It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.
The book of Proverbs is a collection of short, pointed sayings giving practical moral instruction, and this verse belongs to that collection. It sets a sharp contrast between a fool, to whom doing mischief and harm and wrongdoing is sport and amusement and fun, and a man of understanding, who is marked by wisdom and acts with it. The fool delights in doing harm, while the man of understanding delights in wisdom.
Doing mischief for amusement does not become harmless because it is done as sport, but remains sin. Calling it sport does not take away its character as wrongdoing. It is a sin of commission, for which account must be given to God.
Mischief done as sport includes stretching a rope to trip people, using disguises to frighten a child, forcing a companion to drink liquor, and torturing an animal. Such fun leaves a child crippled for life, causes a sister to die from fright and a fall, causes a son to die and leave a desolate home, and burns a barn and house with all their contents and leaves a mother and little ones homeless. Deliberately causing a gas attack that leaves people unconscious and kills someone is likewise not harmless sport but murder.
Wisdom belongs to a man of understanding in this sense: understanding discerns what is right and dictates what is sound, while wisdom puts that discernment into practice. Wisdom is the practice of what sound understanding dictates, not merely the possession of knowledge. It is therefore more closely related to understanding than to knowledge alone, since knowledge can exist with little or no wisdom and is not by itself wisdom, while wisdom uses knowledge rightly.
The book of Proverbs is a collection of short, pointed sayings giving practical moral instruction, and this verse belongs to that collection. It sets a sharp contrast between a fool, to whom doing mischief and harm and wrongdoing is sport and amusement and fun, and a man of understanding, who is marked by wisdom and acts with it. The fool delights in doing harm, while the man of understanding delights in wisdom.
Doing mischief for amusement does not become harmless because it is done as sport, but remains sin. Calling it sport does not take away its character as wrongdoing. It is a sin of commission, for which account must be given to God.
Mischief done as sport includes stretching a rope to trip people, using disguises to frighten a child, forcing a companion to drink liquor, and torturing an animal. Such fun leaves a child crippled for life, causes a sister to die from fright and a fall, causes a son to die and leave a desolate home, and burns a barn and house with all their contents and leaves a mother and little ones homeless. Deliberately causing a gas attack that leaves people unconscious and kills someone is likewise not harmless sport but murder.
Wisdom belongs to a man of understanding in this sense: understanding discerns what is right and dictates what is sound, while wisdom puts that discernment into practice. Wisdom is the practice of what sound understanding dictates, not merely the possession of knowledge. It is therefore more closely related to understanding than to knowledge alone, since knowledge can exist with little or no wisdom and is not by itself wisdom, while wisdom uses knowledge rightly.