Proverbs 29:20 Commentary and Bible Study

Here is another heart problem which makes training, the imparting of wisdom, almost impossible. Wisdom is blocked from getting into the heart of a person, and the blockage comes from within them. Is it that wisdom has lost its lustre, or that it has somehow reduced in value? No, wisdom is as precious, as helpful, and as life-giving as it has always been. Then why does this person not receive what they need so badly? In this case it is because they have a hasty spirit and that spirit is evidenced by hasty words. The description of the person as hasty is a fitting one, and the haste involved comes because they are too quick to speak. They speak before they have had time to think properly so the lips are engaged without any deep reflection on what they have heard or what is an appropriate response. This person is unteachable but they may well be blind to that fault. They overestimate their own wisdom, and so they feel that they can afford to speak with little forethought. They believe they have enough experience of life to give an instant response. As a result they do not truly listen to anything, for listening involves letting truth into our hearts and giving it time to influence our thinking and perhaps change our ideas in significant ways. The hasty person has a heart that is impervious. Instead of the soil of the heart drinking in the rain that falls on it, the water just runs off the hard surface and goes straight into the ditch. When they ought to be listening, they are too busy speaking. |n their view, speaking brings credit to self, while listening gives credit to others.There is more hope, says Solomon, for a fool than for a person like this. After he has said so much against foolishness, this is an indictment indeed. The fool has major areas of ignorance and sinfulness, but the problem with the hasty person is that there is no way into his heart, for his own words have blocked his ears. Only by instruction can he be mended from this affliction, but the malady stands directly in the way of the cure. This is a tragic and deadly situation.