Commentary - Proverbs 15:21

Bird's-eye view

This proverb sets before us the stark contrast between two kinds of men, defined by two kinds of hearts, resulting in two kinds of lives. It is a perfect example of the parallelism that characterizes so much of this book. On the one side, you have the fool, the man who lacks a heart of wisdom. His defining characteristic is that he finds gladness in folly. His life is a series of detours, pointless excursions, and dead ends, but he enjoys the scenery. On the other side is the man of discernment. He is not a grim stoic; the Bible has much to say about true joy. But his path is different. Because he understands things, because he sees the world as it is, he walks straight. The proverb is a spiritual diagnostic tool. Do you want to know what kind of person you are? Examine what brings you gladness, and then look at the direction your feet are taking you.

The core issue is the state of the heart. The Hebrew word for heart, lev, refers to the center of a man's being, the seat of his intellect, will, and emotions. One man's heart is empty of wisdom, and so folly rushes in to fill the vacuum, and he loves it. The other man's heart is full of discernment, which gives him a spiritual compass, enabling him to walk a straight, direct, and purposeful life. This is not about one man being naturally smarter than the other; it is about one man being oriented toward God's reality and the other being oriented toward his own fleeting and foolish pleasures.

Outline

Context In Proverbs

Proverbs 15 is part of the larger collection of "the proverbs of Solomon" that runs from chapter 10 to 22. This section is filled with couplets that contrast the wise and the foolish, the righteous and the wicked. Verse 21 fits squarely within this pattern. It follows verses that discuss the power of the tongue, the value of instruction, and the consequences of greed. It precedes verses that deal with the importance of counsel and the ultimate destinations of the two paths: life and Sheol. The immediate context reinforces the central theme of the book: wisdom and folly are not abstract concepts but are intensely practical realities that determine the entire course and quality of a person's life. The choice is always before us, personified in the first nine chapters as Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly, and here it is distilled into a single verse about what we enjoy and where we are going.

Key Issues

The Joy of Idiots

There is a kind of person who thinks that Christianity is the great cosmic killjoy. The Christian life is imagined as a long, grey, grim affair, while the life of the unbeliever is a perpetual party. This proverb blows that caricature right out of the water. It tells us plainly that the fool has his gladness. He finds his fun. The problem is not that the fool has no joy; the problem is what he finds his joy in. He finds it in folly.

Folly, in the Bible, is not about a low IQ. It is a moral and spiritual category. It is the rejection of God's created order and His revealed will. It is trying to live in God's world as though God were not there. It is building your house on the sand, sowing thistle seeds and expecting a wheat harvest, and drinking poison because you like the color. The fool finds this kind of behavior exhilarating. He enjoys the thrill of transgression, the cleverness of his own deceptions, the immediate gratification of his appetites. His laughter is the crackling of thorns under a pot, loud, flashy, and quickly gone. It is a gladness disconnected from reality, and therefore, it is a gladness that will not last.

Verse by Verse Commentary

21 Folly is gladness to him who lacks a heart of wisdom...

Let's break this down. The subject here is folly. Folly is a course of action, a way of thinking, a lifestyle that is out of sync with God's reality. The proverb says this folly becomes gladness, a source of joy and amusement, to a particular kind of person. Who is he? He is the one who "lacks a heart of wisdom." The Hebrew is literally "lacks heart." This doesn't mean he is cowardly, but rather that he is deficient in his central faculties. His mind, will, and affections are not governed by wisdom. He is empty at his core. Because he has no internal governor, no true north, he is easily amused by stupidities. He laughs at things that should make him weep. He celebrates what will destroy him. Think of a drunkard laughing as he drives the wrong way down the highway, or a teenager who thinks it is hilarious to mock his parents. This is not innocent fun; it is the joy of spiritual and moral anarchy. It is the gladness that comes from a hollowed-out soul.

...But a man of discernment walks straight.

Here is the contrast. The second man is a "man of discernment." He is a man of understanding. He sees things. He doesn't just look at the surface; he perceives the underlying structure of reality. He knows that actions have consequences. He understands that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And what does this discernment produce? A straight walk. His life is not a meandering series of foolish detours. He has a destination, and he moves toward it directly. "Walking" in Scripture is a metaphor for the whole conduct of one's life. A straight walk is a life of integrity, purpose, and righteousness. It is not a life devoid of joy, far from it. The righteous have a deep and abiding joy that the fool can never comprehend. But the wise man's life is characterized by its linear, forward progress. He is not distracted by the foolish gladness offered in the ditches on either side of the road. He is walking on the straight and narrow path that leads to life, and he is doing so with his eyes wide open.

Application

This proverb forces us to ask a very personal question: What makes you happy? What do you find genuinely amusing? Take a hard look at your entertainments, your humor, the things you and your friends laugh about. Do you find yourself taking a secret or not-so-secret pleasure in things that are foolish, sinful, or destructive? Do you laugh at crude jokes? Do you enjoy movies that celebrate rebellion against God? Is your "fun" found in gossip, slander, or mocking others? If so, this proverb is a flashing warning light on your spiritual dashboard. Your gladness is a symptom of a heart that lacks wisdom.

The solution is not to try to walk straighter through sheer willpower. The solution is to get a new heart. The man of discernment walks straight because he has understanding. We must pray for that discernment, which is a gift from God. We must ask God to change our appetites, to make us delight in His law. The gospel is the ultimate answer to this. Christ is the wisdom of God. When we are united to Him by faith, His wise and discerning heart begins to transform our foolish and hollow one. He did not walk a crooked path but went straight to the cross to bear the penalty for all our foolish wanderings. He did this so that we might be forgiven for our love of folly and be given the grace to begin walking a new, straight path. As we grow in Christ, we will find that our gladness changes. We will begin to find joy not in folly, but in righteousness, truth, and the simple goodness of walking straight with our God.