Playing the Fool
A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims folly. Proverbs 12:23 NASB
Proclaims – Proverbs suggests that the fool doesn’t think before he speaks. He just blurts out whatever words happen to come across his lips. We read this verse and imagine that it can’t possibly have anything to do with us because 1) we don’t consider ourselves fools, and 2) we speak with deliberation. Really? Let’s see.
First we must note that the meaning of a word is found in how it is used. That is to say, the meaning of the word “fool” isn’t found in how I attribute the word to someone (including me). It is found in the way the person acts. A fool is someone who acts in a particular manner no matter what the person thinks of himself. So if you and I act in a way that portrays the characteristics of a fool, then that’s what we are even if we staunchly claim otherwise.
Now let’s see what kind of behavior is characteristic of this particular kind of fool. According to the text, this person speaks without thinking of the results of his words. Here’s an example. My wife and I are with other people. Everyone is talking, sometimes over each other, as we engage in lively dialogue. My wife says something to one of the others. I interject with what I intend to be a joke. But it has a sarcastic edge, an edge that, if not interpreted as a joke, could be heard as a jibe. Suddenly my “joke” is turned on itself and I realize that my unintentional comment has injured another. Of course, since I know I didn’t intend it to injure, I am not quick to apologize. Instead, I try to justify what I said because I know I didn’t intend it to harm. But it did. Because I didn’t think about the possibility that it could be taken in any other way except a joke, I blurted out a remark without considering all its ramifications. Then I tried to defend myself. I acted like the biblical fool. And I am the last person on earth to think that I am a fool. But there it is, the evidence of words spoken without prior consideration.
As I meditate on this situation (which was not hypothetical, I might add), I see that it has happened before. In fact, I remember an incident from my teenage years where a remark that employed a particular idiom was interpreted as if it were non-idiomatic. The humiliation and injury that resulted has stayed with me all these years. I was a fool then. Perhaps I am still a fool today. Perhaps I need to be a great deal more cognizant of James’ and Solomon’s warnings about the tongue—and say a great deal less. It’s not very pleasant to think that I really might be a fool after all.
Lord, forgive me for such stupidity. You made me for more than this. Help me put a pause in my speech long enough to ask, “Will these words bring joy?”
Topical Index: fool, speech, qara’, to call out, Proverbs 12:23
I am crawling with you on this one, Skip. Been there, done that, and justified it, too! Ouch! The only human, redeeming part of it that you can feel any self respect for yourself for is where you feel like crawling…
Lord, give me the desire and the ability to always put myself in another’s shoes BEFORE I speak or act. Also, please change the assumptions I am traveling on that result in being that fool. Please replace those incorrect paradigmatic views of myself and the world with ones that show me my true value, and the true value of all others, too. A fool is someone who is acting like themselves (first), and therefore those around them, have little or no worth. A wise person will always act with respect because they know better.
Word studies and digging in to their meaning are very helpful. It can even easily get in to an academic atmosphere and flavor. Learning and absorbing new knowledge and insight is a beginning.
Skip, thanks for going in to the personal and intimate applications. This helps me very much as I certainly identify with with most all the instances you delve in to as I’m am pretty sure many others do as well.
I almost wish you hadn’t touched on this issue as I am intimately acquainted with the particular actions you’ve highlighted. Ugh!
Nonetheless, I certainly need to put a governor on my words like the 64 mph governor that is on my truck. I need a speed check on my mouth/verbiage regularly.
I will endeavor to take a more responsible control of the words issues from my lips.
Thanks again for sharing a gem.
Prudence vs. Proclamation
Before you speak, [pause and]
ask yourself if what you are going to say
is true,
is kind,
is necessary,
is helpful.
If the answer is no, maybe what you are about to say should be left unsaid.
(Bernard Meltzer)
The power in the tongue. Life and death. Whoa!
Like you, Skip, I too have learned the wisdom of more head nodding
and less tongue wagging.
I think we’ve all played the fool. We don’t always know the impact of our words or actions until we see the tears in the other person’s eyes. Even then, we don’t get the fact that we spoke or did something without knowing what it’s really like emotionally to walk in another person’s shoes. We think we can interpret what goes on in other people’s minds and lives, and accurately judge their actions but we can’t. We misjudge, do, and say foolish things more than we know. It’s hard to know what to say or do when people get the nerve to lay their pain and suffering out on the table. They took a risk in sharing what they could/should have kept hidden. Do we make a joke, misjudge, or discount it because we are uncomfortable with what was shared? Do men do this sort of thing more than women? If we respond inappropriately/foolishly, we missed an opportunity to be wise, compassionate, and love people the way Yeshua did. Even when we screw up and act foolishly, we can still go back to that person in order to do and say what we should have in the first place. It is much worse if we never realize our foolishness and therefore never take steps to correct it in word and deed.
> Beth, LIKE! Thumbs up!
I’ve been challenged with this a lot lately. Thanks for adding an additional confirmation of what the Holy Spirit is working in me.
It took my gracious and merciful wife who has born the brunt of my foolish talk for so very long to teach me an important point. She said to me once “no one is born wise”. Pondering that I realized we exchange our foolishness for wisdom as we grow in wisdom. Perhaps I error in my understanding but walking a Hebraic path for me frees me from the burden of “being” a fool. I am rather learning to exhcange my foolish behaviors for wise ones. I have my “being” in Messiah and the rest is leaning to walk in him.
Mark, your last statement would be considered inexplicable ‘foolishness’ by the world. A wise person named Paul, I think, pointed that out long ago. Nothing has changed since. Wisdom hides in plain sight, usually.
I like the (apparent) spelling malapropism of the last verb “leaning”. But maybe you did mean leaning and NOT learning as I subconsciously read it, as I too am learning to walk the Hebraic path. In either case you have a wise wife Mark.
Skip and all Is it about proclaiming something or about revealing folly… Yeshau and John both insulted people and told them exactly what they think. Saying I am fat and untidy is the truth. Although not nice to comment but still the truth, if I do not want to hear it I must change my ways. That is what Torah is about, taking care of self so that you can be an example of God s good creation for others. Not telling me is denying the truth to set me free and how can that be a Torah way of living… Or is it about the way and manner of expressing the thought that makes the difference. As I have heard before telling some one they are going straight to hell in a way they actually look forward to the trip…
And so we again revisit the Truth that our actions speak louder than our words…and it is also true that it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt. We who frequent Skip’s site know the Greek paradigm is BELIEF centered, while the Biblical paradigm is ACTION centered. It has been said that if you show a pencil to a Greek man and ask him what it is, he will tell you it is a pencil; but if you ask a Hebrew man, he will tell you he writes with it. It is easy to SAY you BELIEVE something… it is much more difficult to LIVE it. Based on this Truth, and Skip’s thoughts above, as badly as I hate to admit it, I AM a fool.
I seem to have an automatic catch that when my mouth opens, more often than not, one, if not BOTH feet go into it. This makes me reticent to open my mouth at all anymore, especially knowing that “we will incur a stricter judgment” if we speak in error (Ya’akov 3:1); and yet if I do NOT open my mouth, the blood of those who perish will be required of me (Yechezkel 33). I now fully understand how the dog in Pavlov’s experiments felt. The bell rings, the lights go out, and I find myself a slobbering, quivering mess, huddled in a corner in a catatonic state, incapable of any meaningful, cogent response.
I suppose it may be dependent upon the audience hearing the question, but I can’t help but wonder if “Will these words bring joy?” is the correct query. I know joy is supposed to be the end result of a saving faith in Messiah; but that is the GOAL (Greek: telos) for those who are IN covenant with YHWH, and joy should be the fruit of the fitly spoken word to the true believer. But what about those who are not yet in covenant? For the believer engaging with the unbelieving, would better questions be: “Will these words edify or destroy?”; or “Will these words draw the hearer closer to or drive them further away from Messiah?”; and ultimately for the believer speaking said words, “Will these words bring reward or judgment upon me?”
Forgive me if I have once again proven myself to be a fool…
Oh man! For me it’s the delivery of the words we speak as they are wrapped in emotions, motivations and intent. How faithful am I in my delivery of the message? Will what I say deliver this person into positive or negative? Slow down!!!!! is it that important to express myself, is it really all that needed? It’s something we all deal with and a gentle and quite spirit is needed to help us govern our behavior. Being teachable and humble are required to change our delivery along with consistency.
Amein! Sharon, that is a very good word.
Huge lessons to learn from this TW!
So grievous to be misunderstood to the one who spoke, by the one who did not bother to listen but blurts whatever he/she presumed to understand! Points again to the transgression of presumption, doesn’t it?
The “Fool” is known by the evidence of words spoken without prior consideration. That ought to shake us up, should we presume we are not.
“It is easy to drift into the same habits of speech and thought which we find around us and to discover ourselves participating in attack and the spirit of hate.
On the physical plane of manifestation we are known by our speech; we are known by our reticence, by the things we say, and ty the things left unsaid. We are judged by the quality of our conversation..
Speech reveals: right speech can create a form of beneficent purpose, just as wrong speech can produce a form which has a malignant objective.” Quotes from online on speech.
“Will these words bring joy?” Encouragement, strengthen faith?
Should I not learn to be quick to HEAR first, and then be SLOW to speak?
Shalom!
This TW struck a chord with me Skip. I have lost count of the number of times I have been told to think before I speak. Using an old expression from many years ago, I have foot in mouth disease, every time I open my mouth I put my foot in it!!
Psalm 37:30 “The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.”
I am afraid I have fallen well short of this standard many times
James 3:8 “but no one of men is able to subdue the tongue; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” Berean Literal Bible
Am I a fool.? Too many times I have to admit yes. What should I do about it? Pray for wisdom and strength to be able to overcome a very obvious weakness in my character.
Please YHVH give me the strength and wisdom to overcome this weakness to control my tongue. Amein,
Shalom Don B, Are you sure you want to stop there with James 3:8? 🙂
May I continue- James 3:10
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be….
James 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
Like your prayer!
Shalom Ester. You are right. I should not have quoted just one verse, to take it out of context. The verses you have further quoted shows the tongue can be controlled if I choose to. It is my choice and decision to practice self control in my speech.
Thank you for pointing that out.