Introduction: From Strife to Speech
In the preceding verses, King Solomon addressed the disgrace of strife - arguments, conflicts, and quarrels. Now he transitions to discussing the power of speech itself, which is the natural companion of contention. The two verses before us, concerning the fruit of the mouth and life and death being in the hands of the tongue, are a direct continuation of this theme. Each commentator opens a different window into them: Rabbeinu Yonah and the Ralbag on the ethical-practical level, the Vilna Gaon on the level of Torah study, and the Malbim through his consistent approach of distinguishing between mouth (peh), lips (sefatayim), and tongue (lashon).
מִפְּרִי פִי אִישׁ תִּשְׂבַּע בִּטְנוֹ תְּבוּאַת שְׂפָתָיו יִשְׂבָּע׃ (כ) - From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach will be satisfied; with the produce of his lips he will be sated. (20)
Rabbeinu Yonah: Strife Opens the Mouth
Rabbeinu Yonah explains that this verse is a continuation of the previous one. Know, Scripture tells us, that strife causes a person to sin with his lips. This is a simple reality: when does a person open his mouth wide? In the wake of an argument. One person said something to him, he could not keep silent and retaliated, and the other replied, "If you speak to me like that, I'll tell you such-and-such!" Where did it all begin? With the quarrel. Therefore, "From the fruit of a man's mouth" - the fruit of the mouth being words - "his stomach will be satisfied," meaning he will receive his retribution for them. "With the produce of his lips he will be sated" - from that which he brought forth from his lips, from that very thing he will be sated.
From strife, a person proceeds to lashon hara (evil speech) and gossip: "Did you hear what he said? Who does he think he is? Let me tell you who he really is!" It is all born of strife. To such a person, Scripture says: for whatever you say, you will be held accountable. This can be understood both in terms of the World to Come and in terms of this world. Regarding the World to Come, it is straightforward. And in this world: when you speak lashon hara about others and speak disparagingly, ultimately you will consume the consequences yourself. After all, people gravitate toward and wish to be in the company of someone who does not gossip about others, who does not speak ill, and who only has good things to say about everyone.
There is a perceptive insight: if you go to a counselor - whether an educational consultant, marriage counselor, or anyone else - for advice and problem-solving, and he mentions the names of his other clients, flee from him immediately. For with his subsequent clients, he will mention you as well. In simple terms: such people cannot be trusted. People naturally shy away from someone who speaks lashon hara - today he discusses someone else, tomorrow he will discuss me. Thus, by being a person of strife, "from the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach will be satisfied": what he brings forth from his mouth is what he will end up eating, and his corrupt speech will ultimately bring him ruin.
The Positive Dimension of the Verse
Yet this matter also possesses a positive aspect, and the verse can be read in the opposite sense: "From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach will be satisfied" - when a person speaks words of Torah, words of encouragement, brings people to repentance, and draws those who are distant closer, he brings merit to the public through his speech, and from this his stomach will be satisfied. In both this world and the World to Come, he will derive deep satisfaction from this merit.
Therefore, Rabbeinu Yonah explains that the verse can be seen as addressing both aspects at once: its first half concerns speech of an evil character, while its second half concerns speech of a good character. "From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach will be satisfied" - when he speaks disparagingly, speaks lashon hara, gossips, and sows discord, he will be sated with the bitterness that sprouts from it. "With the produce of his lips he will be sated" - this refers to the positive side: when he speaks good things, offers praise, inspires repentance and draws those who are distant closer, establishes peace between people, and teaches others Torah.
Why make this distinction? Because the word "fruit" (peri) usually expresses something corrupt or negative: "the fruit of their thoughts," "they shall eat of the fruit of their doings," "I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart." The term "fruit" consistently conveys: this fruit that you cultivated, this is what you will eat. Therefore, "from the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach will be satisfied" refers to the negative aspect - you will eat the spoiled fruit and bear the negative consequences. Conversely, "with the produce of his lips he will be sated" refers to positive speech: on the other hand, if he speaks well, he will be sated with good.
The Vilna Gaon: Innovation and Review
The Vilna Gaon explains: "From the fruit of a man's mouth" - this refers to what a person innovates in Torah, for a novel insight (chiddush) is the fruit. "His belly shall be filled" - through this, the knowledge is retained in his grasp and he remembers it. "With the produce of his lips" - this refers to what he subsequently reviews with his lips, repeating it again and again, and from this "he shall be satisfied."
And what does "satisfied" mean? If a person studied something and afterwards does not remember what he learned, we might say, in quotation marks, that he ate and remained hungry. For right now, when he needs the information, he cannot recall it: I learned a halachah, I learned an explanation of a verse, I want to say it now - and I cannot remember what it was. This is someone who ate and in the end remained hungry. But if he learned and the matters are well-settled in his mind, he is satisfied from them. What a person innovates on his own, he tends to remember better; therefore "his belly shall be filled" - it stays with him for a long time. Combined with constant review, the words become fluent in his mouth and remembered in his mind, providing lasting satisfaction, because everything is organized clearly within him.
Ralbag: What You Say Comes Back to You
Ralbag explains along the lines of Rabbeinu Yonah: as a result of a person's words, that is what he "eats" - meaning, what he receives in return. A person speaks gently - "a soft answer turns away wrath" - and thereby averts harm from himself. In contrast, consider someone who speaks harshly: someone comes to point something out to him, and he immediately lashes out and speaks brazenly. Suddenly he wakes up in the morning and finds all four tires slashed - he loses a day of work, suffers distress, and incurs expenses. Why? Because yesterday you had a dispute with someone, and he brought his friends... This is an extreme example, and real-life situations can be far less dramatic, but the principle is identical.
If only you had stayed silent for a moment. You saw that the other person was hot-tempered - you should have said: "I beg your pardon, I apologize, everything will be fine, do not worry." You could have deflected it mildly and calmed him down. But you wanted to show him who you are; you paid him back in kind - "his belly shall be filled." Then do not be surprised if your belly is filled with a knife; here "his belly shall be filled" can be taken literally. Think about whom you are dealing with. Ralbag says: a person should know that according to how he speaks and conducts himself with those around him, so will be the treatment he receives from them.
The Malbim: From the Mouth to the Lips - From Chochmah to Da'as
The Malbim, as is his way, analyzes the precise distinction between the organs. The beginning of the verse mentions "the fruit of a man's mouth" - the mouth, and afterwards "the produce of his lips" - the lips. The mouth hints at speech of chochmah (wisdom), as the mouth is more internal, and chochmah is more internal. The lip is more external, corresponding to da'as (internalized knowledge). This means: when a person repeats words of chochmah over and over and reviews them, he attains da'as in them - clear knowledge and mastery. As we have discussed several times, chochmah does not rely on proofs; rather, it is received through tradition, transmitted from teacher to student. But if you review it, delve into it, and contemplate it, you will also attain da'as - reaching a clear, definitive understanding.
And this is what the verse means: when you express chochmah with the mouth, it yields its fruit until your belly is satisfied. And what is "produce" (tevu'ah)? The Malbim explains that produce refers to the fully ripened, harvest-ready crop, and metaphorically it represents da'as. Da'as means that one already possesses clear knowledge of the matter; the fruit is complete - it is no longer in the stages of development, but a finished product. In the analogy: not only have I learned the chochmah from a teacher, but I have arrived at a clear understanding, a state of da'as, to the point that I can articulate it with my lips - and that is the harvest of the fruit.
Therefore, when the lips speak, there is an expression associated with produce: "niv sefatayim" ("fruit of the lips"). Likewise "navi" (prophet), and "wine shall make the maidens flourish (yenovev)" - all from the root of tenuvah (yield, produce). Speech is tied to produce, to niv, to navi, because the mouth's harvest and the fruits it brings forth are the words it speaks. And this is the flow of the verse: "From the fruit of a man's mouth his belly shall be filled" - begin by learning the matters in chochmah until you are satisfied; and afterwards you will reach a higher level, "with the produce of his lips he shall be satisfied" - when the harvest, the fully ripened fruit, comes forth from your mouth, and you reach elevated understanding and depth, until the matters become clear and absolute to you.
מָוֶת וְחַיִּים בְּיַד לָשׁוֹן וְאֹהֲבֶיהָ יֹאכַל פִּרְיָהּ׃ (כא) - Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. (21)
The Tongue Represents Binah
We discussed the mouth and the lips, and now Scripture moves on to speak of the tongue. The Malbim previously explained that the tongue corresponds to binah (understanding) - speech that involves deducing one thing from another. What is the definition of binah? When you teach someone one concept - "God has spoken once, twice have I heard this" - you said one thing, and from your words he derived four more. How? By deducing one thing from another. If he phrased it this way, he surely intended such-and-such; and why did he not say it differently or shorten it? He surely intended to hint at this as well; and if he said it specifically at this moment, I can infer yet another point. You see this frequently in the Gemara: "We learn three things from this statement of Rav Huna" - he uttered a brief sentence, and the Gemara analyzes his words and extracts three principles from them. This is the concept of tevunah: to learn and deduce one matter from another.
And where is this alluded to? In the tongue (lashon). For why is the tongue called lashon? Because it kneads (lasha). Without the tongue, you would not be able to chew food. Who moves the food so that it does not just sit in the middle of the mouth? Seemingly, food should remain in the center, for that is where the open cavity is, and what would bring it to the sides where the space is tighter? The tongue is what kneads, mixing the food and pushing it toward the teeth again and again. Notice what an action this is: this is precisely the action of binah (understanding) - to contemplate things, delve deeply into them, and from that to draw out something new, to deduce another conclusion, to understand one thing from within another.
And therefore, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue": through the tongue, through understanding one thing from another, you judge between truth and falsehood; you contemplate and know what to bring near and what to distance. And this is literally a matter of life and death.
Contemplation That Leads to Faith
Let us take an example from matters of faith. How does one truly arrive at pure, clear, and absolute faith? Through contemplation. Anyone who contemplates must reach the conclusion that there is a Creator to the world. One who does not contemplate will say: there was an explosion, this happened, that happened, and he will tell you stories. But the one who contemplates must arrive at this conclusion. How did Avraham Avinu reach the conclusion that the world has a Creator, long before there were discovery seminars? He contemplated and thought: Is it possible that the world was created on its own? This is a simple, logical deduction. It is impossible; Someone must have created it. And on what basis? Because it is impossible for such a complex body to be created by itself. And one does not need to be a scientist to recognize how complex our body is. It is inconceivable that this came into being on its own.
Incidentally, some two hundred of the top scientists over the past century were all believers, explicit believers in a Creator of the universe. Einstein, who was chosen as Time magazine's Person of the Century, remarked that it is impossible to conceive that a person would not believe there is a Creator to the world, that Someone fashioned this entire wondrous creation. And when people argued to him that perhaps things happen by chance, he replied: the Creator does not play dice. The Holy One, blessed be He, does not throw dice to see what comes out - everything is ordered. Indeed, the very premise of scientific research is based on the world being orderly. For if you do not assume that the world is orderly, what is the use of research? Today the atom behaves one way, and tomorrow the electron and proton behave differently; you say, "I conducted an experiment," and they tell you, "We tried to replicate it and it failed; apparently it changed its mind and direction." Could such a thing be imagined? We all know that scientific research is built on the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, established laws in creation, and things operate according to fixed laws of nature decreed by Him, may He be blessed. It turns out that anyone who contemplates even a little cannot remain a nonbeliever.
Contemplating an Orange
An example was once brought: contemplating an orange. Set aside a human being, with billions of cells, DNA, and everything within him; take a relatively simple creation - an orange. In the beginning, it grows surrounded by leaves while still unfit to eat, and therefore Hashem created it green, blending into the foliage and unseen. When it begins to become fit to eat, it turns orange, standing out on the tree and catching the eye. And had the orange grown without a peel, imagine what it would look like, and whether it would even be edible? Leave a peeled orange outside for half a day - it becomes inedible. But the Holy One, blessed be He, gave it a peel, and as long as it remains in its peel it is preserved, and only then do you peel it and reach the fruit.
And once you peel it - inside, there are segments. Imagine if the orange were a single solid mass: a person would take a bite, and end up with a bath in his face, juice spraying everywhere. Instead, it was cut for you in advance into small sections, and even inside those small sections there are tiny juice sacs like little bottles. How was this made? And not only that: the Creator gave you an orange with "open-source code." This was discussed at length in the past. What is open source? You want to make oranges? Here, all the secrets of the software are given to you; they are already embedded inside the fruit. Open it up, and you will see the instructions to produce more oranges. The Holy One, blessed be He, did not claim exclusive rights over the tree; there is no copyright: "Here, I placed twenty seeds inside every orange for you - go plant yourself an orchard." How wondrous! And anyone who contemplates even just an orange cannot remain a nonbeliever. If a person understands one thing from another, if he contemplates, he must reach the conclusion that Someone created this world.
From Creation to Purpose and to the Torah
This conclusion is relatively simple; one would have to be foolish not to reach it. The more complex part is the realization that He who created the world wants something from me - and whoever contemplates this cannot help but reach this conclusion as well. For we do not manufacture even a paper cup without a purpose. If one were to ask how long it takes to produce such a cup in a primitive way, the answer would be twenty minutes - and people do not do such a thing without a purpose. We are not speaking of bored individuals, but of rational human beings. And the Creator of the universe did not create worlds and galaxies and all that exists here, which we are still only beginning to explore, out of boredom or as a game. There is a purpose here.
And if there is a purpose, and if He created man with such great intelligence, He certainly wants something from him. And it is impossible that He would want something from him without communicating to tell him what He wants; He would not leave him to guess. It must be that at some point in time He spoke to someone and told him what He wants. From this, one reaches the conclusion that the Creator established communication with mankind, and one begins to examine with whom He connected. It then becomes clear that the Giving of the Torah took place at Mount Sinai, where Hashem made known in a clear manner what He wants and gave the Torah. And it can be proven that the Torah will never be replaced, that it is the very same Torah given through Moshe Rabbeinu, that this revelation was unique in human history, and that there is none beside Him. All of these things are demonstrable - but what is needed for this? Contemplation. Deducing and understanding one thing from within another.
If a person is superficial, he will say: "Nothing is proven; no one has seen Gan Eden or Gehinnom; these are just stories religious people tell." But a contemplating person - when you come to him and say: "Let us examine it, let us analyze it" - is willing to investigate. And one who replies, "I have no time, I just started a new job," what does that response really mean? "Leave me alone, for if I contemplate I will reach conclusions; leave me as I am." This is the meaning of "Death and life are in the power of the tongue": the power of contemplation and deducing one matter from another is what determines whether a person will arrive at life or, Heaven forbid, the opposite.
In summary: "From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach is sated" - speech is fruit, and a person himself eats what has come out of his mouth. Rabbeinu Yonah learned from here that strife leads to sins of the tongue; one who speaks disparagingly eats its bitter fruit in this world and in the World to Come, whereas one who speaks well and benefits the public is sated with goodness. The Vilna Gaon applied this to novellae of Torah and diligent review, through which matters remain in a person's grasp so that he does not "eat and remain hungry." The Ralbag taught that in accordance with a person's speech and conduct toward those around him, so matters will return to him. And the Malbim elevated the verse from the level of wisdom in the mouth to the level of knowledge on the lips, from fruit to produce, and from there to the tongue, which is understanding - the contemplation that kneads concepts together and deduces one matter from another. Indeed, life and death literally hang upon the power of this contemplation: one who contemplates creation, even in a single orange, inevitably arrives at his Creator, at the purpose for which he was created, and at the Torah, wherein the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed what He asks of us.