Proverbs 9:13 (Mini Sermon)

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13. Pro 9:13 - "A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing." A. After spending the first part of chapter 9 describing the wise woman, Solomon will now spend the rest of the chapter detailing the foolish woman. i. As was shown in the comments on the previous verses, wisdom building her house, furnishing her table, and calling guests to her supper in Proverbs chapter 9 is symbolic of Jesus Christ building His church, establishing its ordinances, calling His people into it through His ministers, and commanding them to repent and be wise. ii. As will be shown in the remainder of the chapter, the foolish woman and her house is symbolic of Satan and his religion which tries to mimic God’s religion while perverting it into something that honors him and snares men. B. A foolish woman i. Foolish adj. - 1. Fool-like, wanting in sense or judgement. ii. Fool n. - A. n. I. 1. a. One deficient in judgement or sense, one who acts or behaves stupidly, a silly person, a simpleton. (In Biblical use applied to vicious or impious persons.) iii. A foolish woman is a woman who lacks good sense and judgment, behaves stupidly, is a simpleton, and can be vicious and impious. a. A wise woman builds her house (Pro 9:1), but a foolish woman destroys hers through her folly and foolish decisions (Pro 14:1). b. Wise women are hard to come by (Ecc 7:25-28), but foolish women are a dime a dozen. c. Hence the reason why Solomon asks the question, "Who can find a virtuous woman?" (Pro 31:10a). (i) His question implies that they are extremely rare, as rare as rubies (Pro 31:10b). (ii) The qualifications of a virtuous woman in the remainder of Pro 31 (verses 11-31) demonstrate why such women are so uncommon, especially today. C. is clamorous: i. An outstanding characteristic of a foolish woman is that she is clamorous. a. Clamorous adj. - 1. Of the nature of clamour; uttered with, or accompanied by, clamour or shouting; noisy. b. Clamour n. - 1. Loud shouting or outcry, vociferation; esp. the excited outcry of vehement appeal, complaint, or opposition: commonly, but not always, implying a mingling of voices. c. In other words, foolish women are loud and noisy and quick to voice their complaints and opposition to authority. d. A foolish woman lacks sense, but not volume. (i) "They that know the least know it the loudest." – Fred Hodgins (ii) "As empty vessels make the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest blabbers." – Plato (iii) "Empty wagons make more noise than full and weighty ones." – Elder Leon Clevenger ii. Ungodly women are loud, stubborn, and imperious (Pro 7:11; Eze 16:30). a. Stubborn adj. - 1. a. Of persons or animals: Pertinacious or dogged in refusing obedience or compliance; unyielding, inflexible, obstinate: chiefly in bad sense, unreasonably obstinate. In early use app. sometimes with stronger notion: Untameable, implacable, ruthless, fierce. b. Imperious adj. - 3. Overbearing, domineering, dictatorial. (The prevailing modern sense.) c. Wives who are loud, obstinate, controlling, unsubmissive, overbearing, and domineering are ungodly, foolish women. iii. Godly women are meek and quiet (1Pe 3:4-5). a. Meek adj. - 1. a. Gentle, courteous, kind. Of a superior: Merciful, compassionate, indulgent. Obs. b. As connoting a Christian virtue: Free from haughtiness and self-will; piously humble and submissive; patient and unresentful under injury and reproach. c. Submissive, humble. b. Being meek doesn’t mean being weak (Mat 11:29 c/w Joh 2:15-16). c. Being meek and quiet also doesn’t mean not correcting your husband respectfully when he is wrong. d. Sarah was submissive to Abraham (1Pe 3:6), but she also corrected him when he was wrong, and God backed her up (Gen 21:9-12). e. Christian wives should correct their husbands respectfully when they are wrong and not suffer them to continue in folly. (i) This should be the exception though, not the rule. (ii) Wives should not be the head of the husband and be making decisions for the family and telling him what they are going to do (Eph 5:22-24). D. she is simple, and knoweth nothing. i. A foolish woman is simple. a. Simple - B. absol. or as n. 1. a. As pl. Persons in a humble or ordinary condition of life. 2. a. As pl. Those who are unlearned, ignorant, easily misled, unsuspecting, etc. b. As sing. An ignorant or foolish person. b. She is ignorant (knoweth nothing) and therefore is easily misled. ii. Such simple women are prime targets for conmen, both secular and religious. iii. False teachers creep into their houses and lead them captive because they are silly and laden with sins (2Ti 3:6). a. Silly adj. - 5. a. Lacking in judgement or common sense; foolish, senseless, empty-headed. 1611 Bible 2 Tim. iii. 6 Of this sort are they which creep into houses, and leade captiue silly women. b. They are easily led away captive through their divers lusts (2Ti 3:6 c/w Jam 1:14 c/w 2Pe 2:18). c. These lusts could include desires for love, sex, excitement, wealth, possessions, freedom, autonomy, control, power, etc. d. Some foolish and silly women are every learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth which makes them prime targets for false teachers (2Ti 3:7). e. In general, even godly women are more easily deceived than men (1Ti 2:14). f. It is therefore incumbent upon women to not let strangers peddling false religion into their homes when their husband is not home (2Jo 1:1, 10). E. As will be shown in the remainder of Proverbs chapter 9, the foolish woman represents false religion which is in competition with God’s religion. i. Like a foolish woman, Satan's false teachers are likewise clamorous and ignorant. ii. They are full of words (Ecc 10:11-14). a. "In fact, it is generally found, that those who have the most discourse have the least knowledge. Words are too often the substitute for thinking, rather than the medium of thought." (Charles Bridges, Ecclesiastes, p. 251) b. "It is not a severe criticism to say that there are ministers whose words stand in a very large proportion to their thoughts." (Charles Spurgeon) iii. They use feigned words (2Pe 2:3). iv. They use great swelling words of vanity and promise liberty to bring people into bondage (2Pe 2:18-19; Jud 1:16). v. They use good words and fair speeches to deceive the simple (Rom 16:17-18). vi. They desire to be teachers of the law, but don't know what they're talking about (1Ti 1:7). vii. They wrest the scriptures to their own destruction (2Pe 3:16).