Proverbs 17:12

12 Let a man meet a bear robbed of her whelps, rather than a fool in his folly.

Proverbs 17:12 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 17:12

Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man
A bear is a very fierce and furious creature, especially a she bear; and she is still more so when robbed of her whelps, which she has just whelped, and been at great pains to lick into shape and form, by which her fondness to them is increased; and therefore, being stripped of them, is full of rage; and ranging about in quest of them, falls furiously upon the first she meets with. Jerom ^F14 observes, that those who have written of the nature of beasts say, that, among all wild beasts, there is none more fierce than a she bear, when she has lost her whelps, or wants food. And yet, as terrible and as dangerous as it is, it is safer and more eligible of the two, to meet an enraged bear in those circumstances, rather than a fool in his folly;
in the height of his folly, in a paroxysm or fit of that; in the heat of his lusts, and the pursuit of them, in which there is no stopping him, or turning him from them; especially in the heat of passion and anger, which exceeds that of a bear, and is not so easily avoided. Jarchi applies it to such fools as seduce persons to idolatry, whom to meet is very dangerous: such are the followers of the man of sin, who have no mercy on the souls of men they deceive, and whose damnation they are the cause of; and who are implacably cruel to those who will not join with them in their idolatrous worship; the beast of Rome, his feet are as the feet of a bear, ( Revelation 13:2 ) ; and one had better meet a bear than him and his followers.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Comment, in Hos. xiii. 8. So Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 6. c. 18.

Proverbs 17:12 In-Context

10 A reproof entereth deeper into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool.

11 An evil man seeketh only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.

12 Let a man meet a bear robbed of her whelps, rather than a fool in his folly.

13 Whoso returneth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

14 The beginning of strife is like the letting out of water: therefore break off contention before it is meddled with.