13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”;
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
This is the ninth indictment showing the universal sinfulness of man.
This phrase continues the quote from Psalm 140:3.
The speech of mankind is poisonous. The “asp” here is the cobra. The talk of these people is as deadly a poison as a cobra snake’s venom. They tell lies about God, making their lies exceedingly dangerous. We cannot trust their talk about God. There is a destructive effect in understanding God by misuse of speech.
PRINCIPLE:
Sinful man uses speech to do injury to others.
APPLICATION:
Sinful man uses gossip, slander, or false accusation to hurt and mislead others in their understanding of God. This communication is just like poison from a cobra—it is deadly to the spiritual life. There is a poison in the heart of man that, for his own ends, does injury to others about God.
Jas 3:8, But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
