Proverbial characters;- Foolishness

“Ever since racing began, fast women and slow horses have combined to ruin the
impressionable young male”.
The Times, London. Opening sentence of a story about the first female (or first winning female, or something similar) professional jockey in Britain.

The collector of the Old Testament Proverbs makes his purpose clear from the beginning.
“That men may know wisdom and instruction, understand words of insight” (ch1 v2).
Then he further defines this wisdom as “fear of the Lord” (v7). This phrase, when used in the Bible, means respect and willingness to obey.

I’m studying the different characters of Proverbs, as one way of organising and understanding the teaching.

The first character in this book was Wisdom, who teaches the true knowledge, “the fear of the Lord”.
The second is her rival and counterpart, the Foolish Woman.
She appears in the character of a “loose woman”, the kind of woman the gossiping wives used to call “no better than she should be”.
This is because she “forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God” (ch2 v17).
She is a spiritual adulteress, in that she has cut loose from the God of righteousness, her true husband.

Wisdom was offering true knowledge openly, as a public proclamation.
Foolishness has a different approach.
Foolishness can be compared with an adulterous woman, seducing men into wrongdoing.
She sits at the door of her house, hoping to entice the passers-by and induce them to come in.
Or she might spread her net further afield, wandering the streets;
“I have perceived among the youths, a young man without sense, passing along the street near her corner…
And lo, a woman meets him, dressed as a harlot…
She is loud and wayward, her feet do not stay at home…and at every corner she lies in wait.
She seizes him and kisses him, and with impudent face she says to him…
‘I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you…
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come us take our fill of love till morning”.
But what about her husband?
As an Ulsterwoman said to my father (he used to allege); “Me man’s away to Ballynahinch, d’ye naw?”
Or, in this case, “My husband has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home” (ch7 vv4-20).

With this reassurance, the young man follows her “as an ox goes to the slaughter”.
The previous chapter was warning men about the mortal danger of literal adultery;
“For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge” (ch6 v34).
But the man who listens to the Foolish Woman is detaching himself from God’s Wisdom, with results which are more serious.
Wisdom would have taught him to “fear the Lord”, but the foolish Woman is teaching him not[ to fear the Lord.
“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant”.
But the young man does not know “that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol” (ch9 vv17-18).

That is the effect of rejecting the Lord’s righteousness, known in this book as Wisdom.
“Wisdom builds her own house, but folly with her own hands tears it down” (ch14 v1).

Threads in the current series will be looking at these characters;
Wisdom
Foolishness
The Righteous Man
The Wicked Man
The Wise Man
The Fool
The Quarreller
The Troublemaker
The Friend
The Son
The King
The Rich Man
The Poor Man
The Sluggard
The Wife

Most of these characters can be paired off against each other.
The Quarreller, the Troublemaker, and perhaps even the Friend, are subcategories of the Fool.
The Father will be brought into the discussion of the Son, just as the Servant will be brought into the discussion of the King.
I may find reason to take the Sluggard and the Wife as another contrasting pair.

I think you will find the Jezebel spirit the most rampant and desirous of woman. They are driven by Lust and Vanity.

a reply to: DISRAELI

It wasn't her net she was spreading.

a reply to: DISRAELI

Look forward to the upcoming threads OP.

I have this opinion re God and sin sort of forming, kicking around contemplating

It's not the sin that God hates, sin in such away as it causes offence to God on a personal level
He is a father so, we see our kids "sin", it's not the act itself that really bothers us or maybe a father, it's the ramifications, the damage that the sin causes that will cause problems in future.

The foolish man isn't aware or doesn't care about the results of his actions and the outcomes and those outcomes break people and Gods heart

Gods not telling us to be wise because it makes Him happy, it makes humanity happier
The reason God doesn't want foolishness is because it harms other people

a reply to: Raggedyman
There's a lot of truth in this, and I think it will be borne out by what Proverbs says later about the different varieties of Fool.
The definition of sin that I used in the last series will stll work here, I believe; that sin is humanity falling out of alignment with God's will.

The Heart. It Is Where Many Look For Their Comforts.
Though Not Likely In There Own.

The Worst Of It... Is We All May Seem To Find The Ramifications, But Choose Inevitably To Live Past The Moment.

Fathom! Or Leave It Be.

Thank You Disraeli...

And You As Well, Raggedyman...

And You Also Pinocchio...

And You Kind ATS!

And God If He's Listening...

And Wisdom If She Is Everywhere With Him.

May Conscience Be Not Consequence....

originally posted by: Pinocchio
The Heart. It Is Where Many Look For Their Comforts.
Though Not Likely In There Own.

The Worst Of It... Is We All May Seem To Find The Ramifications, But Choose Inevitably To Live Past The Moment.

Fathom! Or Leave It Be.

Hmmm, not really sure about this

Joy is from the heart, our own heart as opposed to happiness that comes from others?
I know that much

So you are saying choose self fulfilled joy over seeking happiness, I am definitely on board with that

We all find the ramifications, meaning we all find pain? that’s good ?

But I am stuck on “ live past it “
Meaning we don’t acknowledge or don’t learn from it?

Anyway, just pondering what you have written

a reply to: Pinocchio

Wisdom is Jesus Christ.