Reading the book of Proverbs, we can easily make the mistake of treating the wise sayings not as wise sayings, but as some kind of absolute spiritual laws.
There is this, for example: "The fear of the LORD prolongs days, but the years of sinners are shortened." If we take this as an absolute law, it means that those who fear God will live long, but sinners will soon die. But we all know that in reality this is not always the case. We know God-fearing people who have passed away in the prime of their lives, and there are wicked people who live very long. Many times it is precisely the godly who are killed for their faith, and the ungodly go to the grave in old age. Then the parable is not true? But, true, just not as an absolute law.
The fear of God makes one wise, which usually results in a better and longer life, since the wise man avoids many dangerous traps that the fool falls into. This is the message, nothing more.
Parables are not laws, but rather life wisdom.
Let me illustrate the difference with another example. There are two sentences in the book of Proverbs (perhaps just to understand the nature of parables) that say the exact opposite. "Do not answer the fool according to his folly, for you will be like him yourself! Answer the fool according to his folly, that he may not think himself wise.” (Proverbs 26:4-5) If we treat these two consecutive calls as absolute laws, they obviously cancel each other out. For one exhorts us to answer the fool in accordance with his folly, the other not to answer the fool in accordance with his folly. Which one should we do now? Proverbs simply do not work as absolute laws.
If, on the other hand, we treat the two sentences not as laws, but as wisdom, it is easy to see that they refer to different situations in life, and their juxtaposition teaches us to see just that. There is a situation when we must answer the fool according to his folly, so that he may not think himself wise, and there is a time when we should not answer the fool according to his folly, lest we become like him.
Wisdom lies in discerning: when you need which one.
We know this in the internet world as well. There are times when a troll (he's the idiot of the internet) achieves his goal by making others take him seriously and argue with him. And sometimes the troll is dismantled when a mirror is held in front of him and he experiences exactly what others experience in relation to him. The wise know when it is time for which: when to dodge and when to confront.
The full article can be read here .
Divinity
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