Here are three verses from chapter 12 that contrasts the wise and the unwise man. This is a theme we’ve seen already in Proverbs and will observe again and again.

Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.

Proverbs 12:1

We’ve seen that knowledge brings understanding. Understanding with experience gives wisdom. But how does one obtain knowledge? Through instruction.

This word instruction in verse one can mean teaching learned from a teacher, or it can be the lessons learned from punishment and harsh correction. Either way, the person who is disposed to learn welcomes the lesson and will benefit from it.

But those who hate reproof—translated from a word that only means harsh instruction—is brutish. Brutish is not a word that is commonly used today, but it (unsurprisingly) means like a brute. A brute means an animal.

This literally means that those who refuse to learn must be treated like an animal to get them to do anything. It isn’t that they can’t learn, but they refuse to learn.

A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.

Proverbs 12:8

The wise will be praised for their wisdom. But the crooked in heart will be hated.

The wise love instruction and knowledge. They are praised for their use of that knowledge. But the fool refuses to be taught and is hated for their perverse, crooked, twisted heart.

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.

Proverbs 12:15

The fool will look to himself for praise, but the wise will look to the counsel of others.

I recently had a conversation with an acquaintance that left me befuddled. In one moment he was telling me about how he is struggling financially and that the bad business practices of others in his line of work is driving him out of the market. In the very next breath he said that he is in demand as a speaker at conferences because he is so good at making a successful business of it.

He is clearly in need of help to keep his business afloat. Yet, by positioning himself as an expert in demand, he is saying that he didn’t need the counsel of others because he was the one other people turned to for advice.

Needless to say, he isn’t doing well and I don’t really know how to help him.

Questions to ask ourselves concerning instruction from others:

• Am I willing to take instruction from others?
• Do I welcome the counsel of others?
• Do I refuse instruction even to the point that I have to be punished just to get me to move in the right direction?

²⁴ There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.
²⁵ The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
²⁶ He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.

Proverbs 11:24-26

We are familiar with the law of sowing and reaping as taught in the New Testament. But here it is in Proverbs as well.

All three of these verses are talking about being generous. The result of being generous is to reap a harvest of generosity. Obviously, a person can be so open with his giving (money, time, energy, etc.) that it becomes unhealthy, but that is not usually our tendency.

Verse 24 says that scattering leads to increase. Yet holding back on your generosity can lead to poverty.

The word liberal in verse 25 is most often translated as blessing. The one who blesses others will be made fat. In our American culture people don’t think this way, but much of the world associates fatness with health and prosperity. That is the idea of the word fat here: to become prosperous.

Finally, verse 26 says that withholding what is needful for others causes them to curse you. That word curse is much stronger than just saying bad words about you. It can also be translated as to pierce or to perforate. Hoarding that which is necessary for others puts you on the wrong side of sowing and reaping.

As you think about your interaction with others, consider where you might be more generous so that you can share the love of God with those around you.

[As a side note, I strongly debated calling this post “Fat Liberals” in jest, but I was afraid it would have been taken as a political statement more than just a joke. So, I didn’t that one. I could not resist at least mentioning it. Runner up title was, “Are You a Fat Liberal?”]

Proverbs chapter 10 begins a new style of writing for the book. Previously the chapters had one or two themes each. But now we get into the section of Proverbs that is probably more familiar. For the rest of the book, most of the verses are stand-alone sentences. Occasionally though, like here in chapter 10, you will find several verses on a theme.

The theme we find throughout this chapter is how that wise men choose their words carefully but the fool does not. A second theme is that the wise will become wiser and fools refuse instruction. Here are several verses from chapter 10 about our speech.

Watch Your Mouth!

8 The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.
10 He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.
11 The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.
13 In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding.
14 Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.
18 He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.
19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.
31 The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out.
32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.

Proverbs 10

These verses are about the wisdom of choosing your words carefully. The foolish man talks too much. And the wise impart wisdom with their words.

Verses 9 and 10 use an interesting word. The word prating is the same word that is translated more often as lip, language or speech. In fact, the only two times it is translated prating are in these two verses in Proverbs. A modern definition of the word prating is to speak foolishly or at tedious length about something. Or, to talk too much about nothing.

Wise Become Wiser

8 The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.
14 Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.
17 He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth.
21 The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.
23 It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.

Proverbs 10

Another theme you see often in the book is the fact that the wise loves instruction and is willing to take correction. Conversely, the fool refuses to be taught.

These verses say of the wise that they will receive commandments, lay up knowledge, keep instruction, his words will be a blessing to many, and his understanding brings more wisdom.

The fool on the other hand shall fall (that phrase literally means to be thrown down and beaten), be destroyed, refuse correction, die for their lack of wisdom, and enjoys mischief.

These verses aren’t saying you can’t have fun and be a wise person. There is plenty of enjoyment in life for the wise. But the fun that the wise has is not called mischief (doing harm to others) nor does it include being thrown down and beaten.

The wise and the fool are contrasted throughout Proverbs. Here it speaks often of the way they talk, their actions and whether they are teachable or not.

Wisdom is a Skill

We’ve seen through this series in Proverbs that wisdom is a skill that is learned. Don’t fall for the false idea that says, “you are either wise or you are not.” That is like saying, “you either can draw or you can’t.” Wisdom, like drawing, is a skill that can be learned. Some people may have a natural tendency to enjoy drawing, but no one is born with the ability. They had to learn it.

Before you say that you can’t draw, I want you to think if there was ever an expert art teacher who has tried to teach you to draw but walked away with the conclusion that you were hopeless and not worth investing their time in. My guess is that most of us have decided on our own that we aren’t capable of drawing. It was a decision we made and not one that a good teacher pronounced upon you.

We have an expert who is skilled in wisdom who wants to teach us the skills of wisdom. If you walk away from Proverbs and the rest of the Bible, you will not find wisdom. But you can’t legitimately claim that you can’t learn wisdom. You made that decision on your own. The Bible says we can learn wisdom and that is what the book of Proverbs wants to teach us.

⁶Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. ⁷He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. ⁸Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. ⁹Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

Proverbs 9:6-9

Another Invitation from Wisdom

Wisdom is again inviting the simple ones to come and learn from her. When she speaks the words we’ve read in verses 6-9, she had just invited the simple and those who lack understanding (v. 4) to sit down and have a meal with her (v. 5). She is in teaching mode and giving us nuggets of wisdom that we can live by.

Go the Way of Understanding

She says to her guest that they should forsake the foolish. Leave from the silliness and emptiness of the past. The word foolish in verse 6 refers to someone who is easily persuaded and enticed. Someone who is not well grounded.

The former ways of the foolish must be forsaken and then she bids her guest to go in the way of understanding. To go down the path of life in a discerning way. A way that weighs information and makes decisions based on knowledge and understanding.

This brings us back to the definition of wisdom that we have seen several times in this series in Proverbs. We start with information (knowledge). Then as we pay attention to the information while putting it to use through experience we gain an understanding. The end result, as we continue to practice and become skilled with the information, is wisdom.

Reproving Scorners

The word scorner is an interesting word that means to move the lips in a mocking manner. I wrote about that a few days ago.

Wisdom says that reproving a scorner, or trying to teach a mocker, will only bring shame to you. Trying to teach an unteachable person just causes them to hate you and they still will not learn.

Instructing a Wise Man

In contrast to a scorner hating you for trying to teach them, the wise man will be grateful and love you for your instruction. Teaching a wise man causes him to be wiser. He is teachable.

Scorner or Wise?

A mocker or scorner is unteachable. Do you know someone like that? I met someone who said to me that they learned everything they needed to know about life by the time they got out of high school. She was convinced that you probably couldn’t learn anything after school anyway. So what was the point in trying?

That is someone with an unteachable spirit. Wisdom warns us to not spend time trying to beat instruction into that person. Until they decide to become teachable, you are accomplishing nothing.

Then Wisdom says that a wise person craves instruction. They are teachable. They desire to learn more. Not for the sake of knowledge, but so that they can apply that knowledge; that is, to become wise.

Wisdom does not say, “once a scorner, always a scorner.” Both of these people (the scorner and the wise) have made a choice as to whether they will have a teachable attitude or not.

Which One am I?

The question then is, “which one am I?” Are you teachable? Maybe we are teachable in one area, but fight against anyone trying to teach us in another area. By that I mean, maybe we respond well to the boss when learning a new job, but rebel against anything our parents want to help us understand.

We ought to be teachable in every area. Wisdom says that we can continue to become wiser and wiser as we have the right attitude towards instruction.

⁵ O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. ⁶Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. ⁷For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. ⁸All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. ⁹They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.

Proverbs 8:5-9

Like a town crier announcing the news, Wisdom stands in the streets and on the rooftops issuing an invitation to those who will hear. She is constantly inviting us to learn from her in the first 10 chapters of Proverbs. We are told over and over that it is not necessary to possess all knowledge to learn from Wisdom. We are not expected to know everything about life, but that we can learn as we grow.

Learning is Possible

A couple of nights ago I was talking with a retired school teacher. He said that when he first started teaching he was unsure of himself and constantly wondered if he actually knew the material well enough to teach it. He taught middle school shop class.

What he found out over time, was that he was surrounded by other young teachers who also felt like they were not skilled enough to actually do the job they were asked to do. I have felt this many times in different jobs and responsibilities that I have had.

There are times when we feel uncertain about something we are striving to do. We can respond by jumping in and working at the skills to improve, or we can just quit and say “I’m not good at that kind of thing.” Another response we can have is to remain in that odd place of doing the task in as mediocre of a way as we can with no interest—or even thought that it is possible—for improvement.

Wisdom is a Skill

Wisdom issues her invitation, not to the educated and highly trained philosophers, but to the simple ones and fools (v. 5). How reassuring! I don’t have to have it all together to step into Wisdom’s house and take advantage of her invitation.

The word wisdom carries with it the idea of a skill that is to be practiced and developed. Remember the analogy of the race car driver? He starts by learning what the accelerator and brake pedals are for (knowledge). Then, by experience, he gains understanding of how they work. But his wisdom of how to use them comes with developing the skill of driving the car.

Wisdom invites those who are not yet skilled to learn from her. She doesn’t mind that they are not yet mature in every aspect. But what she needs are willing students. You can’t become wise if you don’t put in the practice of developing knowledge into understanding and understanding into skill.

Wisdom’s Closing Words

³³ Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. ³⁴Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. ³⁵For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord. ³⁶But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

Proverbs 8:33-36

Her words in summary: Listen. Learn. Don’t be stubborn. Find wisdom. Find life.