Liberating Fools

(Proverbs 18:2 KJV)  A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

When you lift this verse out of context and look at the translations from the KJV and other older works you find an interesting insight.  The context is pointing out how hopeless a fool is and in that sense this is saying that a “fool” (3684) only listens to himself.  But if you look at the KJV it seems to imply that if the fool is going to learn anything, he has to start in his own inner man.

A frequent use of the Hebrew word for “discover” (revealing NASB) (1540) has to do with carrying away into exile.  If you follow that meaning then you find that a fool needs to get away from the ideas that mold him in order to find mental release.  The context makes this seem impossible but there are places in Proverbs where it seems to say that a fool can learn.

So?  There is hope for everyone.  Assuming that we have moved beyond the fool stage we might assume that if the fool can change and move forward, so can we.  A happy thought.