There are different ways of being a fool. We may be (a) gullible (15), taking on hearsay what we should verify for ourselves; (b) overconfident (16), like Peter before Gethsemane, or Amaziah with Joash (2 Chr. 25:17ff.), playing with fire; (c) irascible (17a), acting on the state of our feelings, not the merits of the case: cf. verse 29, which emphasizes that to see a situation calmly is to see it clearly. (In 17b, the Heb. text [AV, RV] shows that the cold cunning of ‘a man of schemes’ may be even worse to live with than a hot temper. RSV needlessly follows the LXX here, which ends with a favourable verb [‘is patient’] and therefore interprets the ‘schemes’ favourably—as indeed one can, if the context demands it. But RSV’s too-brief footnote implies, unwarrantably, that the Heb. text is nonsense.)

Their prosperity would seem to be permanent (“house of the wicked” versus “tent of the upright”), but their easy road leads to death. The message of the whole is to avoid a superficial analysis of the lessons of life.

Prov. 14:15. We do not translate, “every thing,” for “word” and faith are correlates, Ps. 106:24, and פְּתִי is the non-self-dependent who lets himself be easily persuaded by the talk of another (vid., p. 39f.): he believes every word without proving it, whether it is well-meant, whether it is true, whether it is salutary and useful, so that he is thus, without having any firm principle, and without any judgment of his own, driven about hither and thither; the prudent, on the other hand, considers and marks his step, that he may not take a false step or go astray, he proves his way (8a), he takes no step without thought and consideration (בִּין or הֵבִין with ל, to consider or reflect upon anything, Ps. 73:17, cf. 33:15)—he makes sure steps with his feet (Heb. 12:13), without permitting himself to waver and sway by every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4:14).

16 The wise feareth and departeth from evil;

But the fool loseth his wits and is regardless.

14:1–35 Wisdom and Earthly Power

There is always a price for growth and accomplishment (14:4). The prudent man does not walk blindly but carefully considers his steps and chooses his way (14:8). There is a way that seems to be ethically correct, but it leads to destruction (14:12). Wisdom generally does result in greater economic stability because financial entanglements (6:1–5) are avoided (14:24). The “life-giving fountain”(14:27) is a source of spiritual vitality. The righteous have an eternal hope in contrast to the wicked, who can expect only humiliation and judgment (14:32). The fool boasts of what little knowledge he has, while the wise man avoids making a display of himself (14:33).