Proverbs 17:12-13
It is better for a person to meet a mother bear being robbed of her cubs,
than to encounter a fool in his folly.
As for the one who repays evil for good,
evil will not leave his house.
“What kind of Bear is best?”…”Bears, Beets, Battle Star Galactica.”
Ah, the good ole’ days when Jim seemed to be pulling a new prank on Dwight every single week. Those were fun. If you didn’t watch the show, on “The Office”, Dwight had a fascination with bears, owned a beet farm and loved Battle Star Galactica. If you haven’t seen it, there’s a short clip from YouTube so you can be “in the know.”
I have never had the privilege of encounter a mother bear who has been robbed of her cubs. I have a feeling that’s a good thing, as I don’t imagine that would turn out too good for me. Not that I’m afraid of bears (especially ones from Chicago), but I just don’t think it would have a very happy ending on my behalf. I do know someone who just saw a bear while out on a job, and took off running. In the process of trying to get away, they tripped and cut their leg and needed a bunch of stitches. And that was just seeing a bear.
Bears are big, even the little ones are big. They have big long claws and sharp teeth. They’re capable of doing great damage to fish, wildlife and humans. Of course, everyone says they won’t bother you if you don’t bother them. Malarky. I’m not buying that one. I’d say, if you see a bear. It’s probably best to get the other way fast.
Especially, one who’s been robbed of her cubs. If she thinks you stole one of her bear cubs, or she sees you playing with one – rolling around on the ground in a tickle fight with the little cub – you’re going to have a bad time.
And today we see that having such and encounter would be better than encountering a fool in his folly. I guess there are a couple of possible applications of this proverb. It could mean that if you catch a fool doing the thing a fool does, they’re going to lash out at you and you’ll find yourself in a world of pain. Another possible application is, if encounter, engage or meet a fool doing foolish things – you may find yourself getting hurt by the folly or the fool.
Just for fun, let’s say you catch a fool trying to get out of paying someone for the drugs they stole. You just happen to walk in on the deal as it starts to go bad. You’re in the back room of a questionable appliance repair store. You went back there because you heard voices and you need your blender fixed. All of a sudden, blamo!!! You see the guy who owed the money get blown to smithereens. You didn’t do anything wrong (except go to the questionable appliance repair store because you’re a cheapskate), but chances are good, you’re going to find yourself in the middle of a foolish situation.
Okay, so I watch a lot of movies where people get shot.
The point is, when you know someone is doing something foolish, it’s probably not a good idea to try to catch them in the act. That’s not going to be good for anyone. When tempers get high, logic goes out the window.
And if someone does something good for you, and you repay them with evil, well you should expect evil to be a regular part of your life. It’s going to be in your house whether you want it or not. Who does that? An evil person. How does and evil person live? Well, you get the idea.
