"Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish."
Proverbs 12:1
Part 2
Yesterday: “God’s Instruction is Discipline”
“Whoso loveth instruction.”
“Loveth knowledge.”
Today: “Only A Fool Rejects Gods’ Instruction (Discipline)”
The wise one is the one who loves God’s instruction (discipline) in his or her life. They pay attention to what God is saying and make application of His truth to their life.
“But he that hateth reproof.”
On the other hand, there are plenty of people who balk at God’s truth and reject His wisdom. The Bible says that this person is a “fool.”
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction (discipline)” (Proverbs 1:7).
The habit of the fool is to reject “God’s instruction,” “discipline, chastening,” and “correction”[1] (BDB). Regardless of who tries to help the fool, he or she “hates the reproof!”
“And say, How have I hated instruction (discipline), and my heart despised reproof; And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!” (Proverbs 5:12-13).
God loves to instruct His child.
“My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; Neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth” (Proverbs 3:11-12).[2]
“Hating reproof,” the fool reveals that he hates his own soul.
“He that refuseth instruction (discipline) despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding” (Proverbs 15:32).
God is always aware of what the fool has done. He has something to say to those who reject His instruction.
“But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction (discipline), and castest my words behind thee” (Psalm 50:16-17).[3]
The fool has rejected God and His truth.
“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them, that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
There is no salvation for God-rejectors! One day, God will reject that fool!
“Is brutish.”
“But he that hateth reproof is brutish!”
God is saying that,
“To hate (reject and despise) correction shows that one is stupid (ba’ar, ‘to be brutish or dull-minded’ like an animal; … ‘ignorant’)”[4] (BKC).
“The Hebrew term used here, … refers to someone who hates correction. The Fool in Proverbs.”[5]
“The ‘stupid’ person is more like a brutish, irrational animal (Psalm 73:22). That he hates correction reveals a heart problem more than a head problem.”[6]
This brute has rejected God’s wisdom.
“The fear of the LORD is the instruction (discipline) of wisdom; and before honor is humility” (Proverbs 15:33).
Those rejecting God are arrogant in their foolishness.
“Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish. This is the path of those who have foolish confidence, yet after them, people approve of their boasts. Selah” (Psalm 49:12-13, ESV).[7]
God desires to help by His teaching, but we must respond rightly to Him…
“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee” (Psalm 32:8-9).
“A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this” (Psalm 92:6).
Isaiah indicated that sinful Israel had fewer smarts than farm animals and beasts of burden.
“The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider” (Isaiah 1:3).
What will happen to all the God-rejecting brutes?
“But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption” (2 Peter 2:12).
These brutes have followed Satan’s model of rebellion by arrogantly rejecting God. They will be ultimately rewarded in the same manner as will the devil.
Quote: When does one become a “brute beast”? “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things” (Romans 1:21-23).
[1] Brown, Driver, Briggs. Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions, the electronic version in eSword. Proverbs 12:1.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Pr 3:11–12). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[3] Psalm 50:17 is the only time in Psalms this word for “instruction” (discipline) is used. Asaph is here speaking of God as the Judge.
[4] Buzzell, S. S. (1985). Proverbs. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 930). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. Proverbs 12:1. The emphasis is theirs.
[5] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Pr 11:24–12:1). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. In Proverbs, the fool is “ba’ar,” “stupid.”
[6] Stabnow, D. K. (2017). Proverbs. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 969). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers. Proverbs 12:1. The emphasis is theirs.
[7] ESV is the English Standard Version of the Bible.