Grace & Peace: Proverbs 14:19

At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: But the folly of fools is deceit” (Proverbs 14:8).

“The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way, But the folly of fools is deceit” (Prov. 14:8, NKJV).

This is a proverb where the standard form of parallelism helps us to understand the full import of the proverb. The first half helps us grasp what is being said in the second portion.

A prudent man is wise, and why is he wise? It is in the very nature of his wisdom to “understand his way.” He sees and understands what is going on around him. He watches his step. He knows what his intentions actually are when it comes to the path he has chosen. To use the language that the apostle John uses in the New Testament, he is walking in the light.

But in the second half of the proverb, what does it mean when it says that the “folly of fools is deceit?” Deceit? Deceit for whom? I take it that the parallel structure leads us to believe that the principal problem here is one of self-deception. The wise and prudent man understands his way, and the foolish man does not. The reason why the foolish man does not comprehend is because of this thing called “deceit.”

The folly of fools is driven onward because a fool is one who lies to himself, and then there is a second fool who believes it. And when the story is over, we discover that the two fools are one and the same. A lying heart spins a yarn that he wants to hear, and having heard, decides that it is entirely plausible.

In certain respects, self-deception is a true mystery. But we know from Scripture that it is a real problem. A man who hears the Word without doing it deceives himself (Jas. 1:22). A man who puffs himself up in conceit deceives himself (Gal. 6:3). Someone who does not bridle is own tongue deceives himself (Jas. 1:26). The thing happens.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“A prudent man concealeth knowledge: But the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness” (Proverbs 12:23).

Another way of saying this is that a prudent man holds back, while a foolish man empties whatever box it is that he has. A prudent man has knowledge, but he doesn’t let us see all of it. A foolish man has a bunch of nothing, and he spreads it out all over the table for us.

When someone is worth showing off . . . the prudent man still doesn’t. When something is not worth displaying, the foolish man will make sure to roll out all of it.

Another way of looking at this is to realize that a knowledge man is humble about what he knows, while a foolish man is very conceited about what he doesn’t know. If the foolish man could recognize that what he is displaying was foolishness . . . it wouldn’t be foolishness.

The prudent man understands that he doesn’t have all knowledge, and so he is careful about what he reveals. He budgets for the possibility that he does not know it all, and thus he increases the chances that what he is holding back is genuinely valuable. In contrast, the fool has no filter. He just vents everything. If he is thinking it inside, then he needs to be talking about it outside. The one good thing we can say about him is that he is certainly willing to share.

One of the things we can observe about all of this is that while human nature doesn’t really change, the advent of technology has certainly be able to amplify the reach of that human nature. In other words, the voluble fool can now share everything he doesn’t know on Twitter and Instagram, and people in New Zealand can be reading it in just seconds.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1).

I read somewhere that there is a character in one of Hemingway’s novels who was asked how he went bankrupt. His reply was that it was first gradual, and then sudden. This proverb reminds me of that principle. First gradual, and then sudden.

The picture here is that of a fool who reproved or reprimanded frequently, but he doesn’t want to receive any of it. He is often reproved, but each time he just stiffens or hardens his neck. This resistance is a reflex move. It is habitual. Admonition follow admonition, but the foot can’t be bothered to change course at all.

When someone is stiffening their neck, it looks like they are being vindicated in the event, at least in that moment. Someone reproved, and the exhortation is just shrugged off. After it is shrugged off, the sky is still blue and the grass is still green. Everything is the same, and so the rebuke must have been inaccurate. Then it happens again, and the same state of affairs just continues on. This happens, Solomon tells us, often.

But a day finally comes when everything just gives way. The whole thing collapses, and in a way that makes people think of that “last straw” proverb. The fool believed that everything was going his way, regardless of what these rebukers might say or think. And so he was justified in ignoring their appeals . . . until he wasn’t.

Unfortunately, even after the final event has shown that the exhorters were correct in their caution, it is often the case that the fool is not convinced, even then. It is far easier to blame others, or curse his bad luck, or assume that fate has conspired against him. But it remains the case that God is not mocked, which means in its turn that a man reaps what he sows.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: But he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured” (Proverbs 13:18).

There is no one alive who never needs to be reproved or admonished or warned. We all stumble in many ways, as James puts it (Jas. 3:2). And as Solomon put it elsewhere, there is no one who does not sin (1 Kings 8:46). The only person who never sinned was the Lord Jesus. As for the rest of us, if God were to mark iniquities, who could stand (Ps. 130:3)?

The thing that distinguishes the wise from the foolish, therefore, is how we respond when admonished. Our proverb tells us how it goes.

The person who stiffens his neck, who makes his forehead like bronze, and doubles down on his folly, he is the one who is refusing instruction. He doesn’t want to hear it. It looks like it might interfere with his plans. And so he willfully sets his mind to continue on with his previously selected course. But the course he set was a course that leads straight to “poverty and shame.” He has made a series of decisions that will result in his own abject failure, and he refused to listen to those who loved him enough to try to warn him.

By way of contrast, the one who is on the path to honor is not the person who never needs reproof. He needs reproof just as the fool does. We all need reproof from time to time. The wise person receives it.

“Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: And let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head . . .” (Psalm 141:5a).

The striking thing here is that a person who embraces the reproof (which assumes that he did something wrong in some way) is a person who shall be honored. This means that in this fallen world honor is not the result of having an unblemished record, but is rather a willingness to have blemishes pointed out.

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