Proverbs 26:22
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The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
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Parents and teachers used to punish tattlers. God still does! Tattling is now a forgotten sin. But God remembers it! Tattling is talebearing, the spreading of injurious or malicious reports about another person. They cause deep wounds in the souls of men, which makes those spreading them guilty of a form of murder, because the sin is based in hatred.
This proverb's wisdom was important enough to have a twin (18:8). Repeating the rule today will be valuable, for backbiting, gossiping, slandering, talebearing, or whispering are not condemned anymore. For reporters today, talebearing is falsely called journalistic liberty, or even duty. For fools, it is "letting you know the truth about so-and-so."
God does not care if what you tell about another person is true or not - both are sins. If you tell something false about another person, you have slandered them. If you tell something true, you are a backbiter, talebearer, and whisperer. God hates all three. Talebearing is telling secret facts about another person to defame or hurt them (20:19).
Of course, you have not heard or read anything against talebearing in a long time. This generation is addicted to it, because there is little restraint on wickedness or wicked men. Tabloids, newspapers, news programs, and news websites all race to discover whatever secrets they can find about anyone and spread them as far as possible. It is a journalistic objective to make money from the salacious lusts of a hateful and wicked generation.
Every man has secrets - private matters - such as sins, failures, losses, a firing, a criminal record, a bankruptcy, salary, divorce, a disease, or even a birthmark. They are his secrets, and they are no one else's business. To tell even one person that does not absolutely need to know for God-given reasons is talebearing. It is violent raping of another's reputation.
Telling secrets about another deeply wounds their heart and soul, which is shown by the metonym "belly" (20:27). There are truly two wounded - the one having his reputation marred by the report and the listener having his opinions unjustly altered (16:28; 26:20). God will severely punish these verbal murderers (26:20-26; Ps 55:21-23). Since the saints of God do not include such men (Ps 15:3), you know they are going to hell (Rev 21:8,27).
Reader, you have two duties. First, you must avoid and reject any talebearing yourself. How? Regard the reputations of others with Christian charity, and protect them with holy zeal. Second, you must reject talebearers from your friendship or church, for they are poison to the souls of men and destructive to the unity of a church (25:23; Ps 101:4-5).
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