Lashon Hara – the malicious disseminating of damaging truths
The words of the mouth are deep waters (Prov. 18:4)! As surely as gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones (Prov. 16:24) the words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts (Prov. 18:8).
Lashon Hara is the Hebrew term to describe the malicious disseminating not so much of outright lies but of damaging truths. Whilst we are all familiar with the damage caused by the Accuser of the Brethren spreading outright lies and accusations, he often finds ways to inspire believers more subtly to fulfil his evil work. The Hebrew phrase lashon hara (Hebrew לשון הרע; “evil tongue”) is well known to those steeped in Judaism, and occurs when people tell basically true things about people but in order to make them appear in a bad light. Continue reading