Meeting Fools – Proverbs 17:12

He was the new ruler of Israel but not all his subjects were happy about it.  A large number of Israelites from the northern tribes came to Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, and complained that his father’s policy of forced labor of Israelites was leading them to consider leaving the union, and asked him to make a shift in that regard so they could follow him.  Rehoboam consulted his elder statesmen and they recommended easing up.  But Rehoboam’s young friends convinced him that it was a matter of establishing his strength as a leader to maintain his father’s oppressive policy.  The northern tribes separated from the Southern tribes and formed a new nation.  Rehoboam was a fool who met fools in their folly and ruined a nation.

Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs

rather than a fool in his folly. (Proverbs 17:12, ESV)

I got an email from a blog reader, a young woman whose boyfriend had impregnated another young woman and was now seeking to know the Lord and, it seems, wanting to be in relationship with this blog reader.  Her question was about whether the Lord would have told her boyfriend not to pick her up from school (he is her transportation).  She had texted and called trying to reach him after she got out of school to come get her and finally had to get a cab ride home.  The next day her boyfriend told her the Lord told him not to pick her up (and if he wasn’t supposed to pick her up, he also shouldn’t answer her phone call and tell her that, right?).

My advice that I hope was heeded, but doubt will be, was to kick this guy to the curb.  I said it better than that, of course.  But here is an example of a fool in his folly.  If she heeds wisdom she will avoid this guy like the plague.

We may not always have the option of avoiding such fools, but if we do have that option it needs to be adopted.  Such fools will bring destruction with them wherever they go.  Can such fools be reached and corrected?  Yes.  But the wisdom of Proverbs says of this,

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.  Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. (Proverbs 26:4–5, ESV)

You must judge whether to even try with this person and how to challenge his or her folly.  There are no guarantees, of course, that a fool will be converted.  You need wisdom and direction from Yahweh.  And don’t presume He will say to go for it.