A proverb in the mouth of a fool is like a stick with thorns, brandished by the hand of a drunkard. The one who hires a fool or who hires those passing by is like an archer who wounds everyone indiscriminately. As a dog returns to its vomit, so also a fool repeats his foolishness. Do you see a person who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. (26:10-12)
In the bible, a fool is not just someone lacking intelligence. Instead, it is someone who is unwise, and who lacks sound judgment or common sense. They refuse to learn from their own mistakes and they do whatever is right in their own eyes, regardless of the consequences. Proverbs is replete with different sayings relating to the behavior of fools and how they should be avoided. In this text, a fool is compared to someone drunk and waving around a thorny branch. In other words, they can harm anyone without realizing what they’re doing. By extension, someone who hires them is like a person who wounds indiscriminately and causes more damage than good. Yet, the bible says, “the person who is wise in his own eyes is more hopeless than the fool.” (26:12) While fools lack common sense the prideful are even worse. Since they think they are wiser than everyone else they reject the advice of others.
Solomon holds out some hope for the fool—or perhaps pity—but he has no patience with the proud. They could learn from experience and they could seek wise counsel, but instead, they listen to no one, because in their mind no one knows more than they know. To be wise in your own eyes is to be worse off than the fool. The smartest people I know don’t realize they are the smartest people I know. They don’t think more highly of themselves than they should and they seek counsel from others. Christlike humility begets wisdom and true wisdom develops an even deeper humility. Why do some people think more highly of themselves than they should? It is because they think more about themselves than they do about other people. Those who overlook their own wisdom and intelligence are those who spend more time thinking about others than themselves. The fool doesn’t really think about anything, but the proud is always thinking about how special he is; thus “there is more hope for a fool than for him.”
