Stupid is as Stupid Does

Pro 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.

My daughter was watching TV recently, and she shocked me when she came and told me she heard the “S-word” on TV. I was horrified and wondered what she could’ve watched that used the “S-word”. I couldn’t think of what it was. I asked her and she said it was a children’s show. Now this really had me puzzled so I asked her, “Honey, what’s the S-Word?”

She whispered her reply: “Stupid.”

You see, around my house stupid is the “S-word”. My daughter has been taught since she was young that you don’t call people stupid. Yet here in the Proverbs we find the word stupid leading off the 12th chapter. For those of you who are fans of the King James version the word “brutish” is used. Yet the meaning is still the same.

Albert Barnes in his commentary on this particular verse writes:

Brutish – Dumb as a brute beast. The difference between man and brute lies chiefly in the capacity of the former for progress and improvement, and that capacity depends upon his willingness to submit to discipline and education.

Psalm 49:20 also reveals this same idea:

Psalm 49:20 Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.

Albert Barnes also has the following to say about the final phrase of Psalm 49:20 …”Is like the beasts that perish.”

They live only for this life. They have no higher nature than that which pertains to the senses, and they live accordingly. The man who, though of exalted rank, lives for this life alone, herein resembles them. See the notes at Psalm 49:12. Alas! what multitudes there are who thus live – whose only aim is to secure the wealth and the honors of this life – who have no more thought of a future state, and who form no more plans in regard to a future world, than do the brutes! For many there are in exalted stations, who are surrounded by all that wealth can give, yet who no more admit the thought of a future world into their hopes and plans than if they had no other endowment than the camel or the ox, and whose conduct in this respect would not be changed if all the higher endowments which constitute the nature of man were withdrawn, and they were at once reduced to the condition of a brute. While, therefore, the main purpose of this psalm is to show that wealth confers no “power” which is to be dreaded – that its possessor, though wicked, cannot permanently injure us, since he must soon pass away by death – the course of thought at the same time teaches us that we should not “desire” wealth as our portion; that we should not live for this, as the main object of life. The possessor of the most ample fortune must soon be laid in the grave. All that he has acquired will pass into other hands, and will be his no more. But he “has” a higher nature. He “may” live in a manner different from the brute that perishes. He “may” act with reference to a higher – an eternal – state of existence; and, when he dies, he “may” leave his earthly inheritance, whether great or small, only to enter on an inheritance that shall he permanent and eternal. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36.

Proverbs 12:1 uses two contrasting verbs: love and hate. Whoever loves discipline gets one result. Whoever hates reproof, another. God in his amazing wisdom didn’t just give us one glimpse, but as is so often the case in the Proverbs, comparison is drawn between two different ideas in order to help us understand.

So in order to understand the brutishness, or stupidity of those who hate reproof, God gives us a glimpse of those who love discipline.

For me, discipline conjures up two different thoughts: correction, and discipleship. These two run hand in hand in my mind. How can I call myself a disciple of someone if I am not willing to subject myself to their correction? But before we just run ahead with my opinion of this proverb, let’s look at what the original Hebrew calls discipline. From Strong’s we read the following definition of discipline:

From H3256; properly chastisement; figuratively reproof, warning or instruction; also restraint: – bond, chastening ([-eth]), chastisement, check, correction, discipline, doctrine, instruction, rebuke.

We can see that both chastisement and doctrine/instruction are seen in this word. Let me take this to a conclusion: By loving the chastising hand of the Lord, I also love his instruction and knowledge that he gives me.

Likewise with the second half of the verse, Strong says of reproof:

From H3198; chastisement; figuratively (by words) correction, refutation, proof (even in defence): – argument, X chastened, correction, reasoning, rebuke, reproof, X be (often) reproved.

So if I hate the chastisement of the Lord, I am stupid – even brutish in nature. That sounds harsh doesn’t it? I mean, do the Scriptures actually teach me that I have to LOVE correction from the Lord?

Yes! It does. If I am to love the Lord, then I will love even his correcting hand.

If you are a parent, you know this is true because your own children bear this out as a witness. Imagine what would happen if you were to let your child run free, and never correct them. It wouldn’t take long until you’d have a spoiled brat on your hands with no boundaries, and no respect for you the parent. It’s true.

So why would we think that spiritually things would be any different for us? God loves us and he corrects us. Scripture consistently bears this out:

Pro 3:11-13 My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His reproof, (12) For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights. (13) How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding.

If we are truly to gain in our understanding of the Lord and knowledge of the Holy One, then we must begin loving His correction.