A Foolish Man

“Fools hate knowledge” Proverbs 1:22

Knowledge exposes error and a person who does not want to have his understanding corrected by reality and truth is foolish and that makes him a fool. The Psalmist tells us that what makes one a fool is, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God'” (Psalm 14:1). All that the book of Proverbs reveals regarding a fool comes out of this one self-deception; the lie that Satan has been deceiving men with throughout time but arguably more successfully in these days. Please look up the verses in Proverbs as you read this article.

The evidence that reveals that a person is a fool or foolish is seen in their actions and heard from their mouth. The tongue of a fool is unbridled (10:10; 29:11, 20) slanderous (10:18), quarrelsome (18:6-7; 20:3), unthinking (18:13), deceitful (14:8), boasting great things (15:2) which are contrary to truth and reality (12:23; 15:7, 14). His error is so great that he would appear wiser if he kept his mouth shut and said nothing (17:28).

Not only is the mouth of a fool out of control but there is no restraint in behaviour. The fool is easily seduced (7:22), disobedient to authority (10:8), uncontrolled (12:16), undisciplined (26:3), lazy (1:32), destructive (14:1) and wasteful (21:20).

Foolishness is innate in a child so he needs to be corrected (22:15). Unless correction is effective he will be a grievous burden on society (27:3) and bring great sorrow to his:her parents (15:20; 17:21, 25; 19:13). Sadly we are now seeing the effects of a couple of generations where children have not been taught self-discipline. They neither obey parents nor authorities in our society.

A fool is also revealed as such by pride (14:3), arrogance (12:15; 14:16; 15:21; 18:2; 26:12) and ignorance of truth (10:14, 21; 13:16; 14:7; 15:14; 28:26). He believes he knows all there is to know on the subject in hand and that his own reasoning is the only logical one. Hence he exalts himself (30:32) and bullies others (30:33).

This makes him unteachable to parents (10:1; 15:5), to correction by others (16:22; 17:10; 27:22) and to the Lord (19:3). The fool has no heart for wisdom and truth because it is contrary to his own understanding and he is “wise in his own eyes (17:16; 23:9; 24:7; 26:7, 11; 29:9).

Though he does not think what he does is evil, he loves to do evil things (10:23; 13:19; 14:9). He will go on in false confidence believing he has it all (26:12) when in fact he will lose everything he thought he had in the most horrendous disappointment when he realises he has staked all on a lie (3:35). The earthly judgments (19:29) will appear as nothing compared to eternal damnation (Hebrews 9:27) that awaits the fool.

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