How does the Bible describe a fool?

What is meant by "the Beast"? The imperial system of Rome revived. All the empires refused to recognise God above. Man was made to own Him, and he alone does as taught of God. Man alone of all beings in the earth was made to look up to One above, and is responsible to do the will of God. A beast does not look up but down; it has no sense of an unseen superior, no conscience toward God. "The fool hath said in his heart that there is no God." In principle this is true of every unrenewed man; but here it is the more tremendous, because an empire ought to be the reflection of the authority that God in His providence conferred on it. No empire has avoided the moral sentence implied in the symbols: expediency has ever guided, not God; but this Beast will go beyond all that have gone before in lawless contempt of God and in blasphemies (vers. 5, 6).

Folly (aphrosune); so often in the Septuagint. "The fool hath said in his heart." He that is uninstructed, I suppose, and disregards both counsel and instruction. It borders therefore, as to both man and God, upon impiety, flowing from groundless independence of will, with no independence of understanding and knowledge. This in act or habit is, I suppose, folly, showing itself in recklessness of conduct - conduct inconsistent with the real relations and obligations under which we are. This as to God, it will be observed, is practical atheism. The Psalms and Proverbs are full of matter connected with this. It is sometimes put for the vile person - Nabal (a fool) but moros is used for that. It is intimately connected therefore with self-confidence and assumption; it may therefore have here moral connection with haughtiness (huperephania) and then we have great light upon Paul's use of it in 2 Corinthians 11. But it does not, nor ought to lose the weight of its simple sense, though this may lead us to the moral sources of it.

Foolishness seems to be that gross form of stupidity which excludes God from the regulation of the life. In the words of the Psalmist, "The fool has said in his heart, No God" (Ps. 14:1). Though the natural heart is the seat of uncontrollable passions which impel the whole man into courses of vile action, the senseless refuse that divine help and guidance which alone can enable them to live lives of purity and obedience. Can there be greater folly than this? Foolishness is placed last in the list, says one writer, because it renders all the others incurable.

This foolishness arising from man's own nature is defiled and defiling, in contrast with that wisdom that comes down from above and is "first pure" (James 3:17). Counsel and instruction are to be had of God for the seeking, but the natural man wilfully disregards them. This is his foolishness. He allows himself to be carried away by the violence of his sinful desires, and ignores the mercy and grace of God which would lift him above himself into the plane of light, life and holiness. Such is his foolishness.

The wish that there should be no God—none to exercise full authority over us, or restrain our wills, or condemn our sins, or call us into judgment; none, in short, to whom we should be thus responsible—is latent in every human bosom. Sin has produced that wish; and how easy to advance from the idea to the belief, from the wish to the word, “No God”! Yet, after all, he who should thus speak is called a “fool”; for can there be folly more self-evident than the rejection of God? Could you conceive the unfallen creature making such a denial? Impossible! It is reserved for fallen man to do so. Then, how awfully blinding must sin be!

The fool tries to persuade himself there is no God. But the reason he does this is evident. Together with many others, he has corrupted himself. He prefers abominable iniquity to doing good, and he hopes he will not be answerable to any God. What futility! The antichrist will think he has succeeded in his rebellion, but for how long? No more than a few years! But at that time the general condition of mankind will be the same: "there is none who does good" (v. 1). Of course in an absolute sense this is true of mankind in all ages, though generally this fact is ignored or refused by mankind. God is a deeply interested spectator of mankind, observing closely the doings of every individual. But their sinful nature is such that they do not understand nor seek God (v. 2). All have turned away from Him, becoming corrupt, Not one actually does good (v. 3). This is true of all people by nature, and to change this requires a definite work of God in giving new birth, as the New Testament shows.

This section considers another serious involvement in which Israel had sunk. They had become a foolish nation. Fools are those who leave God out of their lives, such as in Psalm 14:1 and in Luke 12:16-20. Psalm 14 shows the result of this refusal of God: "they are corrupt, they have done abominable works." Because of their folly, God sees to it that they are afflicted. Because of their refusal of the food of God, they soon abhor all manner of food (v. 18), and they draw near to the gates of death. How many atheists, when reduced to such a condition with death staring them in the face, are shaken to the depths of their souls! If this drives them to cry out to the Lord in genuine concern, then certainly God will graciously save them out of their distresses (v. 19), but it is important that His Word is the means of healing them (v. 20), for if men refuse the Word of God, they are left in their misery. But the remnant of Israel is contemplated here, who will be fully delivered from their destructions.

The knowledge of good and evil, which man acquired in the fall, has so constituted him that judgment is the only action of God’s power which he understands; naturally enough, he resists it, and blasphemes God, because his conscience tells him that he must be the object of His righteous vengeance; so that to calm his conscience he tries to persuade himself that he is not wicked, and he hides himself from God, like Adam, and in his folly seizes with avidity the smallest pretext for denying His existence. “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” (Psalms 14; 53.)

Scripture regards a fool as one who leaves God and eternity out of his reckoning. We may ask, Can there be anything worse? Yes, at least there is still a very real possibility of such a man's conversion. But a man who habitually speaks his mind without consideration is virtually a hopeless case. He is so self-opinionated that he thinks he need never take time to consider anything. It is evident that such an attitude will effectually hinder any change in the man. What he hears he will hastily condemn if it does not suit his own selfish thoughts.

"Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words" (v. 9). It is well that we understand who it is whom God calls a fool. Psalm 14:1 tells us, "The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’" Also, one who questions the truth of resurrection is called a fool (1 Cor. 15:35-36). More than this, the rich man who amassed such wealth as to consider he could live luxuriously for many years (Luke 12:16-21) was called a fool by God. In each case, the one who leaves God out of his life deserves that unsavory title, "fool."! Such a man will always despise true wisdom, so that it is hopeless to expect any proper response from him.

Eleven times we meet the word fool in this chapter. Three different words are used in the Hebrew for fool. The first is "avil" which signifies weakness. The second word "kesil" occurs nearly fifty times, means fat or dense. The third word is the Hebrew "nabal," which is derived from the verb to fade, or to wither; it means a vulgar, bad man who has given himself over to wickedness. The natural man in his condition, his darkened mind, his sinfulness answers to much that is said about the fool in this book. As snow in summer and rain at harvest time are quite impossible in Palestine, so is honor for a fool. A fool may utter a curse, as they often do, and wish something evil, but being causeless, it will not be fulfilled. The fool needs correction, the stripes for his back, he deserves no answer, and if he is answered it must be according to his folly. The foolish questions mentioned in the New Testament may well be considered here (Titus 3:9). The tenth verse is doubtful in its translation. A better suggested rendering is the following: