Posted on 11/11/2021 10:11:25 PM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness” (Proverbs 12:23).
“A prudent man concealeth knowledge,” that sounds a little weird, “but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness;” now, keep it in context. What it is saying there in context is a guy sees some foolishness going on, and quite often foolishness can be pretty profane and crass and vulgar and earthy. Well, usually a fool is the first to jump up and say “Hey! Look what's going on over there! I ain’t never saw anything like that before!” And he proceeds to have fun with it for as long as he can.
It says there though that “a prudent man concealeth knowledge,” and the context is knowledge about something foolish.
There is a difference about what we're supposed to be versus what the world is. We like talking about people, but it ought never to be to relish in the sins of a brother or sister in Christ. We need to face the fact that we have a natural inclination to gossip. The fact is, we like talking about people’s sins and people’s stupidity and the things that happen to them. Some believer falls into a scandal, and we just know that it is going to be a topic of discussion. Everybody just has a blast with those things, while pretending that they are saddened by what happened. They pretend that it's a terrible thing that happened, and they claim to have so many feelings for him. They don't have any feelings for him. They are a bunch of buzzards. Fools will proclaim that person’s foolishness. And the really sad thing is that they will find a ready ear to listen to them, even in our Bible-believing local New Testament churches.
Well, the point is that “a product man concealeth knowledge,” and the specific context here has to do with proclaiming foolishness. We know, at least we should know if we are reading our Bible, that “charity shall cover a multitude of sins,” and that's exactly what needs to happen.
Now, there is no argument that from time-to-time there is an element of exposure that has to be exposed. “rebuke before all that others may fear,” is still in our Bible. If somebody has taken a public trust and has not been responsible with it, then you know sometimes there has to be a public exposure; but you don't have to relish in it. Still, the rule is that “a prudent man concealeth knowledge.” We don't have to run our mouth about everything we know, and we don't have to float everybody's dirty laundry out for all to see either.
“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter” (Proverbs 25:2).
Now, this is not God concealing foolishness: this is God concealing genuine knowledge and wisdom. There are things in the Bible that are extremely simple, on the other hand there are things that we will be digging out until Jesus comes for us, or until we quit digging. There is always going to be those things.
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Great read and explanation! Thank you Pilgrim. Glory to God.
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