Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than (literally, and not; Proverbs 8:10 ) a fool in his folly.
It would be safer to meet a she-bear, infuriated by being robbed of her cubs (2 Samuel 17:8; Hosea 13:8), than to encounter a fool hurried along by the full raging tide of his folly. "Fool ... folly," include the idea Sinner ... sin. The fiercest she-bear can be tamed by human sagacity, but a fool and sinner, as such, can be tamed by nothing short of Omnipotence. The fool spurns "reproof" (Proverbs 17:10), and assails his faithful and kind reprover, as madmen attack their physician.