The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish with her own hands destroys it.
The wise woman. pro 24:3, pro 24:4; Pro 31:10-31; Ruth 4:11.
but the fool Pro 9:13-15; pro 19:13; Pro 21:9, pro 21:19; 1Ki 16:31; 1Ki 21:24, 1Ki 21:25; 2Ki 11:1.
Source: The Treasury of Biblical Knowledge
Recommendation of integrity, prudence, piety, meekness and diligence. It also shows the disastrous effects of pride, injustice, sloth, hypocrisy, anger, envy, oppression, and the vanity of carnal joy and unjust prosperity, Pro 14:1-35.
Source: The Treasury of Biblical Knowledge
The wise woman builds her house, that is, she will seek peace to nurture her family.
Source: New Illustrated Caribbean Bible Commentary
THE WISE WOMAN BUILD HER HOUSE. A wise and pious woman makes her home a place of refuge, peace, and joy, while a foolish woman neglects her home and her family (see 1Ti 2:15note; Tit 2:4-5note).
Source: Full Life Study Bible
14. Wisdom, Prudence, Religion and State.
Wisdom and Foolishness (14:1-14).
1 The wise woman builds the house; she the foolish one, with her hands she destroys it. 2 He who walks uprightly fears Yahweh; he who walks crooked paths despises him. 3 In the mouth of a fool is the rod of pride, but the lips of a wise man are his guard. 4 Without oxen, the barn is empty; by the strength of the ox there is bread in abundance. 5 The faithful witness does not lie; the false witness utters lies. 6 The petulant seeks wisdom, but nothing; but for the prudent it is easy to reach it, 7 Get away from the fool, for you will not find lips of knowledge. 8 The science of the sane is in knowing his way; the fool is deceived by his foolishness. 9 The fool despises sin; among the righteous dwells benevolence. 10 The heart knows its bitterness, but in its joys the stranger has no part. 11 The house of the wicked will be laid waste; the tent of the righteous will flourish. 12 There are paths that seem straight to us, but end in death. 13 Even in laughter there is affliction of heart, and sorrow follows joy. 14 The foolish will have the fruit of his works, and the good man will also enjoy it.
The first verse emphasizes the great influence of the woman in the good running of the house, and is best commented on in chapter 31. The happiness of a home depends chiefly on the woman’s diligence, and the prosperity on her good practical administration. Where there is a foolish woman, on the other hand, there will be no order, no peace, no economy. “In a general sense it can be said – writes Girotti – that the wisdom of the woman can replace that of the husband; but her folly can destroy the house, notwithstanding the wisdom of the husband.”1
At the beginning of the book, the author established that the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of biblical wisdom, which presupposes above all rectitude of life. He rightly now notes that whoever does good fears God, and whoever follows evil paths despises him, which contains a profound psychological observation: the wicked instinctively feel contempt for God because his law goes against their instincts. And for the same reason he despises and persecutes the righteous, whose virtuous behavior supposes for them a continuous rebuke, which his conscience often fails to silence. This is also the reason why those whose only crime is to preach his divine law to all, as representatives of God, are persecuted.
V.3 presents again, this one with expressive images, the various manifestations and effects of the tongue on the proud and the wise. That of the former is like a scourge for others, with connatural contempt and slander of him. The wise man, on the other hand, is prudent; he does not speak ill of others, so he is not compromised by his words. And if others compromise him, his intelligence makes you safe from his criticism. With an experience of agricultural life – whoever wants to fill their barns with abundant harvests must try to have their oxen in the conditions of greatest yield -, the sage teaches that whoever intends to achieve the ends must put into practice the means conducive to it. Verse 5 repeats 12:17: he who gets used to lying, hardly refrains from doing it, especially if he is in the hope of profit; custom creates as a second nature, which he hardly resists. Those who love the truth, on the contrary, instinctively abhor the lie and for nothing in the world are they allowed to be overcome by it.
Wisdom demands in those who want to become its disciples certain dispositions, without which it is not possible to attain it: the fear of God, humility and purity of heart, all of which the proud lack, who, moreover, does not seek wisdom. with rectitude of intention, but for the social benefits it brings. Whoever has those dispositions accepts his teachings with all docility, the same correction, even, of wisdom, which on his part has its delights in being with the sons of men. When Wisdom incarnate appeared in the world preaching his message of salvation, the proud rejected it, while the humble and simple of heart accepted it without difficulty. Hence the norm of the prudent man: avoid dealing with the fool, because he will not learn wisdom from him and, furthermore, he will participate in his misfortune 2. True wisdom, the wise man specifies, consists not in vain and ostentatious words, but in to know the end to which we must tend and order life in order to achieve it. The fool, as far as this particular is concerned, is lost by his own foolishness, which prevents him from seeing the error of his way, thus making him a victim of his own deception.
The v.9 is not clear in its first part and is susceptible to various interpretations. The term asam can mean the sin and also the sacrifice for the fault. The fool, who despises Yahweh and his law, naturally mocks sin and the sacrifice of atonement for it, thus making himself even more unworthy of Yahweh’s benevolence, which is showered on the righteous 3. Note in the following verse the sage how unfathomable the sentiments of a human heart are for that of his neighbor. Others will be able to guess our sorrows, glimpse our joys, but no one can reach the bottom of our hearts and understand the depth of pain in the face of a serious disaster or the intensity of joy when a deep illusion is realized. We ourselves find it difficult to express and make our neighbors participate in our most intimate and personal feelings.
The v.11 presents again, and with comparisons already known, the principle of retribution, already stated in 11:18 and 13:174. But appearances are often the opposite. God allows the wicked to triumph for the moment, and then their paths seem straight, but inevitably, the sage 5 has affirmed many times, they lead to perdition. Another experience regarding the human heart is that it is never sufficiently satisfied, since there is no joy without sorrow, nor joy without sadness. Saint Augustine indicated the profound reason for this experience when, after having tasted all the pleasures of the earth, he exclaimed: “Lord, you have made our hearts for yourself, which cannot be satisfied until it rests in you.” 6 he concludes with the classical antithesis of the principle of retribution, as always, without any precision.
Prudence (14:15-25).
15 The simple believes everything; the prudent pay attention to his answers. 16 The wise man is cautious and turns away from evil; the fool is easily carried away. 17 He who is quick to anger will do foolish things, but a thoughtful man is not impatient. 18 The simple inherit foolishness, while the wise are crowned with wisdom. 19 The wicked will bow down before the good, and the wicked before the door of the righteous. 20 The poor man hates even his relatives, but the rich man has many friends. 21 He who despises his neighbor sins against him; Blessed is he who has mercy on the poor. 22 Does not he who schemes evil err? and he who does good, (he will not have) mercy and faithfulness? 23 In all labor there is fruit, but talkativeness impoverishes. 24 The sanity of the wise is his crown; foolishness is the necklace of fools. 25 The truthful witness saves lives, but he who tells lies is a murderer.
The verses of this pericope, verifying data from practical experience, recommend that prudence that consists of the golden mean. The naive person, who believes everything, and whose innocence the impious abuse, is opposed by the wisdom of the prudent man, who gives credit to the words of others when there are sufficient reasons for it, aware that in this world, put all he under the influence of the evil one7, not every word of our neighbors deserves trust. What should not be confused, of course, with suspicion, which sees ulterior motives in everything. Neither credulous nor suspicious, the wise man teaches, but simply prudent 8. Observe once again the different conduct of the wise and the foolish in the face of evil. The former foresees it, reflects and, moved by the fear of Yahweh, avoids it; he, thoughtless, either does not discover it or, if he discovers it, deprived of the spirit of sacrifice and discipline, has no strength to avoid it. One of the things that most determines this different behavior is the attitude towards anger; the fool, who allows himself to be dominated by her, will commit many follies, while the wise man, who retains control of his faculties against her, directs his acts according to his reason. Wisdom requires intelligence, reflection and prudence, and whoever lacks it will have foolishness as an inseparable companion, while whoever exercises in them increases his flow of wisdom and his glory before men grows.
He then affirms, with an image taken from Eastern customs, the superiority of the good over the wicked, admitted without question by the wise Israelites, although they do not know how to specify the full nature of that superiority, which they limit to protection by of God in this life and to ethical immortality. In the fullness of time, Wisdom incarnate would make a good comment on this verse with the parable of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus 9. The rich also have their advantages over the poor: while the former wins friends with his riches, the poor man cannot, sometimes, even count on the affection of his own, who, as a sad and frequent experience proves, are ashamed of him. “As long as you are happy – Ovid sang -, you will have many friends; but when times are adverse to you, you will remain alone”10, because, as Ben Sirac affirms, there are friends who are only friends on occasion, table companions, who on the day of tribulation do not remain faithful to their friends u. But he does not act according to the norms of wisdom who despises the poor. Whoever does so sins against the law of God, which commands numerous times in the OT to have mercy on the poor 12, also created in the image of God. He is, instead, blessed who practices mercy with the needy, because with it he obtains the favor of God, who will reward such beneficence 13. The expression truth and fidelity of v.22 indicates the goodness and equity of God…