The Strand Study Bible

PROVERBS 965 PROVERBS the happier his parents will be (Prov 10:1). Therefore, it is the duty of every parent to see to it that these proverbial principles are somehow instilled into the hearts (minds - Prov 23:7) of their children. For a list of Wisdom’s Seven Pillars see PROVERBS “MINI” SERIES at the end of Proverbs. 9:9 THE ADAGE IS TRUE: While many receive advice, according to the Scriptures, only the wise profit by it 9:13 There are three words that define a fool: loud ( scorner ), simple ( simplicity ), and ignorant ( slander ). 1. scorner ( Prov 15:12 & 24:9) All scorners, according to the Bible, are tied to foolishness. Find a scorner and you’ve found a fool. In fact, the Bible says that the scorner is actually lower than a fool. Proverbs 29:20 says: Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words (a scorner; someone who is quick to “air out” his/her contempt)? there is more hope of a fool than of him. The dictionary definition of a scorner is someone who expresses contempt by boisterous remarks and/or facial expressions . Know anybody like that? Know anybody that is a sneerer, unpleasant to be around, and disagreeable ? You can disagree with someone or something without being disagreeable… but not if you’re a scorner. Scorners not only disagree –they disagree disagreeably. And they are very unpleasant to be around, unless of course they are running with other scorners. Then it’s all about misery loving company. Question: What is a scorner? Answer: A scorner is one who lives to “airs out” his/her contempt for the Word of God (Prov 1:22) without thinking ( II Sam 16: 5- 6 -9/Prov 20:3). Find a scorner and you’ve found a fool. In fact, you’ve found someone lower than a fool. A scorner is someone who has come to the place in his/her life where they are the answer to life, not God. Thus a scorner is a scorner by choice. 2. simplicity (she is simple – Prov 24:7) God’s Word (where true wisdom comes from) is beyond the fool (it is too high for him). His greatest concern in life is when his next cigarette break is. The simple-minded person is the kind of person that will kick a cow chip on a hot day, or drink downstream from the herd. He just doesn’t think for himself. Others do that for him (Prov 7:7-22). Demosthenes (c. 384-322 BC), a Greek orator from Athens who learned to speak by putting pebbles in his mouth and arguing with the ocean until he learned to speak above the roar of the waves, was speaking one day to a huge crowd of people about the vital matters of life when he discerned their inattention and announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you a story. There was once a man who had a heavy load of sticks upon his back as he was about to cross over a mountain. Another man came along side of him leading a donkey and asked the man if he wanted to rent his donkey in order to carry his sticks. They haggled about the price for a moment, and then the man rented the donkey. The two of them walked and talked for hours as they crossed over the mountain until the sun began to wear on them. The man who had rented the donkey stopped and positioned the donkey so that he could sit in its shadow. The owner of the donkey, noticing that was only room for one to sit beneath its shadow, soon informed the renter that he was to move from its shadow because he was the rightful owner and he wanted to sit there. However, the man sitting in the shadow of the donkey refused, reminding the owner that he had rented it to him and that it was his to do what he wanted with until he arrived at his destination. The owner, becoming agitated, raised his voice and demanded that the renter stand up and remove himself from his donkey’s shadow. The renter refused and the heated argument continued.” Demosthenes described the argument to the crowd for a moment longer, and then walked off without ending the story. After a while the people began to yell and scream for him to return and to finish the story. Finally he returned. The crowd began to beg him as to who had won the argument and to whom did the shade belong. Did the shade of the donkey belong to the renter or to the owner? Looking sternly into their faces, Demosthenes replied, “I began my conversation with you about the vital matters of life and you were not concerned. Now you clamor to know who owns the shade of a donkey. How simple-minded can you be?” Sadly, you can tell a simple-minded person almost anything and he will believe it (Prov 14:15). 3. slander (Prov 10:18) Those who choose to be ignorant of God’s Word ( and knoweth nothing ; ignorant) will openly slander it. That’s what slanders do –they speak ignorantly about God and His Word. The Greek word for slander is the NT is GLDEοOοX9 ( diabolous – I Tim 3:11b ), from which we draw our English word “devil.” Diabolous means “ to malign; to accuse, whether falsely or justly .” Diabolous is what the devil does to God. He accuses/maligns God before man (Gen 3) and then turns around and accuses/maligns man before God (Job 1). It’s what he does! Find a slanderer and you’ve found a fool, because anyone who speaks for the devil (slanders another) has to be a fool. 9:8 Don’t argue ( reprove not ) with a fool; people may not be able to tell the difference. THE ADAGE IS TRUE: A wise man never attends every argument he is invited to (Mt 7:6)

1 George Washington. WASHINGTON’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS of 1789, < http://tinyurl.com/9kpwnb>. Web.