In the ears[1] of a fool[2] do not speak, for he will despise[3] the wisdom of your words.[4]
Proverbs 23.9
Wisdom is too high for fools; in the assembly at the gate they must not open their mouths.[5]
Proverbs 24.7
Fools are often mentioned and contrasted in Proverbs. Here are many of their characteristics:
- Despise wisdom and instruction (1.7, 15.5, 19.29, 23.9)
- Hate knowledge (1.22, 17.10, 18.2, 26.7)
- Complacent (1.32)
- Always talking (10.8, 10.10, 15.2, 29.20)
- Slanderous (10.18)
- Lack common sense (10.21, 17.16, 17.24)
- Love evil and find evil funny (10.23, 13.19)
- Know they’re right when they’re wrong (12.15, 29.9)
- Lacks control over his anger (12.16, 29.11)
- Flaunts and teaches folly (13.16, 15.14, 16.22, 26.11)
- Leaves human suffering in his wake (13.20, 17.21, 27.3)
- Mock at making amends (14.9)
- Reckless and careless (14.16)
- His talking brings him ruin (18.6-7)
- Love to quarrel and fight (20.3)
- You can’t teach him anything (26.3, 27.22)
- It is foolish to work with fools (26.10, 26.6, 26.8)
These are the characteristics of fools. These are the kinds of people[6] the sage has in mind when he instructs us not to talk with fools.[7] The sort of talk in view here is moral insight because the words spoken to the fool are wise.[8]
Discernment of these characteristics must account for both frequency and breadth. All of us have exhibited one or more of these characteristics at one time or another, but that doesn’t automatically mean we’re fools. Instead, the more often we find these characteristics as patterns of living for a person, the more likely it is that we’re dealing with a fool.
This sayings’ explicit instruction to not talk with them must be held in tension with 26.5:
Answer a fool according to his folly, or else he will be wise in his own eyes.[9]
This verse instructs us to give a reasoned answer to a fool because we represent the Lord and thus do not want his wisdom supplanted with foolish wisdom. The wise must expose foolish wisdom, or the simple will be carried along, thus harming themselves and those around them.
So, when we balance these two scriptures, we learn that trying to reason with a fool will invite his scorn and contempt, but we do so because we’re called to defend truth and wisdom. If we don’t step in, the knowledge of God is dismissed, and God is dishonored. We answer the fool according to his folly, and then we stop talking with him. Metaphorically, we don’t throw our pearls before swine (Matthew 7.6).
In the previous saying, we learned our words could be wasted through careless compliments. Now we are learning that our words can be scorned or despised. There will be times when talking with a fool is as foolish as giving compliments to a stingy host.[10] So, we give sound instruction once to a fool, and then we stop. “One should not waste sound teaching on the stubbornly unresponsive.”[11]
The fool will scorn your words if they are truly God’s wisdom. The phrase “for he will despise the wisdom of your words” is one of the core characteristics of a fool: he will respond with contempt when God’s wisdom—biblical wisdom—is presented to him. Responding to godly wisdom with contempt indicates this person is a fool.
Now, don’t confuse “fool” with negative stereotypes, such as “stupid,” “inept,” or “incompetent.” Some of the most foolish in our society are also the most intelligent, most talented individuals you could ever meet. They might be well-respected thought leaders in their industry. They might be gifted communicators able to sway large audiences eloquently. Their innovations might have contributed tremendously to the good of humanity. You’ll often find them in crucial leadership positions in politics, academia, entertainment, journalism, private industry, religious circles, and places of influence. They lead millions away from God.
While some fools find God and the concept of god to be irrelevant and not worthy of their time, those who scorn our words will have a visceral hatred for God. We must bear in mind that any scorn they direct at us betrays their scorn for God himself:
If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.[12]
But this doesn’t mean they are unredeemable. There is no sin that is beyond God’s love to forgive. Once transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, God can do incredible things through them—as He can with anyone entirely devoted to him. Anybody can become free from the bondage of sin[13] because of the grace Jesus Christ offers each of us (Galatians 5.1-25).
Moreover, we should recognize that having God’s wisdom baked into our personas is a tradeoff decision:
Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight[14]
We trade the world’s “wisdom” for God’s “foolishness.” Yet, we’ll find that when we become “foolish,” we become “wise.” God views worldly wisdom as foolishness. The world views godly wisdom as foolishness. In the long run, we’ll need to choose between the two. Disciples of Jesus Christ who recognize and accept their stewardship role within their covenant relationship with God will side with him: they will accept God’s wisdom as wise and view worldly wisdom as foolish.
When it comes to human resources, try to avoid hiring fools, mainly because they have the potential to do significant damage to your culture. Even if they bring immense value to your company or team, if they are (for example) reckless, quarrelsome, angry, uncoachable, or so forth, then you don’t want them on your team.
Use the descriptors above to craft questions which are legal to ask, such as:
- Tell me about the training you have received in your last two jobs? How did this training impact your professional development?
- How do you express anger when you’re “on the clock”?
- How do you “manage up” when your manager asks you to complete a task that takes you in a direction with which you disagree?
- Tell me about a time when you’ve taken a course of action which others advised you not to take—what did you do to make a course correction?
Consider carefully hiring a fool. You will lament the day you hired a fool into your company. No matter how much value they might bring into your company, they will kill your culture and leave a wake of human debris over time.[15] They are not worth it.
[1] “in the ears”: בְּאָזְנֵ֣י, in the ears. ESV, NASB, in the hearing of; NIV and HCSB omits the reference to the ear. KJV in the ears. “In the ears implies the heart for the ear is the gate to the heart where decisions are made (2:2; 15:31). The phrase connotes that the son’s clear insights are spoken to the fool directly, distinctly…” (Waltke, 244).
[2] “fool”: כְ֭סִיל, stupid, insolent, a person who lacks good judgment, sometimes in the sense of being ungodly.
[3] “despise”: יָ֝ב֗וּז, to look down on with contempt.
[4] LEB, Proverbs 23.9
[5] NIV Proverbs 24.7
[6] Kidner notes there are three Hebrew words translated “fool” in Proverbs. he has a good summary on pages 37–39.
[7] See also Proverbs 9.8
[8] Waltke, 244.
[9] LEB, Proverbs 26.5
[10] Lennox, 241.
[11] Garrett, 196.
[12] HCSB John 15.18–19
[13] See English , Chapter 2, Gaining Freedom From the Bondage of Sin
[14] NIV 1 Corinthians 3.18–19
[15] Babiak, Paul; Hare, Robert D.. Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work. HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 2006.
