Pro 27:17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. "
I found this commentary somewhere a while back...
"It is a physical fact that iron does not sharpen iron. No material is sharpened with the same substance. In order to sharpen anything the parent medal must be cut away, leaving the edge.
The tool used to cut another must be harder than that which is to be cut. If it is not it will not penetrate the material. It will only rub against it, generating heat (friction) in the process ....Everything that is sharpened is sharpened with a stone, from the softest steel to carbide tools."
Two swords do not sharpen each other...they only cut or dull...causing friction between friends...causing their countenance to be severe, be fierce, sharpen. (Strongs)
The only thing that will sharpen our Faith is for our lives to be cast upon the Chief Cornerstone.
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Matthew Henry says, "This intimates both the pleasure and the advantage of conversation. One man is nobody; nor will poring upon a book in a corner accomplish a man as the reading and studying of men will. Wise and profitable discourse sharpens men's wits; and those that have ever so much knowledge may by conference have something added to them. It sharpens men's looks, and, by cheering the spirits, puts a briskness and liveliness into the countenance, and gives a man such an air as shows he is pleased himself and makes him pleasing to those about him. Good men's graces are sharpened by converse with those that are good, and bad men's lusts and passions are sharpened by converse with those that are bad, as iron is sharpened by its like, especially by the file. Men are filed, made smooth, and bright, and fit for business (who were rough, and dull, and inactive), by conversation. This is designed, 1. To recommend to us this expedient for sharpening
ourselves, but with a caution to take heed whom we choose to converse with, because the
influence upon us is so great either for the better or for the worse. 2. To direct us what we must have in our eye in conversation, namely to improve both others and ourselves, not to pass away time or banter one another, but to provoke one another to love and to good works and so to make one another wiser and better."
And Geneva Bible Notes says, "One hasty man provokes another to anger."
I can see this scripture played out two ways in our blogs and forums on the Internet: 1)our conversations can aggitate someone else and cause them to have an angry countenance, OR 2) our conversations can cause someone else to "think" and consider a new outlook they've never thought of before--it can "promote intelligence, which the
face exhibits," as Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary says.
I've always thought this was an interesting verse.
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