Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand
is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. (Proverbs 26:9)
I have got to say that I really enjoyed studying Proverbs partly because there was so much humour in it. One of my favourite ones that (unfortunately) didn’t make it into this devotional was Proverbs 27:14: If a man loudly blesses his neighbour early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse. I’m thinking about trying this out on Carlton tomorrow…
This proverb also made me chuckle a bit as I pictured a drunk (he looks a bit like a medieval peasant in my mind) who has somehow picked up a thornbush, perhaps thinking it was something else, and now is waving it around, endangering both himself and everyone around him. “Put it down, put it down!” everyone yells…
The reality of this truth, though, is much less funny. People who use these proverbs irresponsibly can at the very least undermine their power (Like a lame man’s legs that hang limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool, 26:7). All of us have heard people that tell others, “Do as I say, don’t do as I do!” This becomes particularly scary when it is a parent who is trying to instruct children. A father who quotes, Truthful lips endure forever, the lying tongue, for only a moment (12:19) when his son lies, but then makes a habit of telling “little white lies” himself, only creates a disgust in his child for his hypocrisy and permission to do the opposite of what he is told.
Perhaps worse is the person who uses a proverb as a weapon to prove that if things are not going well for a person, it must be because they have brought it on themselves through sin. Thus a proverb such as He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy (28:13) might be quoted to prove that whatever misfortune a person is suffering is the result of unconfessed in sin in their life. (We saw this use of proverbs when we were studying Job—compare Job’s “friend’s” words in Job 5:17 with Proverbs 3:11.)
A proverb is not a promise. It is a “moral rule of thumb”—spelling out the good results that are likely to happen as life is lived God’s way. But in this broken world this is not always what does happen. So judging people by the apparent consequences can leave them as scarred as if you had beaten them with a thornbush.
A “fool” in Proverbs is one who follows his own self-gratifying path and does not allow his ways to be corrected. The proverbs should be used as directed—as a guide to whether you yourself are making wise choices and living like Jesus.
– Shannon Deal
Other related proverbs:
- As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. (26:11)
- Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. (26:12)
- He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe. (28:26)
Thank you