2. How Not to Sharpen Your Friends Proverbs also promotes gentleness by warning about strife. “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Prov. 27:17). Many have understood this to mean that two people help each other become wiser—we knock off rough edges through thoughtful dialogue. That kind of mental sharpening is certainly good. But that’s probably not what this particular verse means. The sharpening here is not a good thing. This pictures relational strife, not character sculpting. As the footnote in the ESV says, the Hebrew of this verse reads more literally, “Iron
