“A fool despiseth his father's instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.”
My Notes
What Does Proverbs 15:5 Mean?
"A fool despiseth his father's instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent." The fool rejects the most natural source of wisdom — a father's instruction — while the prudent person welcomes the most uncomfortable form of it — reproof. The contrast is between rejecting easy wisdom and accepting hard wisdom. The fool won't take the gentle form. The prudent person takes the harsh form.
The phrase "despiseth his father's instruction" (na'atz musar aviv — scorns the discipline of his father) identifies the fool by their response to authority: the father's instruction is the most accessible, most personal, most lovingly intended form of correction available. And the fool despises it. The rejection isn't of abstract wisdom. It's of relational wisdom — the instruction that comes with a father's love behind it.
The "regardeth reproof" (shomer tochachath — guards/keeps reproof) means the prudent person doesn't just ACCEPT correction. They GUARD it — they protect the reproof, they treasure it, they keep it the way you keep something valuable. The reproof isn't tolerated. It's valued. The correction is treated as a gift worth protecting.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How do you respond to correction — with contempt or with treasuring?
- 2.What does the fool rejecting a father's loving instruction teach about the emotional nature of foolishness?
- 3.How does 'guarding' reproof (protecting it, valuing it) differ from merely tolerating correction?
- 4.What recent reproof did you receive — and did you despise it or guard it?
Devotional
The fool scorns his father's gentle instruction. The prudent person treasures painful reproof. The fool rejects the easiest form of wisdom. The prudent person embraces the hardest form. The difference between foolishness and prudence isn't intelligence. It's receptivity to correction.
The 'despiseth his father's instruction' is the fool's signature: the father's teaching is the most accessible wisdom available — given by someone who loves you, delivered in the context of relationship, offered for your benefit. And the fool despises it. Not because the instruction is wrong. Because the fool despises being instructed. The rejection isn't intellectual. It's emotional — the refusal to be taught by anyone, even someone who loves you.
The 'regardeth reproof' — literally 'guards reproof' — is the prudent person's surprising response: they don't just accept correction grudgingly. They GUARD it. They treat reproof as something valuable enough to protect. The correction that most people would throw away, the prudent person stores like treasure. The painful truth that most people deflect, the prudent person preserves.
The contrast is devastating: the fool rejects gentle, loving instruction from a father. The prudent person embraces painful reproof from anyone. The fool has the easier path to wisdom and refuses it. The prudent person takes the harder path and treasures it. The determining factor isn't what kind of wisdom is offered. It's the heart that receives or rejects it.
How do you respond to correction — with the fool's contempt or the prudent person's guarding?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
A fool despiseth his father's instruction,.... They are fools that despise any instruction that is wise, good, and…
Hence, 1. Let superiors be admonished to give instruction and reproof to those that are under their charge, as they will…
is prudent Rather, becometh prudent, by "regarding reproof."
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture