Proverbs 1:7—14:16—18:2—10:21; Proverbs 16:22; Proverbs 23:9—27:22—14:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction—A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident—a fool hath no delight in understanding—fools die for want of wisdom.
Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly.
Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words—Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him—Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.
G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. The facts of God, and man’s relation to Him, must be taken for granted and answered if there is to be any true wisdom.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): In whatever directions a godless man may be wise, in the most important matter of all, his relations to God, he is unwise, and the epitaph for all such is “Thou fool!”
JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): Fools—that is, wicked men, are so far from attaining true wisdom, that they despise it, and all the means of getting it.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “The fool rageth, and is confident;” he fears neither God nor men—he “rages” in heart, if not with his mouth, against God and His law, which forbids the practice of such sins he delights in; and against all good men, that admonish him of them, rebuke him for them, or dissuade him from them: and “is confident” that no evil shall befall him; he has no concern about a future state, and is fearless of hell and damnation, though upon the precipice of ruin; yet, as the words may be rendered, “he goes on confidently,” nothing can stop him; he pushes on, regardless of the laws of God or men, of the advice and counsels of his friends, or of what will be the issue of his desperate course in another world.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): He who, when he is warned of his danger, rages and is confident, furiously pushes on, cannot bear to be checked, bids defiance to the wrath and curse of God, and, fearless of danger, persists in his rebellion, makes bold with the occasions of sin, and plays upon the precipice—he is a fool, for he acts against his reason and his interest, and his ruin will quickly be the proof of his folly.
JOHN GILL: “Fools die for want of wisdom;”—not a corporeal death, which is common to men of every rank and quality; wise men die even as fools; but they continue under the power of a spiritual death, for want of enlightening and quickening grace, and so die an eternal death: not for want of natural wisdom, which they may have a greater share of than those who live spiritually and eternally; but for want of spiritual wisdom and knowledge—knowledge of Christ, and the way of life and salvation by Him, and the knowledge of God in Christ; and not always from the want of the means of such wisdom and knowledge, as the Scriptures, which are able to make a man wise unto salvation; and the Gospel, which is the wisdom of God in a mystery; but through the neglect and contempt of them.
MATTHEW HENRY: Those are fools who do not fear God and value the Scriptures; though they may pretend to be admirers of wit they are really strangers and enemies to wisdom.
CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Why then do multitudes around us despise wisdom and instruction? Because “the beginning of wisdom—the fear of God, is not before their eyes,” Psalm 36:1. They know not its value. They scorn its obligation. Wise they may be in their own sight. But surely God here gives them their right name—for fools they must be, to despise such a blessing, Jeremiah 8:9, and to rush into willful ruin, Proverbs 1:24-32.
MATTHEW HENRY: Having no dread at all of God’s wrath, nor any desire of His favour, they will not give you thanks for telling them what they may do to escape His wrath and obtain His favour. Those who say to the Almighty, Depart from us, who are so far from fearing Him that they set Him at defiance, can excite no surprise if they desire not the knowledge of His ways, but despise that instruction.
WILLIAM ARNOT (1808-1875): The fool’s picture is truthfully sketched here in a few lines. His character is mainly made up of two features: he thinks little of danger, and much of himself. These two ingredients constitute a fool. He stumbles on both sides: that which is strong he despises, and that which is weak, he trusts. The dangers that beset him are great, but he counts them as nothing; the strength that is in him is nothing, but he counts it great. Thus he stumbles at every step.
CHARLES BRIDGES: The fool, however stout and stubborn in his mind, never fears till he falls. The voice of God is unheard amid the uproar of passion, like a raving tempest. Bravely independent, he sits amid the threatenings of God “carried by his rash will, and blind passion, without apprehending the end and issue of things.” His character is here drawn to life. He rageth, and is confident. Such a fool was Rehoboam, when his self-willed confidence rejected the counsel of wisdom and experience, 1 Kings 12:13-15. Such a fool was the raging Assyrian, blindly confident in his own might, till the God whom he despised turned him back to his destruction, 2 Kings 18:28-37.
WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Of all fools the conceited fool is the worst.
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): When it becomes evident that a man is bent on folly with no concern about righteousness, it is best to leave him to himself. To argue or reason with such a one is useless. It is defiling to the wise and only gratifying to the pride of the fool. “From such turn away,” 2 Timothy 3:5.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): It is easier to deal with twenty men’s reasons, than with one man’s will. He hath made his conclusion, and you may as soon move a rock as move him.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): However you may try, by precept or example, or both, to instruct a stupid man, your labour is lost; his foolishness cannot be separated from him—you cannot purge the fool of his folly.
H. A. IRONSIDE: It is a dreadful state to be in. God alone can awaken such a one to a sense of his guilt and his danger and turn him from his folly.
CHARLES BRIDGES: Let us labour to win their souls to Christ. But the rule of prudence directs—“Cast not your pearls before swine,” Matthew 7:6…So long as there is any hope of reclaiming the fool, make every effort for his precious soul. In the true spirit of our Master, bring the Gospel to the worst and the most unwilling…Yet “there is a time to keep silence, as well as a time to speak,” Ecclesiastes 3:7…This caution extends further—Speak not in the ears of a fool. Such was our Master’s silence before Herod, Luke 23:9. If he would hear, there would be hope. But instead of being thankful for instruction, he will despise the wisdom of thy words, and take occasion from them only to scoff and blaspheme the more.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Wisdom is not to be wasted on a fool.
H. A. IRONSIDE: To seek to instruct him whose heart is set on folly and waywardness is wasting one’s breath. When there is no desire for wisdom, but knowledge and understanding have been deliberately trampled under foot, it is useless to waste words.
