NUM279 The Talmud (Arachin 15a) declares that improper speech is far more severe than improper action and proves it from the Torah story of ten spies who sinned by improperly speaking evil about the land of Israel. The consequences of those words an the improper reaction of the people was the punishment that denied all the Jewish adults the opportunity to inherit the land and that they would die in the desert. Yet, when these same Jews months earlier had actually worshiped the Golden Calf, their punishment in committing that sin of action was far less severe than the decree of death. The same concept is echoed in the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Tehillim 3:621) which shows through other similar verses that the consequences of improper speech are very often more grievous than the consequences of improper actions. The Talmud (Arachin 15b) points out that the physiological makeup of the human being demonstrates how much the tongue must be guarded. The other limbs of man's body are exposed and seen by others. The tongue, however, is created to be hidden from view. In addition, there was an need to surround a tongue with two protective "walls," the mouth and the teeth, to prevent its misuse. Thus, we see how powerful language can be both for the positive of creation of the world as well as for the destruction of the world. It seems from the Torah (Numbers, chaps. 22-24) that Bilaam would have actually destroyed the Jewish people with his words had he succeeded in cursing the people rather than blessing them, since the Torah went to great lengths to show us that God changed his curses into blessings. The Talmud points out (Megillah 28a) that the power of words is so strong that even the curses of simple, "unimportant" people should not be taken lightly.