Proverbs 1:22
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Wisdom cries aloud in the open, uttering her voice in the streets, in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates, in the city. Her truths are meant to reach people in public places and thoroughfares as well as those gathered in synagogues. The call is addressed to three classes who persist in ungodliness despite gracious invitations: the simple or inexperienced who love simplicity, the scorners who delight in scorning and scorn correction, and the fools who hate knowledge.
The question how long is a call to turn at reproof. It requires a change of heart and life by repenting and leaving sin. The call to turn is joined with open light and evidence and with the promise to pour out the Spirit and make words known. That promise shows that God offers rich mercy to the sinner who repents and turns from sin.
Loving simplicity, scorning, and rejecting knowledge cannot continue without consequence. Those who refuse wisdom's reproof will face calamity, while those who listen can dwell safely. Disregard of that light brings the sure result of moral darkness that is darker because of the light sent. So it was with Pharaoh, who would not let Israel go and disregarded the evidence when the plagues were removed. Rejection draws a curtain of unbelief so that light cannot be distinguished from darkness, greater evidence only increases indifference, and the deceived soul calls darkness light and truth error, eating the fruit of its own way.