Say You Say Me

Introduction:

“Hearing and doing” God’s will, with the corollary that believers should not be quick to follow their own desires and designs, is a common theme in the Wisdom literature:

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

These texts are all variations on the theme of the control of tongue and temper; they instill a prudential ethic that only a fool will be unguarded in his speech and he will learn to rue the day of intemperate statements. Far better, the wisdom teachers say, to be considerate and to listen first before making rash statements.

The good student, according to ˒Abot 5:12, follows this rule:

“There are four types of disciples:

swift to hear and swift to lose—his gain is cancelled by his loss; slow to hear and slow to lose—his loss is cancelled by his gain;

swift to hear and slow to lose—this is a happy lot;

slow to hear and swift to lose—this is an evil lot’