Tuesday - Proverbs 26 - Fools and Folly

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HAT is a fool?  Who is a fool?  A fool is someone who is thoughtless; a person who doesn't use judgment.  Any of us can be foolish at any given moment.  If and when we act without thinking; if or when we fail to use good discernment... we are fools in those moments.  And, folly is the way of a fool.

When a fool is on stage, the effect is abrasive to the senses of the observers; a painful thing to watch (Proverbs 26:1).  A more fitting and appropriate venue for a fool is for him to be put in stocks or under some other restrictive and corrective measure (Proverbs 26:3).  If you expect a fool to understand you, then you must stoop down in condescension and speak on his senseless level (Proverbs 26:5).  Of course, when you do this, you will suddenly appear to be just as foolish (Proverbs 26:4).

Fools can't be trusted (Proverbs 26:6).  Fools speak, but they make no sense (Proverbs 26:7).  They suffer for their foolishness (Proverbs 26:10), and yet they still return to their foolish ways again and again (Proverbs 26:11).  Fools are lazy, and they always have an excuse for why they shouldn't work (Proverbs 26:13).  They are fighters.  If a fool passes by two strangers entangled, he will surely join in the fray (Proverbs 26:17).  If he passes by strangers who are unified, then he is sure to split them into factions.  Fools are liars (Proverbs 26:19), gossips (Proverbs 26:20) & simultaneously hateful and flattering (Proverbs 26:24 & 25).