The Follies Of The Fool (Proverbs 17:8-16).
The previous subsection ended with reference to the nabal (fool), and this now leads on to consideration of the activities of fools (kesil) (Proverbs 17:21 virtually equates the two).
In this subsection we find an emphasis on the activities of ‘the fool' (Proverbs 17:10; Proverbs 17:12; Proverbs 17:16) and his equivalent. Basically he interferes with the stability and smooth running of society. He thinks that he can buy men's favour (Proverbs 17:8); he harps on things and loses friends (Proverbs 17:9); he will not listen to rebuke (Proverbs 17:10); he wants nothing more than to rebel (Proverbs 17:11); acquaintance with him is dangerous (Proverbs 17:12); he rewards evil for good (Proverbs 17:13); he can't stop quarrelling (Proverbs 17:14); and he justifies the unrighteous and condemns the righteous (Proverbs 17:15).
In contrast the righteous man seeks to build up society. He is gentle in dealing with the transgression of others because he is trying to build up love (Proverbs 17:9); he listens carefully to rebuke (Proverbs 17:10); he avoids letting contention build up into a wholesale quarrel (Proverbs 17:14), and it is implied that he is concerned for justice (Proverbs 17:15).
The subsection can be presented chiastically as follows:
A A bribe is as a stone of favour in the eyes of him who has it, to whoever he turns, it succeeds (Proverbs 17:8).
B He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who harps on a matter separates (disenchants) a boon companion (Proverbs 17:9).
C A rebuke enters deeper into one who has understanding, than a hundred stripes into a FOOL (Proverbs 17:10).
D An evil man only looks for rebellion, therefore a cruel envoy will be sent against him (Proverbs 17:11).
D Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a FOOL in his folly (Proverbs 17:12).
C He who rewards evil for good, evil will not depart from his house (Proverbs 17:13).
B The beginning of strife is as when one releases water, therefore leave off contention, before there is quarrelling (Proverbs 17:14).
A He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to YHWH (Proverbs 17:15).
Note that in A a bribe is offered in order that a man may get his own way by wrong means, and in the parallel the wicked are justified (often by bribes). In B the righteous covers transgression, while the fool harps on a matter, and in the parallel the righteous hold back from increasing contention, while the unrighteous cannot hold back from turning it into a quarrel. In C the fool does not listen to rebuke, and in the parallel he returns evil for good. Centrally in D the evil man is out for a fight, and a cruel envoy is sent against him, and in the parallel a bear robbed of its cubs is out for a fight, and it is better to meet him than to meet a fool engaged in folly. We can also parallel the bear with the cruel envoy.
‘A bribe is as a stone of favour in the eyes of him who has it,
To whoever he turns, it succeeds.'
This proverb describes more how the fool thinks than the actual reality. He thinks that all men can be bought. He is confident that he holds in his hand the means of obtaining what he wants, and is sure that a bribe will enable him to succeed in his endeavours wherever, and to whoever he turns. And, of course, he is largely right, until he comes across the godly man. Few can resist a bribe if it is large enough. ‘In the eyes of him who has it' probably refers to how the briber sees his bribe.
The briber is seeking to get his way at the cost of others by unfair and hidden means, often to the disadvantage of the other. He is thus destabilising society. It is the equivalent of theft, and it is often at the expense of the poor (Psalms 15:5; Isaiah 1:23). It was apparently common practise in Israel, and even moreso in surrounding nations where it was not even disapproved of apart from in the courts of justice. But it is forbidden by YHWH as resulting in dishonesty and injustice (Exodus 23:8; Deuteronomy 16:19; Deuteronomy 27:25). It comes under His condemnation (Proverbs 17:15; Job 15:34; Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 5:23). Where it has the effect of resulting in the death of an innocent person it brings men under His curse (Deuteronomy 27:25).
Bribes were condemned in Israel (Proverbs 17:23; Proverbs 15:27; Exodus 23:8; Deuteronomy 16:19; Deuteronomy 27:25; 1 Samuel 8:3; Job 15:34; Psalms 15:5; Psalms 26:10; Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 5:23; Isaiah 33:15). Other nations were less stringent, for while they were frowned on if they affected justice, they were otherwise seen as acceptable and the only penalties were on those who failed to pay the promised bribe. That they did occur in Israel and were specifically seen as encouraging injustice is evidenced in Proverbs 17:23; Exodus 23:8; Deuteronomy 16:19; Deuteronomy 27:25; 1 Samuel 8:3; Psalms 15:5; Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 5:23; Micah 3:11. As Isaiah 5:23 says, ‘they justify the unrighteous for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous', words which parallel the idea in Proverbs 17:15 exactly.
YHWH, unlike the gods of other nations, is distinguished as being unbribeable. He is ‘the God of Gods and the Lord of Lords, the mighty and terrible God, Who is not partial and takes no bribes' (Deuteronomy 10:17), indicating just how wrong bribes were seen to be.
The ‘stone of favour' is nowhere explained. It may indicate a token given by a king in order to authorise a servant to act on his behalf, or in order to enable him to benefit by his patronage; or it has been suggested that it has in mind a ‘magic stone' which obtains favour from the gods and brings luck, or terrifies people into doing what is wanted. Whichever it is, the point is that a briber sees his bribe as having the same persuasive force.
‘He who covers a transgression seeks love,
But he who harps on a matter separates (disenchants) a boon companion.'
The man who depended on bribes disharmonised society. In contrast the wise man seeks to harmonise society, and one of the ways in which he does it is by not faultfinding. He wants to be loved, and he wants men to love one another, and so he does not draw attention to minor misdemeanours.
The point here, as brought out by the parallel clause, is that, in order to obtain or retain friendships and be loved, and even bring harmony to society, we often have to be willing to overlook another's transgressions. We have to ‘cover' them in our own minds so that they are not seen. We have to make sure that we do not repeat the matter. We have to avoid seeking vengeance (Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:17-19).
Indeed if we keep harping on about something, or even repeat it, we may lose our friends, even our boon companion. ‘Seeking love' is a good thing. But it has a cost, the cost of recognising that people, even our friends are not perfect. As it says in the parallel Proverbs 17:14 we have to recognise that if we remain in contention it could soon lead to a bigger quarrel, and even an irremediable breakdown in friendship.
‘A rebuke enters deeper into one who has understanding,
Than a hundred stripes into a fool.'
On the other hand the wise man does not seek to cover his own transgression. Rather he welcomes reproof. Because he is a man of understanding he takes careful note of what is said to him, and responds to it. He even learns from being caned (Proverbs 22:15; Proverbs 23:13), and is thankful for it. He is unlike the fool who takes little notice even if he receives a hundred lashes. This is, of course deliberate exaggeration. The highest number of lashes that an Israelite could receive was forty, and that only for very serious offences (Deuteronomy 25:13). But ‘a hundred' is regularly used simply to indicate a large number. The point is that the fool shrugs off reproof, and does not let it improve him. It is ineffective to remove the evil from his house (Proverbs 17:13).
‘An evil man seeks only rebellion,
Therefore a cruel envoy will be sent against him.'
The ultimate truth about a fool is that he rebels against society because he is evil. He sets out to destabilise society by violent means. He constantly seeks to destroy harmony. He does not like the status quo. He wants to change it, and change it for the bad. It is his main purpose. And he does not mind who gets hurt in the process. He has refused to respond to the compassionate overtures of the righteous (Proverbs 17:9). He has refused to respond to the ‘hundred lashes' (Proverbs 17:10). He has demonstrated that nothing can change him. We can compare here Pharaoh who constantly hardened his heart the more that God lashed him (Exodus 3 onwards).
But he needs to recognise that such an attitude has consequences. A ‘cruel envoy' will be sent against him. The Hebrew word is the one for messenger but this man is clearly more than just a messenger. He comes in the king's name, to act on the king's behalf, and deliver a practical message. He is necessarily unrelenting and severe (‘cruel'). He is dealing with someone in continual rebellion. Thus the evil man's end is certain. He will receive his due reward. He will be dealt with without mercy. In the end, of course, the judgment that comes against him is God's.
‘Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her whelps,
Rather than a fool in his folly.'
Solomon now emphasises that a fool acting in his folly is more dangerous than a bear robbed of her cubs, which is outside of itself in grief and desire for revenge. This is the fool of Proverbs 17:11. He is uncontrolled and violent. He plans only evil. He has refused to let the folly be driven out of him by the lash. He is without restraint.
David slew ‘a lion and a bear' (1 Samuel 17:34), and the young men who derided Elisha were mauled by two she-bears (2 Kings 2:24). They were found in the hilly wooded parts of Palestine, and while they became more and more scarce there were still some there in the first part of the twentieth century AD (in the centuries before that Palestine had been mainly deserted. There was no Palestinian state).
There may be an intended parallel between the she-bear and the cruel envoy. Both are seeking to obtain revenge. Thus the fool in his folly who is worse than the she-bear is simply reaping what he has sown.
He who rewards evil for good,
Evil will not depart from his house.'
Indeed he has become so evil that he rewards evil for good. Even those who show him kindness and compassion will find that he responds with evil. This is what happens when a man grows in evil, and it affects not only him but his house. Evil will not depart from his house. His children will grow up evil like he is. But it will also rebound on him, for evil will not depart from his house in another way. What a man sows he reaps. He and his family will experience evil. In both cases ‘evil' includes physical evils (storms, earthquakes, hurricanes, invasion) and moral evil. What he has become returns on him and his family.
‘The beginning of strife is as when one releases water,
Therefore leave off contention, before there is quarrelling.'
In Proverbs 17:9 we had the peacemaker who sought to bring harmony by not being too judgmental, and who in Proverbs 17:10 listened carefully to reproof. He was contrasted with the fool who gradually grew in evil. Now, having centred on the fool's growth in evil, the chiasmus brings us back to the peacemaker. Disagreement is sometimes inevitable, but the wise man recognises that it can be like water released from a dam. It can grow in pressure until it becomes a flood. Thus he seeks to stop any contention at its source. He seeks to prevent it growing.
Dams in those days, often just made of mud, were not the stable things we think of today (compare Ecclesiastes 2:6). Releasing water from a dam could result in a flow which grew and grew uncontrollably, resulting in damage to the crops and trees, and even a death or two. The commencement of strife is likened to this release. If not immediately staunched it could very quickly grow into a major quarrel. Thus the wise man will cease being contentious in order to prevent this happening.
‘He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous,
Both of them alike are an abomination to YHWH.'
The subsection then closes as it began (Proverbs 17:8) with the misuse of justice. As we saw above one of the main use of bribes was in order to pervert justice. Now YHWH makes His opinion of those who accept such bribes people clear. Those who arrange by bribery, coercion or lying witnesses for a guilty man to be let off (and therefore be declared as innocent) are an abomination to YHWH. As are those who by such means bring about the condemnation of the innocent. They are both seen by Him in the same way. For they strike at the very roots of society. Compare Proverbs 17:23; Proverbs 17:26; Pro 18:25; Proverbs 24:23-25. They are the forebears of those who found Jesus Christ guilty.