Proverbs 14:7 The gravitational pull of nothingness

Leave the presence of a fool, or you will not discern words of knowledge.

Proverbs 14:7 NASB

What is it about the influence of someone who [is a fool and] doesn’t know it? Influence can be radiant like light spilling from a fire or like the gravitational pull of a black hole sucking everything good nearby and converting it into nothingness.

What if I like that particular person and I think they are funny? Their scorn and mocking often resonate with me. They are bold, brash, outspoken and seem self confident.

Solomon says: leave them.

My first task is to recognize who a fool is and is not. Someone with who me I have robust debate, differences of opinion, different strategic approaches — do not make that person a fool. Saying funny things, being amusing, imitating others because it’s humorous — still do not make a fool. So who then?

Proverbs has quite a bit to say about fools. The particular word Solomon used in this proverb is: kesil — meaning stupid fellow, dullard, fool. From kasal — to become stupid. Literally meaning to become fat which figuratively means foolish or silly.

There are so many other clues or indicators that you should avoid his influence before he even opens his mouth. So, how do I know who the fool is or when I am acting like one? Doing a brief flyover of Proverbs:

A fool [is, does]:

• Hates knowledge (1:22)
• Complacent (1:32)
• Displays dishonor (3:35)
• Is a grief (10:1 at the beginning of the Proverbs)
• Spreads slander (10:18)
• Doing wickedness is like sport (10:23)
• Proclaims folly (12:23)
• Displays folly (13:16)
• Considers it an abomination to turn away from evil (13:19)
• Companions suffer harm (13:20)
• Deceitful (14:8)
• Arrogant and careless (14:16)
• Their folly is their foolishness (14:24)
• Spouts folly (15:2)
• Not capable of sharing knowledge (15:7)
• Feeds on folly (15:14)
• Despises his mother (15:20)
• Receives discipline but no learning with it (17:10)
• Is dangerous (17:12)
• Brings no joy to his parents (17:21)
• Not focused on the present (17:24)
• Grief to father and bitterness to mother (17:25)
• Delights in revealing his mind (18:2)
• Brings strife, contention (18:6)
• Mouth is his ruin, lips are his snare (18:7)
• Perverse in speech (19:1)
• Is destruction to his father (19:13)
• Swallows up treasures and supplies (21:20)
• Despises when one shares wisdom (23:9)
• Unpredictable, unnatural, unseasonal [Intense ridicule of a fool] (26:1-12)
• Trusts in his own heart (28:26)
• Loses his temper (29:11)
• Hasty with words (29:20)

A fool is someone who has not been corrected and has been left to his own ways. He has not learned empathy or the reaping which comes from sowing — all lessons that should start with mom and dad. Fundamentally he does not value truth and disregards it with abandon.
Is it any wonders Solomon says leave him?

The verse is also translated: “Go from the presence of a foolish man, when you perceive not in him the lips of knowledge.” But I like the NAS version which interjects the sense of a zone of influence—the mere presence of the fool diminishes and disregards real knowledge so much so that it becomes difficult to identify what is good. The idea that you may only identify him because he doesn’t have knowledge is like a “duh” moment, but the deeper impact is the dilution and disregard for truth.

It’s really easy to focus on the fool, to identify foolish behavior, to even laugh and scorn him. But what is the point of Proverbs 14:9? I am on a journey and there are things that potentially knock it off course. It’s a focused objective, a narrow road — and one that few take. It’s a journey about character — that which influences me and helps me become a son of God. Who will I allow to affect me? Those people on whom I focus my attention, I tend to imitate. What I look at is training me. That is why this proverb is so terse: being around the fool is training me (even if I don’t want to be). Get away from him!

Time is the great equalizer in life. Although some men have more or less money, every man has the same time allotted each day. The gift and offering I bring to my God daily is the choice, again and again, to use my time to focus on those things that influence me to do good and be good. Looking at God’s majesty and goodness will make me like Him.

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV