“How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?”
My Notes
What Does Proverbs 1:22 Mean?
Wisdom personified cries out: how long? How long will the simple love simplicity? How long will scorners delight in scorning? How long will fools hate knowledge? The repetition expresses exhaustion — wisdom has been calling and no one is listening.
Three groups are addressed: the simple (naive, untaught, easily led), the scorners (cynical, mocking, dismissive of truth), and the fools (those who actively reject knowledge). Each group has a different problem — ignorance, cynicism, and willful rejection.
The question implies that the condition is chosen. The simple love their simplicity. The scorners delight in their scorning. The fools hate knowledge. Each group prefers their condition to the alternative wisdom offers.
Wisdom is not hiding. She is crying out in the streets (v.20-21). The problem is not access. It is reception. Wisdom is available. The people refuse to receive it.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Which of the three — simple, scorner, or fool — most describes your default relationship with truth?
- 2.Why do people 'love simplicity' — what makes ignorance attractive?
- 3.How is scorning a form of self-protection against uncomfortable truth?
- 4.What does wisdom 'crying out in the streets' mean for the availability of truth?
Devotional
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? How long will you prefer not knowing? How long will the comfort of ignorance outweigh the discomfort of truth? Wisdom is asking: when will you grow up?
And the scorners delight in their scorning. The cynics enjoy the cynicism. The mocking is not just a defense mechanism. It is a delight. They like dismissing what they do not understand. The scorning feels superior.
And fools hate knowledge. Not just avoid it. Hate it. The fool is not someone who cannot learn. It is someone who refuses to. The hatred of knowledge is active, deliberate, and chosen.
Wisdom is not whispering in a corner. She is crying out — publicly, loudly, insistently. The streets are full of her voice. The access is not the problem. The reception is.
Which of the three describes you — the simple who loves not knowing, the scorner who delights in dismissing, or the fool who hates being challenged? Wisdom's question is pointed: how long?
The answer is up to you. Wisdom is still calling. The voice has not gone silent. But the question carries urgency: how long will you choose your condition over the growth wisdom offers?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?.... Simple foolish things, agreeably to their character, being weak…
Compare the Psa 1:1 note. (1) The “simple,” literally, “open,” i. e. fatally open to evil; (2) the “scorners,” mocking…
Solomon, having shown how dangerous it is to hearken to the temptations of Satan, here shows how dangerous it is not to…
simple unwary, see Pro 1:1 above, note.
love simplicity when you stand in need of that subtilty, which wisdom offers you…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture