Fool

The fool is not the dim-witted person but the morally and spiritually misaligned one. Across the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Sirach, and the New Testament, a stable picture forms: the fool denies God in his heart, despises instruction, runs his mouth, quarrels at every chance, returns to his sins like a dog to its vomit, and stockpiles for a future he will not have. The wise man is his foil at every turn — slow to anger, sparing of words, willing to be reproved, alert to where his way is going.

The Fool Says, "There Is No God"

The starting point in the Psalms is a denial. "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done disgusting works; There is none who does good" (Ps 14:1). The same line opens Ps 53: "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, and have done disgusting iniquity; There is none who does good" (Ps 53:1). The denial is not a philosophical claim — it is the inward posture that produces corrupt deeds.

That posture spills out into reproach against Yahweh himself. "Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Yahweh, And that a foolish people has blasphemed your name... Arise, O God, plead your own cause: Remember how the foolish man reproaches you all the day" (Ps 74:18, 22). And the cost is concrete. "Fools because of their transgression, And because of their iniquities, are afflicted" (Ps 107:17). Folly in the Psalms is a stance, and the stance leaves marks.

The Fool in Proverbs

Proverbs sets the fool against the fear of Yahweh from the first line of its program. "The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; [But] the foolish despise wisdom and instruction" (Pr 1:7). Wisdom calls in the streets, but "How long, you⁺ simple ones, will you⁺ love simplicity? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge?" (Pr 1:22). The fool's terminus is the opposite of glory: "The wise will inherit glory; But shame will be the promotion of fools" (Pr 3:35).

The fool's mouth

A first cluster concerns the fool's tongue. "He who hides hatred is of lying lips; And he who utters a slander is a fool" (Pr 10:18). "Wise men lay up knowledge; But the mouth of the foolish is a present destruction" (Pr 10:14). "The wise in heart will receive commandments; But a prating fool will fall" (Pr 10:8); the line is repeated at Pr 10:10. "The lips of the wise disperse knowledge; But the heart of the foolish is not so" (Pr 15:7). "The tongue of the wise utters knowledge aright; But the mouth of fools gushes out folly" (Pr 15:2). "The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge; But the mouth of fools feeds on folly" (Pr 15:14). "A fool's mouth is his destruction, And his lips are the snare of his soul" (Pr 18:7). "A fool's lips enter into contention, And his mouth calls for stripes" (Pr 18:6). "He who gives answer before he hears, It is folly and shame to him" (Pr 18:13). "A fool has no delight in understanding, But only that his heart may reveal itself" (Pr 18:2).

Quarrelsome and ungovernable

A second cluster concerns the fool's temper. "It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife; But every fool will be quarrelling" (Pr 20:3). "If a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man, Whether he is angry or laughs, there will be no rest" (Pr 29:9). "A fool utters all his anger; But a wise man keeps it back and stills it" (Pr 29:11). "He who is slow to anger is of great understanding; But he who is in a hurry of spirit exalts folly" (Pr 14:29).

Despises correction

A third cluster concerns the fool's refusal to be taught. "A fool despises his father's correction; But he who regards reproof gets prudence" (Pr 15:5). "A trespass-offering mocks fools; But among the upright there is goodwill" (Pr 14:9). The fool laughs at the very mechanism of repair. "Don't reprove a scoffer, or else he will hate you: Reprove a wise man, and he will love you" (Pr 9:8). "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool; But whoever walks wisely, he will be delivered" (Pr 28:26). The fool is unteachable not for lack of access to teaching but by preference: "Folly is joy to him who is void of wisdom; But a man of understanding makes straight his going" (Pr 15:21). "It is as sport to a fool to do wickedness; And [so is] wisdom to a man of understanding" (Pr 10:23).

The fool in the household

The household register runs throughout. "A wise son makes a glad father; But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother" (Pr 10:1). "A wise son makes a glad father; But [a] foolish man despises his mother" (Pr 15:20). "A foolish son is a grief to his father, And bitterness to her who bore him" (Pr 17:25). "A foolish son is the calamity of his father; And the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping" (Pr 19:13). "Every wise woman builds her house; But the foolish plucks it down with her own hands" (Pr 14:1). "There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise; But [a] foolish man swallows it up" (Pr 21:20).

The simple and the foolish woman

The simple are not yet fools but are perched on the edge. "The simple believes every word; But the prudent man looks well to his going" (Pr 14:15). "A prudent man sees the evil, and hides himself; But the simple pass on, and suffer for it" (Pr 22:3). Solomon sees one such youth being seduced — "I saw among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, A young man void of understanding" (Pr 7:7). Wisdom calls the simple to her table: "Leave off, you⁺ simple ones, and live; And walk in the way of understanding" (Pr 9:6); "O you⁺ simple, understand prudence; And, you⁺ fools, be of an understanding heart" (Pr 8:5). And Folly is personified as the foolish woman, set in deliberate contrast to Wisdom in Pr 9:1-6: "The foolish woman is clamorous; [She is] simple, and knows nothing. And she sits at the door of her house, On a seat in the high places of the city, To call to those who pass by, Who go right on their ways: Whoever is simple, let him turn in here; And as for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, Stolen waters are sweet, And bread [eaten] in secret is pleasant" (Pr 9:13-17).

The chapter-long portrait of Pr 26

Proverbs gathers its sharpest fool-images into one chapter. The fool needs the same management as a beast: "A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, And a rod for the back of fools" (Pr 26:3); "In the lips of him who has discernment wisdom is found; But a rod is for the back of him who is void of understanding" (Pr 10:13). Two adjacent proverbs hold each other in tension: "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Or else you will also be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, Or else he will be wise in his own eyes" (Pr 26:4-5). Sending a message by a fool is self-mutilation: "He who sends a message by the hand of a fool Cuts off [his own] feet, [and] drinks crime" (Pr 26:6). A wise saying in a fool's mouth dangles uselessly: "[As] the legs hang loose from a cripple: So is a parable in the mouth of fools" (Pr 26:7); "[As] a thorn that goes up into the hand of a drunkard, So is a parable in the mouth of fools" (Pr 26:9). Honoring or hiring a fool boomerangs: "As one who binds a stone in a sling, So is he who gives honor to a fool" (Pr 26:8); "[As] an archer that wounds all, So is he who hires a fool and he who hires those who pass by" (Pr 26:10). And the fool's defining motion is repetition without learning: "As a dog that returns to his vomit, [So is] a fool that repeats his folly" (Pr 26:11). The chapter closes with a worse verdict still: "Do you see a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him" (Pr 26:12).

Avoidance and exposure

The wise are told to keep their distance. "Go into the presence of a foolish man, And you will not perceive [in him] the lips of knowledge" (Pr 14:7). The fool will be exposed sooner or later: "Wisdom is before the face of him who has understanding; But the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth" (Pr 17:24); "The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way; But the folly of fools is deceit" (Pr 14:8).

The Fool in Ecclesiastes

Qoheleth takes up the fool with the same vocabulary but a sharper edge. The fool will not work: "The fool folds his hands together, and eats his own flesh" (Ec 4:5). The fool cannot hold his temper: "Don't be in a hurry in your spirit to be angry; for anger rests in the bosom of fools" (Ec 7:9). Even a small piece of folly contaminates: "Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to gush forth a stench; [so] does a little folly outweigh wisdom and honor" (Ec 10:1). The fool gives himself away simply by walking: "Yes also, when the fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he says to everyone [that] he is a fool" (Ec 10:3). And his mouth runs on past prudence: "The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his mouth is mischievous madness. A fool also multiplies words: [yet] man doesn't know what will be; and that which will be after him, who can tell him? The labor of fools wearies every one of them; for he doesn't know how to go to the city" (Ec 10:12-15). Qoheleth's general verdict: "I turned about, and my heart [was set] to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the reason [of things], and to know that wickedness is folly, and that foolishness is madness" (Ec 7:25).

Sirach's Portrait of the Fool

Sirach extends the Proverbs-Ecclesiastes line and gives it some of its sharpest images. The general counsel is to keep clear: "Do not lay yourself down under a fool, And do not show favoritism before the mighty" (Sir 4:27); "Do not walk along with a foolish man; Or else he will despise your words" (Sir 8:4); "Do not reveal yourself with one who is silly; For he will not be able to hide your secret" (Sir 8:17); "Your eyes will make a fool of yourself in a vision; And you will be made desolate behind her house" (Sir 9:7).

The fool feels wisdom as a burden, not a gift. "To a fool, she is one who restrains; And he who is void of understanding will not bear her. She will be like a burdensome stone on him; And he will not delay to cast her away" (Sir 6:20-21). "The inward parts of a fool are like a broken vessel, He holds no knowledge" (Sir 21:14). "As a house that is a prison so is wisdom to a fool, And the knowledge of an unwise man is [as] talk without sense" (Sir 21:18). "[As] chains on [their] feet, [so] is instruction to the foolish, And as manacles on their right hand" (Sir 21:19). And he is unteachable: "If an understanding man hears a wise word, He commends it, and adds to it; If a foolish man hears it, he mocks it, And he casts it behind his back" (Sir 21:15). "He who teaches a fool is [as] one who glues together a potsherd, [Or as] one who awakens a sleeper out of a deep sleep" (Sir 22:7); "He who discourses to a fool is as one discoursing to him who slumbers, And at the end he says, 'What is it?'" (Sir 22:8).

The fool's mouth is, again, his ruin. "A fool travails because of a word, Even as a woman travails because of a child" (Sir 19:11). "[As] an arrow stuck in the fleshy thigh, So is a word in the belly of a fool" (Sir 19:12). "A wise man makes himself beloved with few words, But the pleasantries of fools are wasted" (Sir 20:13). "A parable from the mouth of a fool is rejected, For he utters it out of season" (Sir 20:20). "The discourse of a fool is like a burden on a journey, But upon the lips of the wise grace is found" (Sir 21:16). "The fool lifts up his voice with laughter, But the wise man scarcely smiles in silence" (Sir 21:20). "The heart of fools is in their mouth, But the mouth of the wise is [in] their heart" (Sir 21:26). "One keeps silence and is accounted wise, And another is despised for his much talking" (Sir 20:5); "The wise man is silent until the [proper] time, But the arrogant and the scorner take no note of the time" (Sir 20:7).

The fool's gifts and friendships do not stick. "The gift of a fool does not profit you, For his eyes are many instead of one" (Sir 20:14). "The fool says, 'I have no friend, And my good deeds receive no thanks, Those who eat my bread are evil with tongue.' How often and how many men laugh him to scorn" (Sir 20:16). His body gives him away: "The foot of a fool hastes into a house, But it is good manners to stand outside" (Sir 21:22); "The fool through the door looks into a house, But the cautious man demeans himself humbly" (Sir 21:23). And he should hide his folly if he can: "Better is a man who hides his folly Than a man who hides his wisdom" (Sir 20:31).

Sirach reaches its sharpest point in the funeral image of Sir 22. The fool is heavier than the loaded heart can carry: "What is heavier than lead, And what is its name but 'Fool'?" (Sir 22:14). "Sand and salt and a weight of iron Are easier to bear than a senseless man" (Sir 22:15). And the fool is to be mourned more bitterly than the dead, because he is alive in his folly: "Mourn for the dead, for [his] light has failed, And mourn for a fool, for understanding has failed [him]. Weep gently for the dead, for he has found rest; But the life of a fool is worse than death" (Sir 22:11). "The mourning for the dead is for seven days, But the mourning for a fool is for all the days of his life" (Sir 22:12). The reader is told to walk away: "Do not talk much with a foolish man, And do not go on the road with a pig, Beware of him lest you have trouble, And you become defiled when he shakes himself; Turn from him and you will find rest, And [so] you will not be wearied with his folly" (Sir 22:13). And what looks like wisdom may not be: "There is a form of wisdom which is abomination, And there is a fool who lacks wisdom" (Sir 19:23). "Small stones lying upon a high place Will not remain against the wind, So will the fearsome heart [full of] foolish imagination Be unable to withstand any terror" (Sir 22:18).

The Foolish Among the Prophets

The prophets pick up the same language. Hosea on Ephraim: "And Ephraim is like a silly dove, without understanding: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria" (Ho 7:11). And Jeremiah on the man who gathers wealth wrongly: "As the partridge that sits on [eggs] which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool" (Je 17:11).

The Rich Fool and the Foolish in the New Testament

Jesus tells one of the sharpest fool-parables in Luke 12. A rich man's land has produced too much for him to store. "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he reasoned to himself, saying, What shall I do, because I don't have a place to bestow my fruits? And he said, I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there I will bestow all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry" (Lu 12:16-19). The verdict comes not from a sage but from God himself: "But God said to him, You foolish one, this [is] the night they demand back your soul from you; and the things which you have prepared, whose will they be?" (Lu 12:20). Jeremiah's partridge has its New Testament case study.

Jesus also calls the Pharisees fools for keeping the outside and ignoring the inside: "Now you⁺ the Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter; but your⁺ inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. You⁺ foolish ones, did not he who made the outside make the inside also?" (Lu 11:39-40).

In the epistles, Paul applies the fool to Gentile idolatry: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" (Ro 1:22). And he uses the same word retrospectively for himself and his readers: "For we also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving as slaves to diverse desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another" (Tit 3:3). The Ephesians' marching order is short: "Look therefore carefully how you⁺ walk, not as unwise, but as wise" (Ep 5:15).