Sometimes the wise thing to do is to just be quiet.

Part 2

Yesterday:
“He that hath knowledge spareth his words:”
“And a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.”
The more a man knows, the less he has to say.

Today:
“Even a fool,”
Verse 27, speaks of the man who has knowledge, the “man of understanding.”  And the next verse looks at his counterpart, the fool.  The fool is generally seen as everything the wise man is not.  He is always looked down upon for his foolishness.  This verse may be the only one in all the Bible to say that it might be possible for a fool to appear wiser than he really is.  The trouble is this is so out of character for a fool.

“A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul” (Proverbs 18:7).

“When he holdeth his peace,”
A fool who can “hold his peace” is tough to find.  Usually, the fool’s words gush out of his mouth without filter or restraint.  But perhaps in a rare moment, a fool may remain quiet.

“Is counted wise:”
The fool who is “counted wise” seems like an oxymoron.  But if the fool can keep his mouth shut, it’s possible that he may be thought of as wise.  At least for those brief moments.

“And he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”
Because the “man of understanding” says little, when a fool “says little,” he may be thought of as much wiser than he is.  Some things need silence to be worked out, the fool does not understand this as the wise man does.  Thoughts are like that.  It is difficult to think deeply while speaking.

“Bees will not work except in darkness; thought will not work except in silence; neither will virtue work except in silence.  Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth.1 (Carlyle.)

You may remember the old saying that seems to model this verse.

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”2

And then, “He who thinks by the inch, and speaks by the yard, deserves to be kicked by the foot.”

I suppose we had better not practice this last one, or we might get into trouble.  But we do need to control our tongues, what we say, how much we say, and to whom we say it.

1.  The Biblical Illustrator, the electronic version in eSword, quoting Thomas Carlyle.
2.  Finding who gets credit for this saying is difficult to do.  The two men who seem to get the most votes are Abraham Lincoln, and Mark Twain.  The Yale Book of Quotes, by Fred R. Shapiro, doesn’t say that either of these are the originator.  We may never know who said it first…