Proverbs 14: Lady Wisdom and Sir Fool
Saturday, July 20, 2024
We have visited this chapter of Proverbs before during Lent to see if we might use these axioms to help us examine our lives. Today we reprise this thinking.
The title of this chapter in THE MESSAGE translation is, “The Road that leads to Hell,” and it begins with these verses.
Lady Wisdom builds a lovely home;
Sir Fool comes along and tears it down brick by brick.
Just when we believe we have found sure footing, Sir Fool comes along to tempt us out of our commitment to living in Christ. The writers reference frivolous talk, derisive smiles, false witnessing, cynicism, and ridicule.
There’s a way of life that looks harmless enough;
look again—it leads straight to hell.
Sure, those people appear to be having a good time,
but all that laughter will end in heartbreak.
As a counterweight to destructive behavior, an opposing way of living presents itself. Positive advice open-mindedness, true witness, honesty, a strong ox for the plow, and holy living. And amid all these axioms we find this nugget.
The person who shuns the bitter moments of friends
will be an outsider at their celebrations.
The advice to abide with those who suffer is a harbinger to the words and actions Jesus offers as he preaches and lives out the Beatitudes.
In verses 14-35, we again hear the recommendation to sift and weigh every word. We do well to remember that meanness, keeping the company of fools, putting prudence aside, making decisions with hot heads and cold hearts, ignoring the needy, subscribing to conspiracy, and exploiting the powerless are all actions that bring our own demise. And again, this negative way of living is balanced against the positive. A final reminder calls us to think about what we are doing, and to act with understanding, integrity, honesty, and holiness.
Lady Wisdom is at home in an understanding heart—
fools never even get to say hello.
Today we have the opportunity to reflect again on what we do and why we do it. Do we wish to greet and abide with Lady Wisdom or Sir Fool?
Find the Beatitudes at Matthew 5:1-12, and enter the word into the blog search bar for reflections on this Law of Love.
Images from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Court_Jester_by_John_Watson_Nicol.jpg and https://www.pinterest.com/pin/283375001525423592/
When we compare other translations of these verses, we explore the difference between Lady Wisdom and Sir Fool. To visit another Noontimes post on this chapter, enter the words Axioms for Living into the blog search bar and explore.
The Noontimes 