Solomon wrote a lot about the way fools behave in his book of Proverbs and also in Ecclesiastes.  Just skimming my concordance I counted at least 83 times in the Proverbs and 25 times in Ecclesiastes that he calls on the reader to consider the ways of foolishness.

In Proverbs it seems the initial readers were intended to be Solomon’s own sons according to 4:1-5.  Solomon claims that what he is passing on to them, he first learned from his own father, David, who of course would have been the grandad of Solomon’s boys.

Solomon described the behaviors of fools extensively, but I do not get the idea from reading these descriptions that his purpose to simply equip his boys to identify those who were fools.  Rather, I get the impression that he was trying to help them know something of how to avoid behaving like, and therefore becoming fools themselves.

His words are as up-to-date today as they were 2900 years ago.

So, according to Solomon, what are some of the ways in which fools behave?

· Fools despise wisdom and instruction – 1:7

· Fools hate knowledge – 1:22

· Fools are clamorous & loud – 9:13

· Fools slander others – 10:18

· Fools do mischief for fun – 10:23

· Fools make their anger known at once – 12:16

· Fools say everything that comes to mind – 12:23

· Fools tear down their own families – 14:1

· Fools mock at sin – 14:9

· Fools are confidently arrogant – 14:16

· Fools get angry easily – 14:27

· Fools despise their fathers’ instruction – 15:5

· Fools feed on foolishness – 15:14

· Fools despise their mothers – 15:20

· Fools are perverse in their speech – 19:1

· Fools meddle in strife – 20:3

· Fools spend up their resources – 21:20

· Fools trust their own hearts – 28:26

· Fools lose their tempers – 29:11 

Don’t be a fool.