Proverbs 19:19

19 A man of great wrath will pay the penalty,
for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.

Proverbs 22:24-25

24 Make no friendship with an angry man,
And with a furious man do not go,

25  Lest you learn his ways
And set a snare for your soul.

The novel The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is truly a gem of western literature. First published in the 1937 by J.R.Tolkien, the Oxford don wrote it as a children’s book, for it consisted of a bedtime story that he had told to his children. 

A pioneer work in the fantasy genre, The Hobbit is a tale of magic and adventure, as a diminutive “hobbit,” together with thirteen treasure-seeking dwarves, and a wise wizard seek to obtain vast treasure hidden deep in a far away mountain.

As if this is not enough, the horde of gold, jewels, and other riches is guarded but a terrifying fire-breathing dragon. This menace, along with orcs, goblins, and other fearsome creatures may give a parent pause before reading aloud to a slumber-bound child, but it is a timeless tale that pales in comparison to some of the nightmare-fuel that passes for children’s entertainment in this modern age!

In the climax of the story, the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, steals into the dragon’s lair but is quickly detected by Smaug, the watchful dragon. The beast has laid waste to kingdoms and cities, and knows his fearsome reputation. Take one gold cup from his vast pile of wealth and it will be unleashed upon you:

His rage passes description - the sort of rage that is only seen when rich folk that have more than they can enjoy suddenly lose something that they have long had but have never before used or wanted.

Bilbo’s presence enrages Smaug and the dragon breathes deadly threats:

“My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!”

To which the hobbit cleverly replies:

“Truly songs and tales fall utterly short of the reality, O Smaug the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities.”

Smaug is flattered by his meal:

“You have nice manners for a thief and a liar,” said the dragon. 

[Enjoy the encounter in this clip from the recent Hobbit movie HERE]

Of course, Bilbo is not eaten by the dragon, but escapes using wit, skill and a magic ring. Nevertheless, the fury of the deadly beast leaves a mark on his confidence. 

Solomon speaks a lot about anger and other potentially destructive emotions throughout the book of Proverbs. Anger is a normal human emotion, and like all emotions should be used appropriately. Like laughing at a funeral, or crying at a birthday party can create an awkward situation, anger exhibited at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons, and to the wrong person can cause a world of hurt.

The pain inflicted can be a cancer on relationships, and like that destructive disease, can lead to your own demise. 

Another great example of this in literature can be found in Shakespeare’s King Lear. The aging king gathers his three daughters, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia to him and pledges to divide his kingdom equally between them if they will profess their love for their father. The two older sisters lavish insincere and lavish praise to flatter him. Seeing them do this, the youngest, Cordelia, refuses to do so.

The king flies into a fit of rage and disinherits her. The Earl of Kent protests her mistreatment, and Lear turns his anger on him:

Come not between the dragon and his wrath!–King Lear (Act I, scene 1)

Cordelia is banished, and he divides his kingdom between Goneril and Regan. Eventually, they betray their father, who goes mad and by the time he comes to his senses, his family has been destroyed.

Solomon captures the wrath of Lear and Smaug the dragon in Proverbs 19:19:

19 A man of great wrath will pay the penalty,
for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.–Proverbs 19:19

This “man of great wrath” can also be translated “hot-tempered” or “hotheaded.” Anger is something that grows more intense the longer you hold it in your heart, and the image here is an anger of great size, or massive weight. 

This anger comes with a price. “The penalty” spoken of here by Solomon means that, as Timothy Keller says, “the characteristically angry person 'carries around punishment.’” In other words, no fine or penalty is necessary–the angry person’s fury is his own punishment.

If you carry anger about it affects you in two ways: it ensures that you will suffer with an unhappy, discontented heart, and it ruins your relationships with others. 

Solomon is not speaking here simply about high blood pressure and offending a few “hothouse flowers” who may be put off by your strong emotions. If you are continuously angry, or often lose your temper to others, you can be a terribly friend–if anyone will count you as one at all. 

Do you experience this in your life? Do you often lose your temper at work, in traffic, or when dealing with life’s inconveniences? Chances are if you do, you often bring this habit home and inflict it on your spouse, children, or neighbors. 

Are people around you quick to agree with you when making decisions? Are others continuously concerned with making you happy when the group is making plans? It may be because of your leadership skills, or decisive nature–but they may also be afraid of a blowup from you. 

As a Christian, if you are always melting down with rage, you can be harming the image of Christ to others. A person who claims to be a Christian, but is habitually abrasive and critical in his speech, and lacking in grace when dealing with others can be a poor witness for the Prince of Peace. 

Do you bristle with anger when you are contradicted or challenged? Do you consider someone in your church an enemy–or simply that they need to “get with the program” with how you see things? You could be leaving hurting brothers and sisters in your wake.

If you have a tendency to do this, then seek out someone who can honestly speak the truth to you about this. If you realize that you speak “bluntly” or “tell-it-like-it-is,” you may be a champion of the unvarnished truth, but you may also be in need of repentance for an angry heart. 

If you do not repent, the problem will not go away. As Solomon warns: “for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.” 

This is actually a call to those who are “enablers,” or who seek to mollify the angry people in their lives. Solomon warns you of this in a later proverb:

24 Make no friendship with an angry man,
And with a furious man do not go,

25  Lest you learn his ways
And set a snare for your soul.– Proverbs 22:24-25

Here is a warning about the corrosive nature of another person’s anger on your own soul. When you continuously seek to appease a hot-tempered friend or loved one, and avoid a loving admonition of  that angry brother in your church, you are not only prolonging their sinfulness, you are likely repressing your own anger in the process. 

When you walk that delicate line with someone to keep from incurring their fury, you will instinctively feel the injustice of it all as you build a counterfeit peace. A peace that is often at your own expense. 

When you avoid dealing with someone’s anger, or simply vent to a friend that your feelings are hurt, you are not truly resolving the problem. Because there is now a broken relationship, it will stay broken, or get worse, because a person with unresolved anger will only get angry and lose his temper again. 

So what can we do? Jesus provides clear instructions for He knows your heart and the anger inside it–and the pain caused by others. First, a warning:

22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.–Matthew 5:22

This comes from His Sermon on the Mount, where Christ destroys the “respectable sin” of anger by revealing that it is the same as committing murder. Sinclair Ferguson explains in his commentary: 

Jesus means here, the deliberate belittling of someone’s person because of the animosity of hatred of our own heart, and the desire to have mastery over them. That is murder.–Ferguson, “The Sermon on the Mount”

When you lose your temper, you can be doing more than “sending a message,” you can be dominating them and crushing their spirit. If your own spirit has been crushed by another, it can feel as if a part of you has died. Jesus urges you to follow the law of love:

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”–Matthew 22:37-40

If you seek to follow Christ and truly mortify this sin of anger–or help do this for someone you love, it is helpful to understand a few things.

One, that anger is usually caused by your own pain. The cycle of anger described above can often be traced back to something in your life that originally led you to harbor such bitterness. It may be a parent who dominated you, or that you have experienced true injustice at some point in life. Maybe you demand perfection because you could never please a father or mother. Perhaps you are infuriated at being disrespected, because of a past humiliation. Seek this out and take it to Christ for healing. 

Two, you must not allow your anger to hurt others. When you truly love others with the heart of Christ, then you will do all you can to protect them–even from yourself. Since anger violates the Sixth Commandment, you must see the seriousness of even the smallest blowup. The Heidelberg Catechism (Q.107) provides helpful exhortation: “to show patience, peace, gentleness, mercy, and friendliness toward him, to protect him from harm as much as we can.”

Three, understand that your anger is ultimately because of love of self.  

Much of your anger may come from feeling slighted, ignored, or disrespected because deep down you feel that you deserve to have your way. Your preferences may be better, based on more experience, or even your position of authority–but showing anger is not what Christ would do. In fact, your fury is a gift to the devil. As puritan Thomas Watson writes: 

When lust or rash anger burns in the soul, Satan warms himself at this fire. Men's sins are a feast for the devil.–Thomas Watson

Like a fire-breathing dragon, Satan basks amid ruin and destruction. Instead of allowing your anger to create more rubble in your life and in the lives of your loved ones, build up the walls of your heart in Christ, and His restorative love. 

The Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay and this Saturday Deep is written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.