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CHAPTER FIVE

Communication

‘‘Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food?’’

—P. 18:13

‘‘Like cutting off one’s feet or drinking violence is the sending of a message

by the hand of a fool.’’

—P. 26:6

leader who cannot communicate clearly, powerfully, and
succinctly barely qualifies as a leader. The best ideas are use-
less if not communicated in a compelling way.
The leaders of the Bible did not have e-mail, fax ma-
chines, telephones, or even microphones. The printing press did not
exist during the times of either the Old or New Testaments, forcing
them to rely on handwritten scrolls that also had to be duplicated by
hand. Perhaps because they lacked sophisticated technologies to lean
on, they became masters of the written and spoken word, taking great
care to ensure that their messages were communicated accurately from
time to time and place to place. Consider the following examples of
communication described in the Bible:

❖The Sermon on the Mount

❖The protests of the prophets against idol-worship and the cor-

ruption of their own rulers and foreign rulers

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