Introduction: The Face Behind the Smile
The final section of Chapter 26 in Sefer Mishlei focuses entirely on a single theme: the chasm between the exterior and the interior. Shlomo HaMelech portrays the hypocrite - one whose lips burn with passion and love, while within him lie hatred and deceit. From there, he turns to hidden hatred that is destined to be exposed, to one who digs a pit for his fellow and falls into it himself, and concludes with the matter of a deceitful tongue and slander. We will follow the order of the pesukim, accompanied by the insights of the Vilna Gaon, Rashi, Rabbeinu Yonah, Ralbag, and the Malbim.
Silver Dross Plated onto Earthenware
כֶּסֶף סִיגִים מְצֻפֶּה עַל חָרֶשׂ, שְׂפָתַיִם דֹּלְקִים וְלֶב רָע. (כג) - Silver dross plated onto an earthenware vessel is like burning lips and an evil heart.
A story is told of a man who delivered magnificent Torah lectures and sermons, a gifted orator, and some students wished to attend his talks - but the Brisker Rav forbade them. The man himself went to the Brisker Rav and asked: 'Honored Rabbi, why did you forbid your students to come hear me? After all, everything I say is built upon the foundations of the Torah, grounded in trustworthy principles.' The Brisker Rav replied: 'Tell me, what is the halachah if one takes strictly kosher ingredients certified by the Badatz, Mehadrin min haMehadrin, and cooks them in a non-kosher pot - what is the status of the food?' The man answered: 'It is treif.' The Brisker Rav said to him: 'Understand, then, that while everything you say may be wonderful words of Torah, it has been cooked in a treif pot' - and pointed to his head. If the person himself is flawed in his deeds and corrupted in his conduct, even the words of Torah that leave his mouth have been cooked in a treif pot.
This is what the Vilna Gaon explains on the words, 'Silver dross plated onto an earthenware vessel': even if the lips burn with fervor and the speaker succeeds in presenting beautiful ideas, it is not genuine silver, but mere silver dross. Know that inside lies cheap earthenware; inside, the flaw is evident, and the heart is evil.
A story is told of one of the Gedolei Yisrael, perhaps Rav Wosner ztz"l, who remarked that whenever someone came in and began kissing everything in sight - kissing the Rav's hand, then his hat, then the sefer on the table - that person immediately aroused his suspicion. You see someone with 'excessive kissing' and all this apparent adulation, and soon enough it becomes clear: 'Perhaps the Rav could sign for me? I came to collect money for...' It quickly becomes obvious where all this excessive kissing was headed. Sometimes, when you see burning lips and exaggerated enthusiasm, it is merely meant to conceal what lies inside. Outwardly, he suddenly appears to love Torah so deeply and cherish everything, but in truth, this is silver dross plated onto earthenware. The wise person immediately detects the dross in this silver.
An Enemy Disguises Himself with His Lips
בִּשְׂפָתָו יִנָּכֵר שׂוֹנֵא, וּבְקִרְבּוֹ יָשִׁית מִרְמָה. (כד) - An enemy disguises himself with his lips, while harboring deceit within.
The Malbim explains: 'An enemy disguises himself with his lips' - through his outward speech, it becomes apparent that he is an enemy, even though he professes love. The word yinnacher is related to nochri (a stranger): the enemy's speech is foreign, alien to what lies within him. He constantly calculates how to speak in a way that does not reflect what is truly going on inside, ensuring that his words do not betray him. 'While harboring deceit within' - deep inside, all his thoughts are schemes on how to deceive and bring down the people with whom he speaks. In the deeper metaphor, says the Malbim, this refers to the hypocrite who flatters with his lips while his heart is far removed: outwardly, he is charming, kind, and desires only to help you, but inwardly, he harbors deceit.
In the past, one had to search for examples; today, a single word suffices: a salesman. A person who comes to convince you to buy something - an insurance package, a robotic vacuum cleaner, a timeshare at the far end of the globe. What is he offering you? Pure sweetness. He comes presenting an unmatched offer, claiming only your best interests at heart, and naturally - only today, because if you do not close today, tomorrow the deal is gone.
A woman once related an experience at a large cosmetics salon that offers a free treatment to every woman who walks in, with the goal that she will subsequently purchase an expensive series of treatments. She arrived and received a full treatment on one half of her face. Then 'the sales representative' entered - there is the cosmetician, and there is the representative - whose job is to convince you what the treatment includes, how much you owe it to yourself, and that your skin is completely neglected. After intense persuasion, she said she needed to think it over, at which point they finished the other half of her face - but not with the same level of care as the first half. She asked whether it was worthwhile and a good deal. When asked about the terms, she explained: advance payment for twelve sessions, running several thousand shekels, with the assurance that she could always cancel - but only if she signed that very day. The answer to her was clear: 'Why didn't you say so from the start? Tell them no, under no circumstances. If someone tells you, "Only if you sign today," do not take it, even if according to them you are missing out on the deal of a lifetime and millions of dollars. If it is genuinely good, it will still be good tomorrow and the day after. The "today only" tactic is designed to corner you and force you to sign before you can think rationally.'
She was also advised: "Today everything is open; look into it online." Two days later she returned: "You wouldn't believe the complaints there! There are accounts of people who tried for three months to get their money back, pursuing every possible avenue without success. And one woman shared that the moment she said she did not think she was going to close the deal, the attitude she received turned freezing cold - a chill set in from that representative, who realized she would not be getting a bonus from it." She was told: "Blessed be He Who spared you from this ordeal." That is precisely the method - "With his lips an enemy dissembles, and within him he harbors deceit" (Mishlei 26:24), "Silver dross layered over an earthen vessel: burning lips and an evil heart" (ibid. 26:23).
In sales, this dynamic can be seen with absolute clarity: a representative is the most pleasant person in the world when attempting to close a deal, yet a moment later, there is no one to talk to. Take a simple example - signing up with a phone provider: within fifteen seconds, you are connected. But see how long it takes to cancel the service. "I cannot cancel your account; this has to be transferred to a senior representative, and they will call you back" - and until they call, you remain billed and connected. Is an insurance agent any different? As long as everything is fine, it is wonderful; the moment there is a claim and you need something from him, all that warmth suddenly vanishes. Someone once left an insurance agent to switch to a cheaper one and requested his policy records and a claims-free certificate - the ordeal required just to obtain them was unbelievable. When the agent was asked, "Why were you so pleasant when I was your client, but now when I need a few documents, simply because you are no longer making money off me, everything changes?" the agent simply replied, "Could be." He had no qualms about admitting it. Do not buy into that superficial charm, because the moment you need help, you will see how quickly it dissipates.
Though He Makes His Voice Gracious, Do Not Believe Him
כִּי יְחַנֵּן קוֹלוֹ אַל תַּאֲמֶן בּוֹ, כִּי שֶׁבַע תּוֹעֵבוֹת בְּלִבּוֹ. (כה) - Though he makes his voice gracious, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart. (25)
The Vilna Gaon explains: Even if he makes his voice gracious and tells you, "I mean only the best for you; believe me, you are dear to me and close to my heart, and all I want is to help you" - do not believe him. Even if he pleads, there are seven abominations in his heart; therefore, ignore his pleas and do not be swayed by them.
The Gra hints at a deeper meaning: Who is this enemy? It is the yetzer hara. He is the greatest enemy a person has, as the holy books write, yet he disguises his enmity - acting like a stranger (nokheri), concealing and hiding his hatred without revealing it. On the contrary, what does he offer you? Harmful things? Heaven forbid: "I only want you to enjoy yourself, to eat, to drink, to partake of all worldly pleasures; I care about you, and it matters to me that you feel good." This is his path of seduction: "Come, let us drink our fill of love, let us delight in romance" - but within him he sets his ambush. He is merely waiting for your downfall, and the yetzer hara does not rest until he sees the person laid low in his final resting place, beneath ten tefachim. He does a thorough job and leaves no remnants behind: first he causes the person to sin, then he kills him, and then he ascends above to prosecute him - Master of the Universe, look at what a sinner he was, look at what this man did! He is the yetzer hara, he is the Satan, he is the Angel of Death, and he is the prosecutor. Could there be any greater enemy? Yet despite all this, he presents a facade of care and love. Therefore, says the Gra, whenever he speaks graciously - do not believe him, for in his heart he intends to drag you into all seven abominations, which correspond to the seven compartments of Gehinnom.
Hatred May Be Concealed in Darkness
תִּכַּסֶּה שִׂנְאָה בְּמַשָּׁאוֹן, תִּגָּלֶה רָעָתוֹ בְקָהָל. (כו) - Though hatred is concealed in darkness, his malice will be revealed in the congregation. (26)
Rashi explains: This refers to people who conduct their deeds in darkness and secrecy. Masha'on means darkness, related to the gloom of devastation (sho'at choshech). When one takes that which is hateful to the Holy One, blessed be He, and conceals it in darkness, performing those hateful deeds in secret - "his malice will be revealed in the congregation." What a person does in secret, the Holy One, blessed be He, will ultimately proclaim in public. This operates in both directions: if a person commits sins in secret, Hashem exposes them publicly; and if a person performs mitzvos in secret, Hashem makes them known publicly - suddenly it is revealed that so-and-so was a hidden tzaddik, and his righteous deeds come to light.
Unfortunately, there are so many familiar cases of this sort: people who committed terrible acts in secret, and suddenly everything comes to light and is publicized, followed by media frenzy and public uproar, to the point where the person wishes he could bury himself and his family out of sheer disgrace. It could be a politician, it could be a purported "baba" (miracle worker), or it could be anyone who imagined he could do whatever he pleased under the cover of darkness. In the end, everything comes to light. What a person must always remember is: fear God and keep His commandments, because otherwise - everything will ultimately be exposed.
The Gra interprets the verse in the realm of interpersonal relations: When one presents himself to his fellow as a friend, yet conceals his hatred in darkness - his malice will be revealed in the congregation, and his wickedness will be publicized. This makes great sense, for "as water reflects face to face," so does the heart of man: even if outwardly one shows a smiling face, the hatred remains pent up in the heart, and eventually the truth will emerge and his ill will will be exposed before the public. Notice the difference between the interpretations: according to Rashi, "hatred" refers to deeds that are hateful to the Holy One, blessed be He, which a person conceals in darkness; whereas according to the Gra, "hatred" means conduct so shameful that people would hate you if they knew of it, leading the person to conceal that abhorrent behavior and act in secret.
The Malbim explains: "Though hatred is concealed in darkness" - these are the harmful things a person harbors in his heart, what he would truly like to inflict out of hatred. This is close to the Gra's primary explanation: he wishes to do harm, but conceals it, either because he fears the repercussions, or because of social discomfort, or similar reasons. Ultimately, his malice will be exposed.
He Who Digs a Pit Shall Fall into It
כֹּרֶה שַּׁחַת בָּהּ יִפּוֹל, וְגוֹלֵל אֶבֶן אֵלָיו תָּשׁוּב. (כז) - He who digs a pit shall fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it shall return upon him.
This is a direct continuation: out of the inner hatred he conceals, he operates in the dark, digging a pit without anyone knowing - and he is told: into this very pit you yourself will fall. Rashi cites an example: Bil'am. He gave counsel to Balak against the Jewish people, bringing about the death of twenty-four thousand men of Israel, and in the end, when he went to claim his reward, he was killed by the hand of Israel. He who digs a pit - into it he falls.
And "he who rolls a stone, it shall return upon him" - notice the measure-for-measure justice with Avimelech: he went to murder his brothers in order to forge a royal pact with the men of Shechem, and slaughtered them all - not seventy, but sixty-nine, since Yosam fled - upon a single stone. And what was his punishment? A woman threw an upper millstone down on him from the wall and cracked his skull. With what? With a stone. You slaughtered your brothers upon a stone, and your death will come through a stone - he who rolls a stone, it shall return upon him.
The Vilna Gaon explains: one who digs a pit so that his fellow will fall into it will ultimately fall into it himself; and one who rolls a stone to hurl at his fellow, it will return upon him. He cites the story of a man who was clearing stones from his field into the public domain. He had many stones in his field and wanted to plow it, so he took the stones out and threw them into the public domain. A pious man saw him and said, "Why are you throwing stones from property that is not yours into property that is yours?" The man laughed at his words and said, "This pious man is speaking nonsense; I am throwing from my property into property that is not mine!" In time, through misfortune, he lost and sold his field. As he was walking in the public domain, he stumbled and was injured by those very stones he had cleared from his field, and he remembered the words of the pious man he had mocked - for the public domain was now his, while his field had been sold. The stone you rolled from your domain into the public domain - the public domain will always remain yours, whereas the field, you do not know how long it will remain yours. A person must therefore be careful, for whatever a person does, he does to himself, and if he does negative things, they will return to him like a boomerang, and he will have no one to blame but himself.
"A Lying Tongue Hates Those It Crushes" - Five Interpretations
לְשׁוֹן שֶׁקֶר יִשְׂנָא דַכָּיו, וּפֶה חָלָק יַעֲשֶׂה מִדְחֶה. (כח) - A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth works ruin.
Rashi explains: one who accepts lashon hara comes to hate those who are crushed under him. That is, the moment I accept derogatory words about someone, my attitude toward him immediately changes: "What, is he really like that?" From then on, you treat him with estrangement, show less patience toward him, and view him as a small, base person. Regarding the devastating power of lashon hara, Rashi notes: because of it, Shaul pursued David and destroyed Nov, the city of kohanim, for he was convinced that David was undermining him and that Achimelech ben Achituv was aiding the rebels - killing eighty kohanim who bore the linen ephod. "And a flattering mouth works ruin [midcheh]" - a mouth that speaks with smooth flattery causes rejection (dichui), pushing the one who accepts the lashon hara away from the Holy One, Blessed is He. You, who use a smooth tongue to spread tales about this person and that person, cause the one who listens to you to be banished from the presence of the Holy One, Blessed is He, for four groups do not greet the Divine Presence - designated by the acronym ChASHMAL - and one of them is the group of slanderers.
Rabbeinu Yonah explains differently: "dakkav" refers to the crushed, meaning the humble and lowly of spirit - the humble, crushed, and lowly person hates a lying tongue, and only truth is ever on his lips. The humble person desires the dignity of others and is pained by their shame and disgrace. When people come to tell him, "Do you know what so-and-so did?" - he hates it; he wants to hear only good, positive things. Someone once asked media figures: Why are you constantly wallowing in mud and filth - this one stole and that one did that? Are there no good, uplifting stories about the beauty of the Land of Israel, about the Jewish people, about all the good deeds being done? They answered him: You are right, but that doesn't generate ratings. When you run a promo saying, "Did you hear about so-and-so's chessed fund?" - most likely people will switch to another channel. But if it says, "Did you hear about the massive embezzlement by a Member of Knesset whose name is still under gag order?" - people will stay glued to the screen. Sadly, that is the reality: people enjoy wallowing in the mud, hearing gossip and lashon hara. A gemach is not news. The humble person, by contrast, prefers that the image of his fellow remain dignified in his eyes rather than seeing his honor degraded.
Rabbeinu Yonah further cites in the name of other commentators: "A lying tongue hates those it crushes" - a person given to a lying tongue hates those who crush him, namely, those who rebuke him. He wants to speak freely, share lashon hara, and spread falsehoods, and there is always some pest telling him: "That is a lie, that is lashon hara, it is forbidden, that is slander." And he hates him - not necessarily because of the rebuke itself, but because he hates being rebuked, refusing to let anyone dictate to him what to do.
The Vilna Gaon offers an original interpretation: "dakkav" is related to purification and refinement, from the root zach, pure and clean (the Targum translates hitaharu, "purify yourselves," as idaku, and tahor as dakhya). According to this, a liar hates the one who refines himself, who purifies and elevates himself. Why? Because he wishes to harm him with his lies, and a person who refines his actions is less vulnerable to being damaged by them. Consider this: when someone wants to conspire against another, what does he prefer - that the person be righteous or wicked? Surely wicked. When you are wicked, it is easy for me to speak disparagingly of you, to tell everyone how terrible you are, to reveal your true face. But when you are righteous, I search for an angle of attack and find nothing, and everyone tells me: "What do you want from him? He is a tzaddik!" Therefore, it suits me if he deteriorates, for then I can say: "Look who this man really is; look at how he behaves." But when he refines himself, I have nothing to report about him and nothing to say, and if I fabricate stories, why would anyone believe me? "And a flattering mouth works ruin" - the smooth, deceitful mouth repels a person from approaching the tzaddik to refine himself and mend his ways, and as a result, he falls into ruin.
The Ralbag explains: a man of a lying tongue hates those who are crushed by his falsehoods. At first glance this seems puzzling - what did these people do to him? How did they harm him? Rather, he hates them because he is certain they hate him for what he did to them. This is a kind of feedback loop: when I harm someone, it breeds hatred within me toward him, even if there was no great hatred beforehand. Why? Because I know that he knows I did it, and he is surely angry at me and giving me dark looks - and that gives me perceived legitimacy to hate him, for after all, he hates me. And just as water reflects face to face, his resentment turns into genuine hatred because I harmed him. Thus, he may have done nothing to me, yet I harmed him, and from that an escalating mutual hatred feeds on itself. "And a flattering mouth works ruin [midcheh]" - if you respond to him with smoothness, not with hatred, you heap coals upon his head. People might think: What, should I be a fool? He did this to me and I should speak kindly to him? But know this: when you show no hatred toward him despite what he did to you, he suddenly has no adversary, no one left to fight. He sees that you harbor no animosity toward him, and consequently his own hatred finds no fertile ground in which to grow.
The Malbim explains: "A lying tongue" refers to a person accustomed to accepting lashon hara. Such a person specifically likes those who broadcast evil in public; he loves reading gossip columns and enjoys someone who spreads lashon hara out loud. He will not go to someone from whom no news can be heard and who speaks only good things; he will go have a cup of coffee with the neighbor who is like a sprinkler - within ten minutes you are updated on everything happening in the neighborhood, the neighbors, their wives, and all that they have, down to the finest details. And apparently there is something inherent here: when a person's hair is cut, their mouth opens up. At a barber or hairdresser, it is a profession in itself, as if they took a specialized course in lashon hara and gossip. "Barber" (sapar) is perhaps also from the root of story (sippur) - carrying stories from one person to another, with each adding their own spin.
And whom does he hate? "Hates those crushed by it" - these are those who speak lashon hara discreetly and quietly. He hates them because this is a sign that there is no substance to their words: had they been telling true stories, they would be shouting them aloud. When something is conveyed quietly - who knows how much truth is in it, and later it turns out to be complete nonsense. "Major Rumor" runs rampant, and in the end it turns out that all the messages were false. It is hard to comprehend the twisted malice of those who disseminate such messages, causing terrible anguish to families and relatives. As Rabbi Hillel Zaks used to say about all kinds of stories: there is a "story that happened," and there is a "story that almost happened" - fabrications. But one who publicizes it out loud and goes to the media with it, people say about him: a person would not take the risk and publish it unless there were truth to it. (Granted, nowadays people fear libel lawsuits, so they whisper even the truth quietly.)
Shlomo concludes the verse and the chapter: "And a flattering mouth works ruin." The smooth mouth, speaking one thing with the mouth and another in the heart, will bring about downfall - and the one who falls is the possessor of the smooth mouth himself. His tongue will cause him to stumble, and he will fall into the pit he dug. His slippery tongue, always speaking out of both sides of its mouth, telling this one this and that one that - suddenly it turns out that the two have met, and he is forced to confront his own words. If you speak straightforwardly and honestly, you can always stand behind your words; but a person of flattery - it is his tongue that will bring him down, and the embarrassments, troubles, and problems all stem from that very same smooth mouth, and they themselves will thrust him down and trip him up.
In summary:
The conclusion of the chapter is one great warning about the gap between the exterior and the interior: "Silver dross overlaying an earthen vessel" - do not be taken by burning lips and excessive enthusiasm, which often conceal an evil heart; "An enemy dissembles with his lips" - the speech of an enemy is alien speech, foreign to his inner self, with deceit in his heart; "When his voice is gracious, do not believe him" - and this is precisely the way of the yetzer hara, man's greatest enemy, who poses as a beloved friend while intending to bring him down; "Hatred may be concealed in deceit" - everything done in darkness will ultimately be revealed in the assembly; "He who digs a pit will fall into it" - measure for measure, and the stone rolled will return upon him; "A lying tongue hates those crushed by it" - whether referring to one who accepts lashon hara and hates the crushed, or to a liar who hates the one who rebukes him or purifies himself. The conclusion is singular: a person's task is to be true on the inside just as on the outside, to guard his tongue, and to know that one must fear God and keep His commandments. May Hashem save us from all stumbling, Amen and Amen.