Choice Ignorance

(Pro 7:7 KJV)  And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,

Two kinds of people are commented on in this chapter.  The first, who gets the least attention, is the son who is being told to listen to the commandments and wisdom.  The one mentioned here, and by extension the woman he has an affair with, are rejecting that advice.

Two descriptions are given.  First, he is “simple” (naive NASB) (6612a) and second he is “lacking” (2638) “sense” (3820) or “void of understanding.  If you follow to the end of the chapter you find out that this guy is bound for hell.  That is a significant difference but it is caused by the real difference.  The reason he is bound for hell is he refuses to engage with the truth that is offered to him.  He probably thinks he is smart enough to avoid the pitfalls.  He would have to play all kind of mind games to say he didn’t know anything about it, after all, he lived during the time period when Solomon was building the temple.  It was not a time of ignorance about the law and God’s expectations.

So?  We all have opportunities.  We all have the necessary knowledge for how things go for us in eternity.  Some people, no matter how much they are talked to, will refuse to listen.  They don’t want to hear it so they don’t.  I trust we will make better choices.