Proverb 10:8

“The wise in heart will receive commands,
But a prating fool will fall.”

The Proverbs are full of surprises. In reference to the wise, I would think that the Proverb would say they follow commands. But it just dawned on me, all of a sudden, that they receive them. There are plenty of other scriptures that deal with the carrying out of those commands. But that’s not the subject here, today. This verse isn’t so much about what we do with the commands as it is or whether or not Lady Wisdom is in correspondence with us—whether or not we hear her words.

Fools tune her out with their mindless chatter. Perhaps she doesn’t even speak to them. Or maybe she got tired of being talked over; of being ignored. Either way, they don’t receive her commands. What makes them foolish though, isn’t their disobedience, it’s their lack of receiving. And in this instance, their tedious talk is what prevents them from doing so. 

Sure, griping and complaining falls into this category. But what about the mundane, repetitious, uninteresting things we say. Monotonous subjects that lack flavor or substance. Or nonsensical words we use to fill silence with noise. These are just as foolish—and evil as we are about to find out.

The Hebrew word for fall is defined as “to overthrow”. So in essence, these prating words are in protest of Lady Wisdom’s rule. They aim to overthrow her reign and seek the throne for self. Their intent is to drown her out.   

Guess what the Hebrew word for fool is? Eviyl. It’s a little close to an English word, don’t you think? It means to be perverse, silly or foolish. Pretty simple definition, huh? The KJV Companion bible says it this way: the fool (or evil, as we just found out) has a lax or careless habit of mind and body.

So what about the mindless chatter of the mind? As screenwriter Richard Matheson said, “That which you think becomes your world.” If we aren’t receiving Lady Wisdom’s commands or instructions, we are left to our own devices. Our mindless thoughts will rule our world. And as we discovered yesterday, we will begin to blot out our own memory. Our foolish words are just a tragedy waiting to happen.