Proverbs. The Scoffer.
Key Notes: Scoffing and pride.
The second fool is scornful, proud and arrogant.
"The proud, haughty person, named 'scoffer,' acts with arrogant pride." (Prov. 21:24)
" Scoffers do not like to be rebuked; they will not go to the wise. " (Prov. 15:12)
'If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it." (Prov. 9:22)
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov. 16:18)
"Toward the scorners He (God) is scornful, but to the humble He shows favor." (Prov. 3:34)
" The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate." (Prov. 8:13)
"Whoever corrects a scoffer wins abuse; whoever rebukes the wicked gets hurt." (Prov. 9:7)
"A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise, when rebuked, will love you." (Prov. 9:8)
"When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble.' (Prov. 11:2)
" A wise child loves discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke." (Prov. 13:1)
"A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain, but knowledge is easy for one who understands." (Prov. 14:6)
"Fools mock at the guilt offering (for sin), but the upright enjoy God's favor". (Prov.14:9)
"Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who are glad at calamity will not go unpunished." (Prov.17:5)
"Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove the intelligent, and they will gain knowledge." (Prov.’:25)
"Condemnation is ready for scoffers, and flogging for the backs of fools." (Prov.19:29)
"When a scoffer is punished, the simple become wiser; when the wise are instructed, they increase in knowledge." (Prov. 21:11)
"Drive out a scoffer, and strife goes out; quarreling and abuse will cease." (Prov. 22:10)
"The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to all." (Prov. 24:9)
"Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath." (Prov. 29:8)
"A person’s pride will bring humiliation, but one who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor." (Prov. 29:23)
"The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures." (Prov.30:17)
Comment:
Pride is a root cause of sin and is a besetting sin for all of us. But the scoffer is a special case, rebelling against parents, disdaining the poor, despising the sacrifices (Mal.1:7) and mocking the prophets. (Jer.20:7). Ultimately, Israel's mockery of the prophets was her undoing and led to the Babylonian sack of Jerusalem and the end of the monarchy. (IIChron.36:16). The chief priests, scribes and elders mocked at Jesus on the cross. (Matt.27: 41). The scoffer rebels against the Lord.
One religious scoffer recently wrote that "the plan of salvation is just silly" because evolution has dismissed any trace of our first parents and original sin.
"... scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing and following their own passions, and saying , 'Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.'"
(Pet.3:4)
"Blessed is the man ...who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scorners; but his delight is in the law of the Lord...." (Psa.1:1–2)