The Stewardship of Knowledge and the Bankruptcy of Fools Text: Proverbs 12:23
Introduction: The Leaky Bucket Brigade
We live in an age that is drowning in information and starving for wisdom. Our culture is a firehose of data, opinions, hot takes, and trivia, all spraying into a collective mind that has the structural integrity of a sieve. Everyone has a platform, everyone has a microphone, and consequently, the air is thick with the buzzing of ten thousand follies. The modern world has mistaken the possession of facts for the possession of knowledge, and the broadcasting of opinions for the possession of wisdom. This is a profound and catastrophic error.
The book of Proverbs is a book of sharp, antithetical contrasts. It draws bright lines in a world that loves its grays. It divides all of humanity into two, and only two, camps: the wise and the foolish. And one of the primary diagnostic tools for determining which camp a man belongs to is how he handles his tongue, or in our day, his keyboard. What a man does with what he knows, or what he thinks he knows, is a direct revelation of the state of his heart.
Our text today is a scalpel that cuts right to the heart of this issue. It sets before us two men, the prudent man and the fool. One is a steward, the other is a spendthrift. One is a reservoir, the other is a leaky bucket. One understands that knowledge is a treasure to be guarded and dispensed with skill, while the other treats his own foolishness like a cheap trinket to be loudly advertised at every street corner. This is not merely good advice for personal conduct; it is a description of two fundamentally different ways of walking through God’s world.
The Christian life is a life of prudence. We are called to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. This means we must be shrewd. We must be discerning. We must understand that not everything that is true needs to be said, and certainly not everything that is true needs to be said right now, by us, to everyone. The fool, on the other hand, operates with no such filter. His heart is a bubbling pot of folly, and it regularly boils over through his mouth. As we unpack this verse, we must ask ourselves which man we are. Are we carefully stewarding the knowledge God has given us, or are we part of the world's leaky bucket brigade, proclaiming our folly for all to hear?
The Text
A prudent man conceals knowledge,
But the heart of fools proclaims folly.
(Proverbs 12:23 LSB)
The Prudent Man's Treasury (v. 23a)
The first clause sets before us the image of a wise and discerning man.
"A prudent man conceals knowledge..." (Proverbs 12:23a)
Now, at first glance, this might seem to contradict other biblical commands. Are we not to be a city on a hill? Are we not to let our light shine? Are we not to proclaim the truth from the housetops? Yes, of course. But the Bible is not a flat book of fortune cookie sayings that can be pitted against one another. It is a coherent whole, and wisdom lies in knowing how to apply the right truth at the right time. The word for "prudent" here carries the idea of being shrewd, cunning, or sensible. This is a man who understands seasons, people, and contexts.
The phrase "conceals knowledge" does not mean he is a secretive recluse or an intellectual miser who hoards his learning. It means he is not ostentatious. He doesn't feel the need to unload everything he knows in every conversation. He has a sense of timing and propriety. He knows, as Ecclesiastes says, that there is "a time to keep silence, and a time to speak" (Eccl. 3:7). The prudent man keeps his knowledge under lock and key, and he, the master of the house, decides when to bring it out. He is not governed by an insecure need to prove how smart he is.
Think of it this way. Knowledge is like a sharp tool. In the hands of a skilled craftsman, it can build, carve, and create with precision. But the craftsman doesn't leave his tools scattered all over the yard for everyone to trip over. He keeps them in his toolbox, organized and ready, and brings out the right one for the job at hand. The fool, by contrast, juggles chainsaws in a crowded room. The prudent man knows that some knowledge, shared at the wrong time or with the wrong person, can do immense damage. A talebearer reveals secrets, but a man of faithful spirit conceals a matter (Prov. 11:13). The prudent man knows when a matter should be concealed.
This is also an issue of humility. The man who truly knows much is often the most aware of how much he does not know. He is therefore slow to speak, quick to listen. He is not a know-it-all. His knowledge is held in reserve, not constantly on display. He has nothing to prove. His wisdom is demonstrated not by the volume of his words, but by the quality and timing of them. He is a deep river, not a babbling brook.
The Fool's Megaphone (v. 23b)
The contrast, as is typical in Proverbs, is stark and unflattering.
"But the heart of fools proclaims folly." (Proverbs 12:23b)
Notice the source of the problem. It is the "heart of fools." Jesus taught us that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34). The fool's speech is not an unfortunate slip-up; it is a faithful advertisement of his inner bankruptcy. What is in the well of the heart will come up in the bucket of the mouth. The fool's heart is a fountain of folly, and his mouth is the spout.
And what does he do? He "proclaims" it. This is a public, loud, and deliberate act. He broadcasts his foolishness. He puts it on a billboard. He is the town crier of his own ignorance. The fool is constitutionally incapable of keeping his folly to himself. He thinks his every thought is a gem, his every opinion a revelation, and he believes the world is impoverished until he shares it. In our digital age, this man has found his true calling. Social media is the fool's megaphone, allowing him to proclaim his folly to a global audience with the click of a button.
This proclamation of folly is not just about saying dumb things. It is about laying open his entire worldview. The fool "layeth open his folly" (Prov. 13:16). He is like a man who throws open the doors to his house to show everyone the mess inside. He has no shame, because he has no wisdom. He calls evil good and good evil. He celebrates what he should mourn and mocks what he should revere. His speech reveals his rebellion against God's created order. He does not just have foolish ideas; he is a fool to the core, and his speech is the constant, unavoidable evidence of it.
The heart of the fool is restless. It is filled with envy, strife, and pride, and these things demand expression. He is quick to argue, quick to take offense, and quick to offer his unsolicited and worthless advice. He cannot conceal anything because his heart is not a treasury; it is a sieve. Everything pours right through. He is an open book, but it is a book of nonsense.
Application in the Digital Age
This proverb is timeless, but it has a particular bite for our generation. We are all publishers now. We all have a platform. And therefore, the temptation to proclaim our folly has never been greater. The prudent man looks at his Twitter feed and asks, "What is the wise thing to say here? Does this situation require my input? Is this the right time? Is this helpful? Is this edifying?" More often than not, the wise answer is silence. The prudent man conceals knowledge, not because he is afraid, but because he is wise.
The fool, on the other hand, sees an empty comment box as a personal invitation to empty the contents of his heart for all to see. He wades into every controversy. He offers his half-baked opinions on theology, politics, and epidemiology with equal and unshakeable confidence. He mistakes his outrage for insight and his volume for authority. He is a walking, talking, typing embodiment of the second half of our verse.
So, we must apply this to ourselves directly. Before you speak, before you post, before you forward that email, ask yourself: Am I being prudent, or am I being a fool? Am I carefully dispensing a well-timed word of wisdom, or am I just opening the floodgates of my heart? Is this knowledge that needs to be shared, or is it a matter to be concealed? Is this building up the body of Christ, or is it just adding to the noise? Is this serving my neighbor, or is it just serving my ego?
The ultimate example of prudence is our Lord Jesus Christ. He knew all things. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge were hidden in Him (Col. 2:3). And yet, He was often silent. Before His accusers, "he opened not his mouth" (Is. 53:7). He knew when to speak and when to be quiet. He answered some questions and refused to answer others. He dispensed knowledge with perfect wisdom and timing. He never proclaimed folly, because there was no folly in His heart.
The gospel is the power that can transform a foolish heart into a prudent one. Through repentance and faith in Christ, God gives us a new heart. He replaces the fountain of folly with a wellspring of wisdom. He gives us His Holy Spirit, who produces the fruit of self-control. This is what we need. We need the Spirit's restraining hand on our tongues and on our keyboards. We need to be so filled with the wisdom of Christ that we learn the holy art of concealing knowledge until the time is right, and in so doing, prove ourselves to be wise stewards of the mysteries of God, rather than foolish heralds of our own empty thoughts.