snake, "A lion tears prey and eats; a wolf tears prey and eats; but you, what pleasure do you derive?" For the snake often strikes and simply slithers away. A lion preys to satisfy its hunger, but you, who strike without any benefit, what pleasure do you have? The snake responds: "If the serpent bites without a whisper" - do you think a snake bites without being whispered to from Heaven? Were it not decreed for me from Heaven, "Bite," I would never bite.
There is an actual incident that occurred, captured on security cameras: A man heard knocks at his door. He opened the door and saw a snake; the snake struck him and slithered away. On the camera footage, one could see the snake rearing up in front of the door and knocking against it with its head. The man opened the door, the snake bit him, and left. "Were it not decreed for me from Heaven, bite, I would never bite" - it was dispatched on a mission, and it carried out its mission to bite.
They continued and asked it: And why is it that when you bite one limb, all the limbs feel it? For when a lion bites, only the limb it bit feels the pain, whereas when a snake bites, the venom travels through the entire body and the whole body weakens until the victim dies. The snake said to them: Are you asking me? Ask the slanderer (the ba'al halashon), who speaks here and kills in Rome, speaks in Rome and kills in Syria. Is not the slanderer just like this? He strikes here and it spreads everywhere; the lashon hara spoken here has already reached distant places. This is cited in the Yerushalmi, Pe'ah 1:1.
Nothing Occurs Without a Whisper from Above
Rav Abba bar Kahana said: What is the meaning of the verse, "If the snake bites without a whisper (lachash)"? A snake never bites unless it was whispered to from Above. And do not think this applies only to a snake - a lion does not maul unless it was whispered to from Above, and a ruling power does not harass people unless it was whispered to from Above. And if you suddenly see rockets coming from Lebanon or Gaza, know that it was whispered to them from Above. Nothing happens by chance; if something occurs, someone whispered to it from Above. As the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I said, surely you will fear Me and accept rebuke. And as it is stated, "Woe, Assyria, the rod of My anger" - Assyria is nothing but a stick in the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, to carry out His wrath and anger.
Ibn Ezra: The Venom Cannot Be Retracted
The Ibn Ezra explains: If a snake bites a person - a viper that is immune to charmers' whispers - this bite is extremely dangerous. And even if the biting snake is put to death, meaning you kill it right now, have you brought healing to the victim? Killing the snake will not heal the person who was bitten and will not benefit him at all; the venom it injected will run its course, spreading moment by moment throughout his entire body and taking his life.
Furthermore, he says: Even the snake itself, even if it wanted to, has no way to draw the venom back out. It is not merely that killing it will not undo the bite, but even if the snake itself, which delivered the poison, wished to take it back, it could not. Unlike that incident in Jordan, when agents went to poison Khaled Mashal and injected him, and the man was supposed to die within a few hours from what was apparently a special injection that left no traces. But to their misfortune, bodyguards caught the operatives, sparking a severe diplomatic crisis, and they were forced to send an antidote to neutralize the poison - the State of Israel sending a lifeline to Khaled Mashal and saving his life. Thus we see that sometimes the one who bit can also revive. With a snake, this is not the case: once the snake has bitten, even it cannot withdraw the venom and cannot undo its act. The venom now operates autonomously, independent of the one who injected it.
"And There Is No Advantage to the Slanderer" - Lashon Hara That Continues to Act
From this you can understand: "There is no advantage to the slanderer." The slanderer (ba'al halashon) is a person who has become accustomed to speaking lashon hara, and moreover, has grown used to dismissing speech as nothing - "What did I even do? Did I hit him?" If you rebuke the slanderer, he will say: "What did I just do? It is nothing; is there any substance to this action of mine?" He feels blameless, as though there is no lasting weight to his action, asking what real harm he could have possibly wrought.
And when you contemplate the matter of the snake, you will see that it is completely identical. For lashon hara also continues to do its damage without the speaker. A person who spoke lashon hara does not need to keep maintaining it; the word he cast out already does its destructive work even if he is no longer present. It is possible that the informer has already taken his seat in the seventh compartment of Gehinnom, the slanderer long departed to a realm of pure retribution, and yet his malice and destructive words continue to operate down here in this world - like the venom of a viper that kills the victim even when the snake is no longer near him. And the slanderer himself cannot retract what he said; it has already left his mouth. Many times a person says, "What I said wasn't true," and people reply, "No, it's fine, after you mentioned it we checked into it ourselves..." Go take your words back now! You already convinced them, and it is done. Even you yourself can no longer undo what was said.
Me'am Lo'ez in the Name of Seder HaYom: Everything Depends on Effort (Hishtadlut)
The Me'am Lo'ez cites in the name of Seder HaYom that in all the verses we have seen thus far, King Solomon came to teach us that a person should not say: Everything is decreed from Heaven, what is decreed is decreed, human effort (hishtadlut) is of no avail whatsoever, and whether one is righteous or wicked is also entirely predestined. Solomon tells you: Know that you are mistaken; that is not the case. It is within a person's power to accomplish a great deal, and conversely, if he does not take action, he will lose. And he brings examples of this from the verses:
"Folly is placed on many high heights" - many times you see the fool rise to the top and succeed, "while the rich sit in lowliness," because he made the effort and they did not. "I have seen servants on horses" - because they exerted themselves to attain it, "and princes walking like servants on the ground" - noble and prominent people walking like servants, because they made no effort to preserve their standing. "He who digs a pit will fall into it" - for he brought about his own injury; "and he who breaches a wall will be bitten by a snake" - on account of his own actions. "He who quarries stones will be hurt by them" - he slipped, grew weary, and suffered pain; "he who splits wood will be endangered by it" - he heats up and gets hurt by it, from the term sakanah (danger). Furthermore, look at warfare: "If the iron is blunt and he did not whet the edge" - here you see he did not sharpen the iron, so why do you wonder that "he must exert more strength," do you expect him to triumph in battle? And likewise, "If the snake bites without a whisper" - does a snake bite without an incantation? In this way you will understand that every action a person takes requires effort. No one can say, "Whatever was decreed will happen and everything will be fine"; one must exert effort, and that is how one succeeds.
"The Words of a Wise Man's Mouth Win Favor"
דִּבְרֵי פִי חָכָם חֵן וְשִׂפְתוֹת כְּסִיל תְּבַלְּעֶנּוּ׃ - The words of a wise man's mouth win favor, but the lips of a fool swallow him up.
The Pesikta Zutreta states: "The words of a wise man's mouth win favor" - for everyone loves to hear his words, as he instructs properly and speaks in accordance with the Halachah; naturally, his words find favor in the eyes of his listeners. "But the lips of a fool swallow him up" - these are his foolish words, intended to interrupt the wise man's words and swallow them up. The wise man's words bother the fool, so he wants to interrupt him so people will hear his own foolishness, seeking to swallow the words of the wise man. Such is the sin of their hearts, for once everyone listens to the wise man, who will listen to the fool?
The Midrash further states: "The words of a wise man's mouth win favor" - this refers to Cyrus (Koresh), who returned to build the Beis HaMikdash, and his words were words of favor. "But the lips of a fool swallow him up" - this refers to Achashverosh, who prevented its rebuilding. Thus, the lips of the fool swallowed the words of the mouth of the wise man.
Elsewhere, however, Chazal interpret both parts of the verse as referring to Cyrus himself: "The words of a wise man's mouth win favor" refers to Cyrus, king of Persia, who proclaimed at the beginning of the Book of Ezra, "Whoever is among you of all His people, may his God be with him, and let him go up" - as explained in the lessons on the Book of Ezra, Cyrus initially gave permission to go and rebuild the Beis HaMikdash. Afterwards, however, slander was spoken against Israel, and people opposed their efforts, so he retracted his decree. This is the meaning of the continuation: "but the lips of a fool swallow him up," for he swallowed his own words and went back on his proclamation.
The Midrash continues: "The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness" - for he said, "He is the God Who is in Jerusalem." Is God only in Jerusalem? Does He not rule over the entire world? "And the end of his talk is mischievous madness" - for he later revoked his decrees. He had decreed that they go and build the Beis HaMikdash and that others should assist them, but ultimately he said: whoever has already crossed the Euphrates has crossed, but whoever has not yet crossed shall not cross - whoever has already gone may go, but whoever has not yet gone must stop and go no further. This is indeed "the end of his talk is mischievous madness."
Rashi: The Wise Man Who Attains Greatness, and the Fool Who Breaches Fences
Rashi explains: "The words of a wise man's mouth win favor" with those who hear them, and they heed him, so it is good for him that he attains greatness over them. That is, it is good for a person when he assumes leadership over people who listen to him, because through this he brings merit to the public: he guides them on an upright path, they heed him, and he receives reward for doing so.
"But the lips of a fool swallow him up" - this refers to one who incites his fellow away from the good path, such as Bil'am, who breached the fence of the nations. For the nations had maintained boundaries against sexual immorality (arayot) until Bil'am's time - from the generation of the Flood onward, after witnessing what occurred in the Flood, they were careful regarding immorality - yet he advised them to abandon their women to prostitution. Thus, this is "the lips of a fool swallow him up": the fool who swallowed up, destroyed, and ruined the upright standard that the nations had maintained until then.
Imrei Shefer: His Own Lips Swallow Him
The Imrei Shefer explains: "The words of a wise man's mouth win favor" - his pleasant words earn him gracious favor in the eyes of his listeners. "But the lips of a fool swallow him up" - with the fool, it is the exact opposite: not only do his words fail to find favor, but his very lips, uttering foolishness, swallow him up.
To explain: often a person says something foolish, and people simply say: well, he is no great sage; he did not speak words of wisdom. But sometimes, a person incriminates himself through his words: with his own speech, he undermines himself. He wished to do something and planned to keep it hidden, yet failed to realize that in the course of speaking he exposed his inner secrets. This is "the lips of a fool swallow him up" - what causes the fool to be swallowed up? His own lips. He did not pay attention to what he said, and through that very statement he harmed himself more than he helped, for he exposed his inner thoughts and what lay in his heart. It is not enough that he speaks foolishness; he actually ruins and sabotages himself, because from his words people discern his true agenda and plans, and he fails to conceal his thoughts. This itself causes him harm, and this itself swallows him up.
"The Beginning of the Words of His Mouth Is Folly"
תְּחִלַּת דִּבְרֵי פִיהוּ סִכְלוּת וְאַחֲרִית פִּיהוּ הוֹלֵלוּת רָעָה׃ - The beginning of the words of his mouth is folly, and the end of his talk is grievous madness.
The Midrash applies this verse to Achashverosh. At first, he spoke words of folly: "that every man should bear rule in his own house." Chazal say: What foolishness this is! Does such a matter require a royal decree? Does one need an order from Achashverosh for that? On the contrary, when you issue such a decree, what do you reveal? That you yourself have a problem in this regard, and that is why you need to issue such an order. Thus, more than accomplishing anything useful - you revealed your own disgrace, that in your own home there is a rebellious woman who shows you who is boss, for she is of royal blood while you are a nobody, a mere stable boy. Consequently, when you publish such an order to the public, these are words of folly.
And it is written there that this very thing benefited the Jewish people with the second set of letters: the moment they received the first decree, "that every man should bear rule in his own house," people said - this king needs to be institutionalized; is this what he sends us? Consequently, when he subsequently issued further letters, they no longer took them so seriously. "And the end of his talk is grievous madness" - for he began with this absurdity and ended with decrees to destroy, to slay, and to annihilate all the Jews. He began with folly and ended with wicked madness.
Rashi: Bil'am
Rashi continues with the matter of Bil'am: "The beginning of the words of his mouth is folly" - when the Holy One, Blessed is He, asked him, "Who are these men with you?" he said to Him: Master of the Universe, they are distinguished men; Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moav, sent for me. Even if I am despised in Your eyes, I am important in the eyes of earthly kings. Surely these are words of madness and folly! For he ought to have said: Master of the Universe, You already know - rather than You asking me who they are, do You not know? Instead, he boasts and glorifies himself before the Creator: Look, in Your eyes perhaps I am nothing, but there are people who appreciate me.
"And the end of his talk is grievous madness" - holelut denotes desolation and confusion, "Come, let me advise you," a vile counsel of foolishness. And indeed, such was his end: going and causing Israel to sin with the daughters of Midian - this is "the end of his talk is grievous madness," words of ruin.
Imrei Shefer: The Fool Does Not Remain in Mere Folly
The Imrei Shefer explains: If you examine the beginning of the fool's speech, you will see that it contains no substance; it is mere folly. But "the end of his talk is grievous madness" - you will find madness and insanity in it. What does this mean? Folly refers to words that lack sense, but "grievous madness" is already outright evil: lashon hara (derogatory speech), talebearing, flattery, falsehood, all forms of forbidden speech. Therefore, do not say: He is not wise, he speaks nonsense, but there is no harm in it. The verse tells you: Beware, when you are with a fool, that is only the beginning of the words of his mouth; by the end, it will turn into lashon hara, prohibitions, and sinful speech.
This is why it is written that the sages in Jerusalem, the pure-minded (nekei hada'at), would not sit with just anyone. For at first it might be pleasant to sit with him, perhaps even a bit amusing, but afterwards you hear from him all kinds of inappropriate talk: coarse language, madness and folly, lashon hara, things that make you feel uncomfortable sitting there. Therefore, a wise person does not sit in the first place beside people whose company will later become problematic.
Furthermore, a sensible person has a filter, but someone who lacks understanding blurts everything out, not possessing enough sense to understand what is permissible to say and what is not, what is dignified to say and what is not. As the saying goes: What the wise man thinks, the fool speaks. When a wise man sees something in a place that displeases him, he puts his hand over his mouth and remains silent; the fool immediately gets up, butts in, comments, and speaks, showing nothing but his own foolishness. If you had any sense, you would remain silent; you are not obligated to speak. True, something here may not be right, but why humiliate others, and why voice it aloud? And with such a person, at the next stage you see how he also arrives at outright prohibitions - public humiliation, lashon hara, talebearing. It is only the beginning of the words of his mouth that is mere folly.
Michlol Yofi: Flawed Premises
The Michlol Yofi offers an interesting explanation: The fool lays down basic premises, and based on these flawed and corrupted assumptions, he goes on to construct entire theories of wicked madness. And where does it all stem from? From "the beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness."
To take an example: Much of science relies on Carbon-14, which has a specific rate of decay, and based on it they estimate whether objects are hundreds or thousands of years old. But all of this is based on the assumption that our present conditions have truly not changed, and were exactly the same thousands of years ago. However, if temperatures changed, and the climate changed, and the concentration of oxygen in the air was different - then your entire premise is fundamentally flawed.
A parable was once told: To what is this comparable? To a person who decided to conduct a study on a child's growth. He weighed the baby at birth - four and a half kilograms. He weighed him a decade later - forty-five kilograms. The conclusion: At age one hundred he will weigh four hundred and fifty kilograms, and they will need a crane! "What, don't you know simple mathematics? Look, it is tenfold, from 4.5 to 45." Yes, but the premise is flawed, as it assumes that just as he grew in the early years, so he continues to grow his entire life. A flawed premise, and based on it you reached mistaken conclusions. This is "the beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness" - at the start he laid down a premise of folly; "and the end of his talk is wicked madness" - from this he arrives at futile conclusions, asserting that the world has existed for billions of years and spinning all kinds of bizarre theories.
And yet he does not possess a single proof. There is not a single proof in the world that scientists can produce showing that the world has existed for more than five thousand years. Everything hinges on interpretations and various assumptions, and there is not one piece of evidence from which definitive proof can be brought. Even tree trunks where rings were examined - there are no rings older than five thousand years, and no trees have ever been found that reached more than five thousand years.
A known incident occurred when scientists visited a stalactite cave discovered in America and began researching it, concluding that the stalactites were seventeen or eighteen hundred years old. How? They examined the growth rate of the stalactite - there is a stalactite, which hangs from above, and a stalagmite, which forms below - and measured how much grew each year, and multiplied accordingly to determine how many years had passed. If a centimeter is added each year, then ten centimeters mean ten years, and so on. Yet local residents reported that they knew the cave and that thirty years earlier there were no stalactites at all; there were even photographs documenting it. What turned out to be the case? A stream had once run above the cave, the soil there was limestone, and initially the stalactite grew at a meter per year because of the vast amount of mineral-rich water seeping in. At a certain point the stream dried up, leaving only rainwater to add minute amounts, slowing growth drastically. Thus, the foundational premise - that current conditions must have always existed in the past - was what led to the mistaken conclusion that the formation was thousands of years old.
This, then, is the fool: "The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness" - initially, he establishes a premise rooted in folly, upon which he constructs castles of vanity; "and the end of his talk is wicked madness" - from there he descends into wild heresy, concluding that the world is primordial, that there is no Creator, and that the Torah is not true, since the Torah states one thing while his conclusions suggest another - and he inherits Gehinnom. This is how the Michlol Yofi explains it.
Seder HaYom: When the Apology Is Worse Than the Statement
The Seder HaYom explains that a fool sometimes speaks foolish and senseless words, and then realizes that his mouth has tripped him up - as noted earlier, a fool's mouth causes his downfall - so he attempts to correct it. Sometimes, the correction is worse than the initial remark, to the point where it would have been better had he not attempted to fix it at all; seeking to rectify, he ends up causing greater damage.
This is like a driver caught speeding who was asked in court: "What do you have to say in your defense?" He replied: "To tell the truth, I didn't know there were cameras on this road." What a defense! In other words: when there are no cameras I speed along, and had I known there were cameras... "I didn't know there were cameras; this is the first time I've been caught here." Sometimes the apology is far worse, and it would have been far better to remain silent. This is "the beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness" - at first, he does not pay attention to what escapes his lips and utters foolishness; "and the end of his talk" - afterward, when he tries to apologize, it turns into wicked madness: not only does he fail to repair the damage, he compounds it and causes far greater harm than his initial words.
In Summary:
We have learned in these verses the power of speech in both directions. "If the serpent bites without a whisper" - just as the bite of a snake is lethal and has no cure, and even the snake itself cannot retract the venom, so lashon hara accomplishes its destruction even when the speaker is no longer present, and he too cannot take it back. On the other hand, "there is no advantage to the master of the tongue" applies also to one who has the ability to charm and whisper yet fails to do so: one who can reprove, teach, and pray for his generation yet remains silent has gained nothing, and will indeed be held accountable. We have seen that a snake does not bite unless incited from Above, nor does a lion, nor an oppressive regime; yet alongside this, man has much within his power through his own efforts. And we have learned the difference between the wise person and the fool: the words of the wise bring grace to those who hear them and bring merit to the public, whereas the fool's own lips consume him and expose his inner corruption, and his speech, which begins in foolishness, culminates in wicked madness. Above all is the preservation of protective fences: the serpent strikes precisely at the fences and begins from them; when the protective boundaries are guarded, one does not fall.