The Fool’s God

For the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.  Proverbs 3:26  ESV

Confidence – The Hebrew verb for “to be foolish” is kasal.  Kesilut (stupidity) and kesil (fool) are both derivatives.  But so is kesel and kesel means confidence or hope.  How is this possible?  How can one word mean both “fool” and “confidence”?  What is going on here?

The connection between “fool” and “confidence” seems quite bizarre until you realize that both are related to the activity of trusting.  To be foolish is not about a lack of intellect.  It is about a lack of faithfulness in YHWH.  The fool is one who decides to follow his own course in life and neglect or ignore the instructions of the Sovereign Master of the Universe.  Foolishness is lack of faith in the goodness of God.  Consequently, having faith in the goodness of God and following His instructions for living is a sign of confidence.  So, kesil and kesel are connected.  One is simply the opposite of the other.

What about the pictographs?  The consonants are the same.  Shouldn’t the picture be the same?  Yes, and no.  Pictographs are inexact visual representations of a cluster of ideas and actions.  For example, the aleph can be the picture of a bull, the idea of strength or the image of leader (head).  With Kaf-Samech-Lamed, the three pictures are “palm of the hand/to open,” “hand on staff/support/prop,” and “staff/goad/control/toward.”  Let’s provide some possible combinations.  Context will usually determine which one actually fits.  We are looking for connections between “fool” and “confidence.”  One picture could be “the open hand of support brings control.”  Another might be “a hand open – a hand closed: goad or control.”  Now we begin to see a pattern.  All three pictures involve positions of the hand.  Open or closed hands have different implications for support, control or prodding.  Perhaps the connection we seek is found in our relationship to the hand of the Lord.  If we experience His hand as open, we find support and move toward Him.  If we experience the same hand as closed, we find a staff of control, a goad that disciplines us.  The same consonants provide both pictures: one of confidence in the open hand of God’s sovereignty, the other is the confrontation and chastisement of God’s hand on the staff of correction and redirection.

What is the relationship between “fool” and “confidence”?  It is nothing more than our attitude and actions toward YHWH.  The way is bi-directional.  We can go toward Him or away from Him but we cannot leave the path of choice.  A fool is simply one who chooses not to place his confidence in YHWH.  This is worth repeating.  A fool is not an idiot or a morally bankrupt person.  A fool is a man who lacks confidence in the Lord.  A fool is a man who makes choices independently from God.  A fool makes himself the authority of his choices.  From the Hebraic perspective, there is no dearth of fools.

Topical Index:  fool, confidence, kasal, kesel, Proverbs 3:26