A Prudent Man – Proverbs 12:23

A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of fools blurts out folly.

Keeping knowledge to yourself. Not in the sense of withholding it from others but in the sense of not boasting about what you know. It’s one thing to share what you know when someone asks you, it’s another thing to just freely tell others your opinion when they may not be interested.

That’s really what we see being discussed here. This is actually paralleled in Chapter 18.

18:2 A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.

It’s one thing to be excited about something you may have just learned and can’t wait to share it, it’s another thing in trying to dominate a conversation or even interject into a conversation for the express purpose of getting others to be impressed with what you want to say.

It’s OK to offer information, just don’t force it. There is no need to impress people. As proverbs also says, better to be silent and thought wise than to open your mouth and be known a fool.

So don’t blurt out folly. Don’t try to impress people.

23 A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of fools blurts out folly.

Let this be a focus in your time of meditation throughout today. Until next time, Shalom.

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SOURCE: Steve Moutria at TorahFamily.org (Posted with permission)
https://torahfamily.org/prudent-man-proverbs/

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