Proverbs 26:1 Commentary and Bible Study

No one likes to be thought of as a fool – dull, dreamy, apathetic, unguarded. It would be wrong to insult anyone at a human level by calling them foolish, but the foolishness spoken of here is not natural foolishness but spiritual foolishness, which is far more dangerous, far more damaging. We need this challenge, especially if we have never come to Christ for salvation. These verses are not about how you make your money, but just as a dull person may inherit a fortune and lose it all, so a spiritual fool makes a mess of the most valuable things in life.The fool in mind here is a silly person who dismisses the most important things. He is living in a world of his own. It is unseemly to give honour to such a person, to make them a son or daughter of God, and save them for eternity. Honour here can be understood as standing with God, being made a child of God, soul saved. He would disregard it and not appreciate it. Snow is beautiful but if it comes in summer it is wasted, pointless, it melts immediately. Rain is welcome at all times of the year, but not in harvest when the farmer wants to get his crop dry into the barns. So too God’s message is wasted on us, that God should send his Son to die for us. What a beautiful thought and plan: God’s mercy shown to many undeserving sinners; this is infinitely more beautiful than snowfall, but we cannot receive it because we more interested in what we can touch, taste, possess. How inconvenient, we think. Like snow out of season the gospel is unwanted, an impediment to what we desire most; it is destructive to the life I want to live. Salvation will spoil my sin, strike at my pride. I am so unspiritual before conversion that I discard this most precious message. God cannot deal with us in this state; it would be entirely inappropriate without first dramatically changing us. This is the shocking message: we need fundamental change before we will even begin to seek God. Yes, he will give it to me if repent and call on his name, but not if I do not see that I need it. If I don’t see my need of forgiveness, I can’t have salvation. I didn’t grasp what God had done for me.