”A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left.“
Ecclesiastes 10:2 ESV
Throughout Scripture the right hand is associated with strength and uprightness. It supports and protects (Psalm 16:8; Isaiah 41:13). Many use this verse as a political punchline. The left certainly deserves a little righteous ridicule, if you will. But that’s not the point here. The word of the Lord is eternal and true; it’s not trying to score cheap political points through humor.
To that end, the theme of Scripture is salvation through faith in Christ. That’s what the whole Bible is about basically: the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Who He is and what He’s done. That’s the gospel. The wise man’s heart inclines him toward Christ; the fool’s “inclines” him to counterfeit gospels. Christ saves; Satan lies.
The right hand was also associated with authority, which is why Jesus sits on the right hand of the Father (e.g., Colossians 3:1). Given this background, it’s not surprising that at the final judgment, the sheep will be on the right, but the goats will be on the left (Matthew 25:31–33).
Being a left-handed fellow myself, this is, be sure, simply a figure of speech. Left-handers are not doomed to perdition. It’s simply a way in which the Bible illustrates the “backwardness” of folly. There’s always something upside down in the life of a fool. There’s always something going on that makes no sense. The path of sanctification is the road of wisdom; the fool says in his heart that there’s no God (Psalm 14:1) and will, therefore, despite claims to wisdom, engage in bizarre feats of irrationality (Romans 1:22).
To be clear, the test of foolishness is always and forever whether or not a person begins their reasoning upon the proper foundation or not (Proverbs 1:7). Folly is the result, not of lack of education, but of moral rebellion against God and His word-law. Folly is a result of epistemic stubbornness…which is a fancy way of saying pride. He who humbles himself will be exalted (Matthew 23:12) because this is the Lord’s world and He blesses those who seek Him in faith. Pride and folly are united because the arrogant fool insists, despite all evidence to the contrary (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:20), that he is fit to judge good and evil on his own terms (Proverbs 14:12).
This is why “he who hates correction is stupid (Proverbs 12:1).”
Scripture tells us much about the fool?
He loves rowdy songs (7:5) and the shallow laughter (7:6) like we see in the mockery on late night TV. The forms of entertainment that draw the fool are hardly edifying. The rowdy music is all about “good times” and “partying” but, assuredly, the party is fueled by the counterfeits of true joy. Alcohol, sex, drugs…rebellion and escape from responsibility are the themes. Beauty and transcendence bore the fool. He/she needs to be tantalized. He wants a “good time” devoid of substance and a future. He wants, in a nutshell, pleasure but not peace; he trades God’s glory for fleeting things. In effect, he exchanges the truth for a lie (Romans 1:25).
He’s lazy (4:5). The book of Proverbs speaks much to the subject – and danger – of laziness. The lack of goal-directed action, the pattern of drifting through one’s days, of not pursuing excellence in the Lord, is the result of living for one’s own pleasure in God’s world. Is there any greater warning in Scripture than the Parable of Talents? When Jesus says, “you wicked and lazy servant (Matthew 25:26),” we rightly shudder. Living for a party rather than worshipful productivity, to the glory of God and the service of one’s neighbor, is the fool’s path.
He’s quite talkative (5:3; 10:12) – but not about anything transcendent or wise. His conversation is devoid of ideas and truth. His mind centers on the inane and banal. Gossip is never far from the fool’s tongue.
He’s irascible (7:9), easily angered. In our politically sick age, as the demon of tyranny and lies rises in our midst, it’s rather easy to develop a perturbation of spirit. Christians should be warned that excessive focus on “the world” can bring us to a dry and arid place of the soul. Quick temperedness is a warning, like a fever is to one who’s sick, of spiritual imbalance. How is a Christian who knows the love of God, and the surety of their salvation by faith alone, against whom the Lord does not count their sin, anything but at peace? Indeed, the fool is beset by a foul mood as a direct consequence of their worldview.
They know the Christian truth in reverse; it echoes in their heart throughout their day. “There is, therefore, condemnation for you outside of Christ Jesus. It awaits. It is sure. For the law of the Spirit of life condemns you to the reality of sin and death since you reject God’s free offer and call Him a liar. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He will condemn you who walk in the flesh despite His death on the cross. (Romans 8:1-4 paraphrase for the sinner).
Temper and anxiety are the fever of the infection of pride and sin. The gospel of Christ alone is the answer to that infection.
The fool is unreceptive to advice (9:17) because he/she is at war with God. The root position of all sin is the epistemology of self…of being one’s own final standard. This is exactly the lie that Satan offered Eve in Genesis 3:4-5. A fool is stubborn…and Christians, still battling the flesh, can certainly be stubborn too, so we should beware. In any and every controversy and at every intersection we should ask, “what does the Scripture say? (Romans 4:3).” Find one example in Scripture of a person sinning after they inquired of the Lord. You can’t. Conversely, find an example of someone doing the right thing while acting on the humanistic principle of self. You can’t.
The fool is morally blind (2:14), with a fatal madness of the heart that presupposes autonomy (10:2). Thus, the fool is disapproved by the Lord (5:4) because those who walk in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:8). That’s as impossible as a man living as a fish or a lion foregoing his life in the jungle and taking a job in Chicago as an accountant. Do you see? To live outside the covenant of faith is to live against reality. It’s only by God’s grace that the sinner and fool doesn’t immediately die.
Sadly, as we can clearly observe for ourselves, the fool saturates the earth and can be found everywhere. In the temple (5:1) and even on the throne (4:13). Our mainline churches are replete with false preachers. Our current president is a perfect picture of corruption and foolishness.
We remind the reader again that only the Bible explains folly correctly. Much of our vexation and anger will dissipate if we come humbly and listen to the Spirit’s voice. Folly is unbelief; it’s not lack of technical skill or education necessarily. Folly is “living upside down” in God’s world but that doesn’t mean that fools can’t reach the “high places.” Folly is a moral issue, not an intellectual one although it has intellectual ramifications.
S.A. Mandry in “There is no God: a Study of Fools in the Old Testament” explores the fool’s great talents for lying, slander, loquacious, and infuriating others; he’s clever, deceitful, yet supremely confident; he dismisses punishment and any attempts to discipline him; he’s a rebel against true religion. A fool is anyone who refuses to fear the Lord. He builds his life on the shifting sands of humanism.
Indeed, fools can be so very cunning and can achieve, by God’s grace and according to His plan, worldly things. Don’t envy them. And when they vex you greatly, go to prayer…rush to it lest you be overwhelmed and grow bitter. The Bible knows nothing of a sad stoicism that says, “that’s just the way it is.” On the contrary, it is as our loving and perfect Heavenly Father has made it and He will tell us all things on that last Day. He will wipe away every tear. We run the race in this spirit…and in the Spirit.
Let’s close with our Lord’s words:
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Matthew 7:24-27 ESV
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