Introduction
Chapter 14 of Mishlei deals with many comparisons between the wise person and the fool, between the upright and the devious, and between truth and falsehood. In this lesson, we will explore two verses: verse 5 - which discusses a trustworthy witness versus a false witness, and the subtle distinction between sheker (falsehood) and kazav (deceit); and verse 6 - which deals with the scorner who fails to attain wisdom, and the discerning person to whom knowledge comes easily. We will examine the insights of Rabbeinu Yonah, the explanations of the Vilna Gaon, and the Malbim's approach in both peshat and remez.
A Trustworthy Witness Will Not Lie - A Person of Truth Is Careful Even in Small Matters
עֵד אֱמוּנִים לֹא יְכַזֵּב וְיָפִיחַ כְּזָבִים עֵד שָׁקֶר׃ (י"ד, ה) - A trustworthy witness will not lie, but a false witness breathes out deceit. (14:5)
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: when a person is trustworthy, a person of integrity and fairness, this quality is not confined solely to formal testimony in court. One does not need to place him on the witness stand, administer an oath on a Sefer Torah, and admonish him to speak only the truth. Even without all of that, because he is a person of integrity, an upright individual, he will never deceive. This holds true even in casual remarks, and even in what people today call "white lies" - a lie that seems harmless. (And by the way, why is it called a "white lie" in Hebrew, sheker lavan? Because Lavan the Aramean developed this system; he started with these little deceptions and ended up where he did.)
The explanation is straightforward: if someone has accustomed himself to falsehood, then when he is called upon to testify, he will lie there as well. But if one has trained himself never to utter a falsehood, then even when it is not a matter of formal testimony but merely recounting an everyday story, he will not exaggerate, he will not describe something that never happened, and everything he says will reflect the absolute truth.
You can observe God-fearing people who pause in the middle of a story and say: "Wait, excuse me, I am not completely sure there were a hundred people there - there were at least fifty." Why this sudden meticulousness? Who is going to check up on him? Who is going to catch him? Rather, he is exceptionally careful not to let anything untrue cross his lips. The moment it occurs to him that he may have exaggerated, he immediately retracts and clarifies the exact facts. That is a trustworthy person. He will never deceive, and he will always be precise about what he actually heard, so that whenever he recounts something, his words are precise and true.
"Breathes Out" - An Expression of Constant Speech
Notice the verse's wording: "and a false witness breathes out deceit." What does yafí'ach mean? Rabbeinu Yonah explains that breathing out denotes constant speech, like the breath constantly issuing from one's lips. A person whose entire conversation and all of whose stories are rooted in faithfulness will consistently speak righteousness. By contrast, if someone is continually accustomed to deceit, do not trust his testimony; he constantly breathes out deceit - his entire speech, whatever emerges from his mouth, is always deceptive. Consequently, when he comes to testify, he is a false witness, and his testimony cannot be relied upon.
The Vilna Gaon: The Difference Between Kazav and Sheker
The Vilna Gaon explains: kazav (deceit) refers to someone who fails to fulfill his word, while sheker (falsehood) refers to someone who lies from the outset. This distinction is precise in the Holy Tongue. What is a nachal achzav (a deceptive brook)? A stream that once flowed and ultimately ran dry. "Do not lie to your handmaid" - Chazal explain: do not make me a promise that will fail, where a son is born to me and then dies. Similarly, the Hebrew word achzavah (disappointment) reflects this: it had a promising beginning, but in the end one was disappointed; it was not what one thought. The entire concept of achzav began well and ended badly. In contrast, sheker is something that was untrue from the very start.
According to this, "a trustworthy witness" refers to people who keep their word, as in the verse, "And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place." One who will not disappoint always fulfills his word and ensures that if he made a promise, it will be kept completely. Conversely, one who "breathes out deceit" is someone who intends from the outset not to follow through. And what does he promise? In order for the falsehood to be accepted, he promises something that initially "works," that makes a favorable first impression. Yet in the end, you find that the product breaks down and he fails to deliver on his commitments; for the first few payments he still supplied the merchandise, but afterward he delivers nothing. The verse says: do not imagine that he merely breathes out empty promises - he is a "false witness." Not only does he fail to keep his word, but ultimately it becomes clear that he was lying from the very beginning, which is far worse.
The Vilna Gaon: The "Witness" of Keriat Shema
The Vilna Gaon offers another explanation of this verse: In Keriat Shema, we have an enlarged ayin in the word Shema and an enlarged dalet in the word echad, and through them we bear witness - ayin-dalet, spelling ed (witness) - to His blessed Oneness. "Hashem Elokeinu" corresponds to "Anochi" and "Lo yiheyeh lecha": "Anochi Hashem Elokecha" represents the general category of positive commandments, while "Lo yiheyeh lecha elohim acherim al panai" - that there is no other power in the world that has the status of our God - represents the general category of negative commandments. Thus, in Keriat Shema, we accept upon ourselves, first, His blessed Oneness, and second, the observance of the positive and negative commandments. Furthermore, in detail, Keriat Shema contains thirteen mitzvot, as the holy Zohar states in Parashat Terumah.
And this is "A faithful witness does not lie": one who is a "witness" firmly fulfills what he testified to in Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad. And what is true testimony? A person who fulfills all the mitzvot, "Hashem" - the positive commandments, and "Elokeinu" - the negative commandments. But "one who breathes out falsehoods": one who has no intention of fulfilling them, but rather, even as he recites Keriat Shema, does not truly accept the Holy One, blessed be He, as God with absolute sovereignty over him - his Keriat Shema is false testimony. What are you testifying to? To His blessed Oneness and His mitzvot! How can you bear witness without any intention of fulfilling "Hashem Elokeinu," the positive and negative commandments? It turns out that reciting Keriat Shema in such a way is akin to bearing false witness.
The Malbim: Why a False Witness Must Begin with Deceptions
The Malbim follows a similar line to the Vilna Gaon: sheker is a lie that is blatant from the outset, whereas kazav is something that initially appears to be true and only in the end is revealed as false, like a nachal achzav (a deceptive, dried-up brook). From this, the Malbim explains: a false witness must begin by breathing out kezavim (deceptions). Why? Because if he were to utter blatant lies from the start that are obvious to everyone, they would immediately catch him in his testimony and say: "How can you say such a thing? That is the opposite of reality!" Therefore, he is forced to speak kazav - something that initially seems true, and only at the end do you discover that it disappoints and holds no truth. And this is "and a false witness breathes out deceptions": in order for his words to be accepted, he does not open with obvious lies, but with deceptive claims, so that you will accept his words at first and not notice that they are a lie.
But "a faithful witness does not lie": a person of truth will always speak only truth that will endure as truth forever, as it is written, "Truthful lips endure forever." If it is truth - it will stand forever. But falsehood - shikra lo ka'i, it has no legs to stand on. Today it exists, but in a week, two months, two years, twenty years, or two hundred years - the lie will be exposed. Truth, however, will endure forever.
An example of this is Communism. At first, when it broke out, it swept masses along with it - how wonderful that everyone is equal, how great that there are no social classes! It seemed good and wonderful, but it was a reality built on falsehood. It took time; perestroika arrived, and everything collapsed. It turned out that it could not hold up and could not endure. And if you want it to endure, you are forced to control the masses through brute force, as in North Korea. A falsehood cannot endure, whereas a faithful witness endures forever, because he always speaks truth - and truth exists forever.
"Yafi'ach" - Incomplete Speech
The Malbim also analyzes the term yafi'ach ("breathes out"), explaining: breathing out denotes speech that is incomplete. The false witness does not complete his words, because if he were to state them fully, people would recognize the lie; therefore, he merely breathes air from his mouth, without fully articulating the matter.
And this makes sense: when a person tells the truth, he provides specific details - it was at 10:32, he came from that exact direction, dressed in such-and-such, with a briefcase in his hand and a pen in his pocket; everything is described with precision. But when someone wants to tell a lie, he tries to speak in very general terms so he will not be caught. "He arrived in the morning, I didn't see exactly from which direction, I didn't notice what he was wearing" - because if he says he was wearing a blue shirt, others will testify he wore white; and if he says 10:32, someone will produce a transit ticket proving otherwise. The more details one provides, the easier it is to catch the liar. Therefore, the liar speaks in generalities, where he is much harder to pin down. This is "he breathes out deceptions": incomplete speech, so that they cannot detect that he is lying.
Allusion and Allegory: The Truth of Torah versus the Fool's Deceptions
The Malbim notes: this is the literal meaning of the verse, but it also contains an allusion and allegory regarding the realms of wisdom. One who testifies to wisdom and faith will not deceive, for he speaks absolute truth, and truth endures forever - the laws of the Torah and faith stand for eternity. But the fool, who testifies falsely to dispute the laws of wisdom, is always full of doubts and asks "who says?", having no proof. He "breathes out deceptions": bringing all kinds of flawed arguments and false deductions to prove his vanity. These ideas are like an achzav (a dried-up spring), for time will pass and the falsehood in them will be revealed.
Darwin himself said that time would tell, that the future would prove whether his words were true. He claimed that the world evolved from a primordial protein, from a primordial living creature in the most basic form, until it evolved and became man. Yet there is a tremendous question: Where are all the intermediate animals? Where are all the transitional stages? You claim that from the frog to the cat there were intermediate stages, which nature filtered out because they were not fit to survive - this is "natural selection", nature selecting what is suitable for it. Very nice, but where are the transitional creatures? His answer was: Geological research on the Earth has not yet progressed enough, and in the future they will find animals from the intermediate stages as well. Plenty of years have passed since then, geological research has advanced greatly, and not even a single animal has been found that can be said to be an intermediate transitional stage. There are animals that we know have gone extinct, but an animal that represents an intermediate stage - none. Even in Antarctica they found "the Iceman", a human attributed to several thousand years ago, yet fossils of intermediate creatures do not exist. This is what it means: one who breathes lies - a time will come when it becomes clear that it has failed and disappointed (achzav), and the falsehood collapses.
In contrast, the truth of the Torah remains true today, a thousand years from now, and five thousand years from now: what was true then is true today, and what could be proven then can be proven today as well. One can prove in more than twelve ways that the Torah is true. But one who speaks falsehood is constantly forced to change his version of events.
Take Christianity, for example. They have several versions for the lineage of that man: at times he is from the lineage of the House of Joseph, as appears in their gospel, and at times they attribute to him a lineage from the House of David. Why? Because people challenged them: How can you claim that he is the Messiah? After all, the Messiah must come from the lineage of the House of David, and you accept the Old Testament as well! So they stitched together a Davidic genealogy for him, adjusting and writing it later. Such is falsehood: you constantly need patches and supplements, because what you previously stated failed to hold up, and now you need new explanations.
Furthermore, only a single prophecy was ever issued by Christianity, some five hundred years ago, stating that since the Holy One, blessed be He, rejected the Jewish people, the proof is that they will never return to their Land. God cast them out, and therefore they are persecuted; consequently - so they argued - it is incumbent upon Christians to continually persecute the Jews, for otherwise how would it be demonstrated that Hashem rejected them? And yet, the people of Israel returned to their Land. What do they have to say? The Pope simply would not visit the Land; for years he did not come, arriving at the Allenby Bridge and stopping there. Why? Because this was an open contradiction to their claims. Later they offered an explanation that it referred to Jerusalem, that they would never return to Jerusalem - and in 5727 (1967), we returned to Jerusalem as well. And again they find a reinterpretive spin: the majority of Israel is still in exile. One will always find excuses to justify what he wants to claim, and will always be forced to apply patches, because what was asserted proved false.
However, when something is transmitted through genuine prophecy, it stands entirely on its own. The Holy One, blessed be He, swore to the Western Wall that it would never be destroyed: go to the Wall, look at it - if it exists, accept it; if it does not exist, do not accept it. The Holy One, blessed be He, swore that the ruins of Babylon would never be rebuilt: go to Babylon and see if its ruins have been rebuilt. There is a visitor museum there, but the ancient city of Babylon was never rebuilt. When a prophecy is true - "the lip of truth shall be established forever" - it endures eternally, without need for patches or excuses; it is a living reality, go and see for yourself. But when it is false, it proves empty and deceitful, and one must constantly invent explanations and novel interpretations. Therefore, says the Malbim, the fool who testifies falsely - his words of falsehood prove to be a delusion, for before long it becomes clear that nothing he said withstands the test of reality.
A Scoffer Sought Wisdom and Found None
בִּקֶּשׁ לֵץ חׇכְמָה וָאָיִן וְדַעַת לְנָבוֹן נָקָל׃ (י"ד, ו) - "A scoffer sought wisdom and found none, but knowledge is easy for the understanding one." (14:6)
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: The scoffer (leitz) is a person who engages in idle chatter, mocks people, and derides every matter and every deed. Inevitably, this trait stems from a total lack of fear of Heaven - it is a casting off of the yoke. Therefore, mockery is like a shield smeared with oil: it is impossible to speak with a scoffer. Everything is turned into a joke and amusement; he mocks, and there is simply no point in speaking with him.
"A scoffer sought wisdom and found none" - wisdom is not found among idle street-corner loafers, lovers of frivolity, and scornful people. With whom is it found? With those who fear God, with those who study Torah with seriousness, not in jest or lightheadedness. As Chazal said: "The wisdom that I learned with awe and trembling endured for me," and a teacher would cast awe among his students. Likewise they said: Any disciple who sits before his rebbe and whose lips do not drip with bitter dread (mor) - let them be burned. Torah must be studied with reverence; it cannot be approached with laughter and jokes. For one who learns that way, his Torah will not endure, and it distances a person from wisdom.
"And Knowledge Is Easy for the Understanding One"
And why does the verse specifically say "knowledge" (da'as)? Rabbeinu Yonah explains: There are three levels - chokhmah (wisdom), binah (understanding), and da'as (knowledge/integration). The scoffer cannot even attain chokhmah, which is the lowest of these levels. Yet the navon, who understands one concept from another and delves deeply into the Torah, can attain even da'as - and he attains even that with ease. "And knowledge is easy for the understanding one": he easily attains even the exalted level of da'as.
In Summary:
The two verses teach about the nature of truth and the way of deceivers. A faithful person does not speak falsehood even in a minor, incidental matter, which is why his testimony is thoroughly trusted; whereas a false witness breathes deceits - beginning with statements that appear true and with broad, incomplete generalities so he will not be caught, yet in the end everything collapses. This is the difference between sheker (an outright falsehood), which is false from the start, and kazav (a deceptive illusion), which breaks off in the middle like a deceptive brook (nachal achzav). And so it is in the realm of beliefs and ideas: the truths of the Torah endure forever - "The lip of truth shall be established forever" - whereas the fabrications of the fool constantly require patches and new explanations, until their emptiness is laid bare. Anyone who wishes to acquire wisdom, and even deep understanding (da'at), must cast aside mockery and frivolity: the scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none, while for the discerning person who sits in reverence - knowledge comes easily.