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

“Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly”

Proverbs 17:12

There are times of the day when a fool is in a quiescent state. They are not “on” all the time. But this proverb tells us that when a fool is “in his folly,” that is an extremely dangerous time to meet him. How dangerous is it? It would be better to be hiking in western Montana, and glance over to the right side of the path and see a mama grizzly, and then to look over to the left side of the path and see three small grizzly cubs.

In other words, to meet a fool when he has gotten up a head of steam is a very dangerous thing indeed. 

One of the reasons why it is more dangerous is that when you meet the bears, it is possible that you might have some idea of which direction to run. There might be a path of escaper that makes some sort of sense. But when you are entangled with a fool, there really is no defense because it is impossible to defend against irrational behavior. 

In his most insightful book, The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity, Carlo Cipolla makes this point. It is possible to defend yourself against a thief because, although the thief is malevolent, he is nevertheless engaging in rule-guided behavior. It is possible to anticipate what his next move might be, and if you can anticipate that move, you can guard yourself against it. But Cipolla defines a stupid person as one who harms others without receiving any real benefit from those actions himself.

If you don’t want to meet a grizzly robbed of her cubs, then it is best just to stay out of bear country. But living in the world as we do, it is not really possible to stay out of fool country. The best defense a person can have is, after one encounter with a person who has been a fool in this way, to steer clear.

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

“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death”

Proverbs 16:25

No one wakes up in the morning and says, “Well, I must make sure to ruin my life today.” And yet, there are multiple mornings where people do get up and have breakfast, all to give them the strength to . . . ruin their life that day.

We are rationalizing creatures, which means that when we are hellbent on doing wrong, we have the capacity to explain to ourselves how the whole thing “seems right.” And there are a range of options here. We might convince ourselves that what we want to do is genuinely right when in fact it is really foolish. Or we might acknowledge that it is “technically” wrong, but how can it be wrong when it feels so right. 

In short, the way of disaster is a lot more pleasant at the beginning than it is at the end. Scripture teaches us to evaluate the beginning by the end, and not to evaluate the beginning by the sensations we are experiencing at the beginning. Because we are not there at the end, because the end is not yet upon us, we have to rely on God’s Word to inform us of the nature of that end. 

God is not mocked. You reap what you sow, and there is a straight line connection between what you sow and what you reap. But the crop looks very different than the sack of seed does. The sack of seed had “seems right” emblazoned on the side, and the crop was nothing but death and ruination. 

So when we sow, we must do so in faith. Because we see only the seed, and not the harvest, we must make a point of listening to God’s description of the seed. We must live carefully, and need much more assurance than “it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

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

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall”

Proverbs 16:18

There is likely an inverse ratio between how well known this proverb is, and how closely it is followed. 

Everybody hates pride and conceit . . . in other people. And the reason we don’t like to see it manifested anywhere else, speaking frankly here, is because we don’t like the competition. Ambrose Bierce once defined a boor as someone who talks when you wish them to listen, which is a definition that kind of puts a finger right on the sore spot. 

The interesting thing about pride, also defined here as a haughty spirit, is that what it delivers is very different that what was expected. Pride, or haughtiness, claims to be able to see, and to be able to see better than anyone else. All the signs, all the warnings, all the cautions from friends . . . what do they know?

This proverb tells us that destruction lies straight ahead. A fall is coming. Not only so, but this destruction, this fall, is predicted beforehand. The person walking straight toward it is blind to the realities of his situation, while at the same time claiming to be in full control of his situation. 

This is what happened to Haman in the book of Esther. Mordecai was descended from Kish, the father of Saul, the first king of Israel. Haman was descended from Agag, the one that Saul had failed to execute. The two men are rivals from the opening of the book, and the rivalry goes back generations. Now Haman was exactly the kind of man that this proverb speaks of. He was conceited and vain, and when the king asked him how best to honor a man, Haman, believing himself to be that man, lavished semi-royal honors on him. The honor then went to Mordecai, with Haman having to lead him around as he received that great honor. This was his harbinger of doom. And when he went home and told his family about it, his wife saw the meaning immediately. But it was not the kind of thing that Haman was able to see. And so he went to the banquet, where he would receive his condemnation, and then he was hanged on the gallows that he had built for Mordecai. 

Pride truly does go before destruction.

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

“If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest”

Proverbs 29:9

“If a wise man contends with a foolish man, whether the fool rages or laughs, there is no peace”

Proverbs 29:9 NKJV

When reading through devotional literature grounded in the book of Proverbs, one is not usually anticipating encountering a quote from Ricky Gervais, but there is a first time for everything. “Remember, when you are dead, you do not know you are dead. It is only painful for others. The same applies when you are stupid.”

As I was mulling over the meaning of this proverb, that quote came to mind for some reason. This is a proverb that—thanks to the Internet—has become increasingly relevant. This is because a fool can keep up appearances online a bit longer than he can in real time. Comment threads provide good cover or camouflage for a fool. But even though that is the case, it all comes down to the same end . . . which is that there is no end to it. And the folly does become apparent at some point. 

It is interesting to note how Scripture categorizes the fool’s likely responses—they are rage and mockery. Not only so, but they are rage and mockery that just won’t quit. There is “no peace.”

If a wise man is considering such a scenario knowing that the other man is a fool, then he needs to be able to weigh what the situation actually is. There is a way of getting into it with a fool that is simply joining him in his folly (Prov. 26:4). But there are also times when it is the responsibility of a wise man to shut the fool down promptly (Prov. 26:5). You have to be able to read the situation rightly.

Having said this, there are times when a wise man realizes that he made the wrong call. At such times, he should just say “I can see we are not getting anywhere. Good night all.” He is not going to be able to shut the fool down, and the fool has only been encouraged and emboldened by the whole affair. This brings to mind the old folk adage, which says that you should never wrestle with a pig—you both get muddy, and the pig likes it.

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

“If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee”

Proverbs 25:21–22

A common faulty assumption is that Jesus introduced a new ethic in His Sermon on the Mount. Before His day, it is assumed, the Old Testament was full of law, wrath, and a bunch of rules, and Jesus came to bring in the sweetness and light. That assumption runs aground on passages like this.

The apostle Paul quotes it at the tail end of Romans 12, and he clearly explains the context and meaning. When you have an enemy, the chances are good that he has done you wrong, and that you will want to get some of your own back. But Paul tells us not to take revenge ourselves (Rom. 12:19), not because vengeance is wrong, but rather because vengeance belongs to God. Our duty is to step aside and leave room for God to exercise the vengeance that belongs to Him. We see, just a few verses down in chapter 13, that the civil magistrate is the appointed deputy of wrath (Rom. 13:4), God’s deacon of wrath. So don’t go home and get your gun—call the cops instead.

Varied suggestions have been plentiful for what is meant by the burning coals on the head. Some say the Egyptians would carry a tray of burning coals on the head as a sign of repentance. Others say that burning coals were great for starting your hearth fire at home, and so this would be another kind gesture, helping the guy out with even more than the previous food and water you gave him. Another possible interpretation is that by you being nice to him his response becomes a matter of burning shame to him.

But in my view, the most likely one is the one that fits best with how Paul argues from this passage in Romans—your kindness to your enemy is a precursor to the wrath of God.

“As for the head of those that compass me about, Let the mischief of their own lips cover them. Let burning coals fall upon them: Let them be cast into the fire; Into deep pits, that they rise not up again”     

Psalm 140:9–10

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