A Little Bird Told Me

Sometimes one sentence captures an image which reveals a whole story. These potent phrases are like a picture worth a thousand words. The Bible has many of them in what are called wisdom books. The Bible is made up of sixty-six books each with their own name. The wisdom books include Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. Wisdom sayings, dialogs, and stories are found throughout the Bible but in these books they are concentrated like frozen orange juice. When you squeeze the paste into a water jug it makes a flask full of liquid.

I heard a professor whose name was Fred Craddock give a lecture in which he contrasted a sermon with a proverb.  He said that a proverb was like the “stain in the bottom of the cup” compared to a cup full of coffee. A long sermon has enough words to fill a tub and as a preacher, I’ve filled my share of them; but a proverb is like extract waiting to flood the mind after everything has been said. The proverb is a time capsule kind of pill you take that works on you for hours, days, and even years.  

One short verse in Ecclesiastes contains the story of a man and woman in the privacy of their bedroom talking about the dictator who runs the empire. Fear is suggested in the form of what harm a little bird might do. Peril is pictured by what a fly on the wall might find out. The danger is visualized by imagining a sparrow outside the window going to the rich and powerful ruler and singing the sounds of what it heard you say in secret. Your offense is heard by a fly on the wall who reports it to the powerful king.

“Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, and do not curse a rich person even in your bedroom, for a bird of the sky may carry the message, and a winged creature may report the matter” (Ecclesiastes 10:20 CSB).

What is suggested here is not limited to fear of reprisal.  The wise sage understands that what we first form in our thoughts germinates into utterances that sprout the roots for rebellion. It all starts in a secret place and then it pollutes every future affair.  

Stephen Williams

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