The True Meaning of ‘Fool’ in Scripture
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
The term ‘fool’ is used over 300 times in scripture, indicating its seriousness in the biblical context, often linked to rejecting God. Various meanings include deliberate sinfulness and moral corruption. Contrary to light-hearted interpretations, biblical foolishness signifies evil character and ultimate condemnation, emphasizing the importance of recognizing God’s wisdom.
When we think of a ‘fool’ we often think of silliness, or people doing foolish TikTok trends. It’s a light-hearted word in the secular world.
When we encounter the word fool we might think of this:
The ‘fool’ is mentioned over 400 times in scripture. If you add the words foolish and folly to the list, the number of times it’s mentioned is 360. It’s an important and heavy word in the biblical world.
There are the ‘foolish virgins’, the ‘rich fool’, and the fool who denies God. The different shades of meaning of the word fool can be:
(a) deliberate sinfulness;
(b) simple-mindedness;
(c) malicious simple-mindedness; and
(d) brutal or subhuman activity,
says the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. That is quite a range of meanings.
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed detestable acts; There is no one who does good. (Psalm 14:1).
Indeed, apart from Jesus we can do nothing, (nothing good…nothing holy…nothing acceptable). (John 15:5).
Scripture portrays fools as those who have rejected God and His ways and are unable or unwilling to appreciate the wisdom of knowing and obeying him. Rejecting God is a serious offense, and those who do so are labeled the fool. Not a lighthearted jest or a minor prank, the rejecting fool is destined for wrath in hell.
In the Old Testament book of Proverbs we often read about the contrast of wisdom and folly. In the New Testament, Paul said, “Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20b). We don’t often think about ‘foolish wisdom.’
Isaiah gets really serious in chapter 32 verse 6. In the Bible, the word fool often means an evil person.
For a fool speaks nonsense, And his heart inclines toward wickedness: To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the LORD, To keep the hungry person unsatisfied And to withhold drink from the thirsty.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia explains the issue of being a fool-
Apart from the Wisdom literature, we find nābhāl frequently rendered “fool” and nebhālāh, “folly”; nābhāl, however, denotes a wicked person, an evil character, “shamelessly immoral,” equivalent to “a son of Belial” (Cheyne), rather than a merely “foolish” person.
Remember Abigail’s husband who was a ‘brute of a man’? His name was Nabal. Abigail told David “Please do not let my lord pay attention to this vile man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and wicked foolishness is with him.” (1 Samuel 25:25 LSB). That foolish man lived up to his name.
Other occurrences of the words support the above meaning; they are generally associated with some form of wickedness, frequently with base and unnatural lewdness (Gen 34:7; Dt 22:21; Josh 7:15; Jgs 19:23, 24; 20:6, 10; 2 S 13:12). The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia.
In Job 2:10 after Job’s wife told Job he should curse God and die, he replied that she speaks as a foolish woman speaks. The word foolish in the verse is the same root, nabal. In this context it again means a vile person.
We think of a fool as a court jester, perhaps a clown. We might say, ‘It’s foolish to cross the street without looking both ways.’ ‘It’s foolish to guzzle milk without sniffing it first.’ ‘Don’t be a fool and fail to study for the test’. But in most cases in the Bible fool means much more.
I am always amazed at the levels of understanding the Bible offers. Its Gospel simple enough a child can understand yet its depths remain undiscovered and endlessly fascinating to 80 year old theologians who have studied it for 6 decades. It’s a living document, and when we read it, it reads us.
We read a word like fool, and we know what it means. But then we dig into it and it means so much more. What a treasure the Bible is!
