The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable,
but the mouth of fools sprouts folly.

Proverbs 15:2

The fool’s box is nothing to yearn over. It is full of ideas and thoughts and words and actions that do nothing to better humankind nor does this box contain anything for the betterment of the fool who perversely guards their box and its content!

Today we move on to chapter fifteen of Proverbs which continues the contrasts between wise and righteous people vs. foolish and wicked people. There are two more basic traits of fools in this chapter. Our verses today tackle the mouth of the fool; ie, what do fools say and basically it is the exact opposite of what the wise say and how the wise say it.

Let’s look at the word “sprouts” in the Hebrew. It is naba [H5042] and is defined as: to flow, pour out, gush forth, spring, bubble up, ferment, emit, belch forth! In Proverbs 15:2, the idea behind “sprouts” is “bursts out with reckless utterance.” Not a very favorable approach in human communication or relations. It is basically the idea of saying anything and everything that comes to mind. Toddlers and young children do this because they are testing out new words and phrases and how to put what is in their very active minds into words. But as a child matures and grow she needs to learn discernment of when to speak, how to speak it and with whom to speak what is on her mind. A fool never grows out of childhood and worst of all, the fool doesn’t care.

Just a few verses down from our key verse, we are told that the fool is a fool in his or her heart! 

The lips of the wise spread knowledge,
but the hearts of fools are not so.

Proverbs 15:7

Again, you or I may say a foolish thing now and then, but we usually regret that very quickly or at least we should. But, the fool has no regret for the foolish things said because they are fools, not just foolish. My guess is that we all know at least one person who is like this and it is challenging to be with such a person. One never knows when a fool is serious about something or when they might actually be telling the truth. To a fool, all life is a game: an eat, drink and be merry mindset is their motto. Until, of course, they are in so much trouble they can’t get out of it by themselves. 

And that is the challenging part. How much and how often do we come to the rescue of a fool? And how do we ever get them to change their foolish hearts and learn to have some maturity and use some common sense? It isn’t easy. Solomon advises to not even try.

And that is where we have to start. We cannot do anything to change the heart of a fool; only God can do that. But God can only do that when the fool acknowledges and believes in The Creator-God. So, really, the only way we can truly help a fool is to keep showing him or her Jesus. Keep sharing with them the Gospel and keep praying for them. Then let God be God…