Proverbs 10.10-11
“Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, and a babbling fool will come to ruin. The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.”
Solomon again references the “babbling fool,” and adds here that the foolish babbler “winks the eye.” This is an echo of an earlier verse in Proverbs 6: “A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord.” (Proverbs 6.12-14)
The winking of the eye is an indication that the babbling fool knows he is being deceitful. He knows he is being a troublemaker. The painful reality is that there are evil people in the world who simply love to criticize, condemn, accuse, and blame. Their heart is so perverted that they intentionally plan evil; deceitfulness and lies are a purposeful part of their strategy.
As a result, they continually sow division and discord. They want to be disruptive; they want to do damage to people and groups. That is their goal. They do not want to build up; they want to tear down.
Proverbs tells us to avoid these people at all costs. Do not engage with them. Do not listen to them. Have nothing to do with them. Several Proverbs speak directly to this:
“Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.” (Proverbs 9.7-8)
“Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.” (Proverbs 22.9)
A scorner (or scoffer) is a deep level of foolishness. It is the babbling fool that we have been describing. It is someone who treats others with disdain and contempt. They insult and ridicule those who try to correct and rebuke them, frequently responding with open hostility and outright hatred. They resort to attacking the messenger and ignoring the message. The more reasonable, logical, and true the messages are, the greater the insults and anger that scorners direct at the messengers.
We must heed the critically important advice that Proverbs gives us on this point. The unjustified hatred of scoffers causes harm to people who seek rightness and truth. The spiritual darkness and intense contempt of evil people can have a very negative impact on us. We inevitably lose our inner peace and become troubled when we interact with scorners.
The longer we engage wicked individuals, the more unsettled and disquieted our hearts will be. The spiritual dimension of the battle between good and evil takes its toll on us.
Sometimes we cannot easily discern if the people we’re interacting with are simply misdirected or are wicked scoffers and babbling fools. But once we notice the warning signs and sense the increasing hatred and spiritual darkness assaulting us, we must disengage and walk away. It is a lost cause.
As Christ Himself teaches us “if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town” (Matthew 10:14).
