August 4, 2023

The Bible Edge

Everyone needs an Edge, Believers can have a Bible Edge

Proverbs 27:22

Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.

A mortar and pestle is a kitchen device combination that is also closely related to old time pharmacists. The mortar is a small bowl made of a hard substance (wood, metal, or hard stone); the pestle is a blunt club shaped object that looks like a caricature of a baseball bat. Ingredients that need to be combined are placed in the bowl and ground into a fine paste or powder with the pestle. The ingredients become unrecognizable from their original appearance and merge into a singular substance. A mortar and pestle is a diabolical instrument that is absolutely devastating to the singular ingredients, but yields a better and more suitable ingredient for cooking and or medicinal uses.

Now, think about an individual being placed into a huge supernatural mortar and being pounded with a pestle. Crushed would be an understatement. Pulverized would be more accurate. God’s Word says that even if a fool were placed in this crucible of suffering their foolishness would not depart. Consider spices being put into the mortar and pestle. They are not changed, their substance and appearance may change but they are still the spices you placed in the mortar. If a stem of parsley is placed into mortar and pestle with a small piece of garlic and ground, the two spices would change appearance and substance, even be melded together, but the result would still be parsley and garlic.

A fool put therein would still be a fool. Even when crushed, the fool continues in his foolishness. The Bible edge for today: don’t be a fool. Fools are fools are fools are fools. The word “fool” is used 189 times in all its derivatives in Scripture. Evidently our Father in Heaven wants us to understand this notion of fools and foolishness and has given us a tremendous word picture to illustrate the plight of a fool. A fool can change, no doubt, but that is another devotional thought for another day.

William T. Howe, Ph.D.