Tiny Devotional for Sunday, 10-24-2021

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, don’t leave the chips open.

Wisdom is too exalted for a fool,
He does not open his mouth at the gate.
Proverbs 24:7, NASB



I don’t know if this is written ironically, or if it describes a system that actually worked. It could go either way. To illustrate, let’s play THEN-and-NOW; ‘THEN’ is the time the proverbs were collected, around 700 BC.

THEN: those with some time that could be called “leisure” are rare. Most folks have to work ALL the time, mostly in agriculture, because that’s what it takes for a community to exist. Mostly, those free of dawn-to-dusk manual labor every day are people with wealth, the aged, and a few specialized professions.  
NOW: people with leisure time = almost everyone, at least in western civilizations. The standard work load is 8 hours per day, 5 days per week. 

THEN: all communication is face to face, with some supplements from written proclamations.
NOW: the bulk of communication is electronically, supplemented by print; face to face remains important.

THEN: a fool says something stupid/provocative in the place where wisdom was exchanged, and immediately gets his attitude adjusted. Perhaps the calm rejection of the wise dismays him; perhaps a servant of the wise bonks him in the head. The wise are the guardians.
NOW: a fool makes an online post that is stupid/provocative, and immediately gets thousands of responses and hundreds of subscribers. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube are the guardians.

There were HUGE limitations ‘THEN;’ I’m not arguing for a return to those days. But every once in a while, I wish a “NOW” fool would get bonked. 

Peace be on your household.

Comments

  1. Moose45RiderOctober 24, 2021 at 8:53 AM

    Foolish bonks should be a sport

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bess BlackstoneOctober 24, 2021 at 9:42 AM

    I could be, probably am, wrong about this, and welcome friendly reproval if necessary, but I'm just imagining the fool walking to the gate to go to the next town over, and a gatekeeper asking where he's going and why, and even though he's just going over there because they have the most fresh catfish he's ever tasted, he says nothing. Even if he opened his mouth to say "I'm going over yonder to get some catfish for the cookout tomorrow, can I get you anything while I'm over there?" would result in NO repercussions, the gatekeeper would say "Sounds good, I'm running out of eggs, if you could grab me half a dozen", he keeps his fool mouth shut, and after a while the gatekeeper gets tired of this baloney and tells him he can either get back in his house RIGHT NOW, or some of the gatekeeper's buddies are going to escort him there. So even though it should have been an exceedingly easy errand, now he's gone and embarrassed himself once again, because every time he does anything, he does it without thinking. Okay enough of my rambling.
    Does it need to be said? Does it need to be said right now? Does it need to be said by me? If I can't answer those 3 questions with an honest yes, I take Thumper's advice and don't say nuffin at all.

    ReplyDelete
  3. v, NoOctober 25, 2021 at 5:16 AM

    A good upbraiding is healthy for the soul (then), but so much validation electronically (now) diminishes its effectiveness.

    ReplyDelete

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