Proverbs 30:11
"There is a kind of man who curses his father and does not bless his mother"
Notice that the word man does not appear in the original and that the word kind is literally the word generation. It is the word dor, which means generation and usually goes from a man's birth until the birth of his children.
This is interesting in that this section of the proverbs introduces four types of foolishness which runs in families:
The first one here is the person who curses his father and does not bless his mother.
Then the next few verses identify families who are pure in their own eyes and yet not washed from their filthiness.
Then the next few verses identify families that are lofty with raised eyelids.
Then the final set of verses notices families that have teeth like swords and jaw teeth like knives to devour the afflicted from the earth.
The whole of the book of Proverbs is a study in two types of people: wise people and foolish people. The foolish ones are divided into numerous types. In fact, one commentator says that there are 63 different types of fools identified in the book of Proverbs. These are impulses to selfishness that rise up within each of us and must be ignored and resisted. If we pay attention to or are seduced by the various selfish impulses, we will begin to become that kind of fool. We will then begin to get the results and consequences of that kind of fool.
What this section of the proverbs is noticing is that there are four types of foolishness that easily can become family sins. It is also possible that these are cultural or national sins. Whole groups of people embrace these sins, and it becomes a regional or national identity to live this way.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz