There is a person that the wise king Solomon said a great deal about in warning his son to watch out for and beware of. That person is mentioned in the first verse of David’s Psalms: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly…nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” (Ps. 1:1)
To scorn is to treat someone with extreme contempt or disrespect. It is to look down upon someone as worthless or beneath you.
In a family, church, community, or body politic, a scorner produces a poisonous, odious atmosphere. That is no doubt why King Solomon raised more than a few red flags about scorners in his heart-to-heart talks with his son to prepare him for life’s journey. (Unless otherwise noted, all Biblical references will be from the book of Proverbs, attributed to King Solomon.)
- Right up front, Solomon sounded the warning: “How long, ye simple ones will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in scorning?” (1:22) The scorner is happiest when showing his disgust and contempt for persons of integrity. Think: Haman in the book of Esther.
- Solomon warns his hearers that scorners will bring shame upon their teachers: “He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame.” (9:7)
- And, to be sure, the scorner will hate anyone who tries to correct him: “Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee.” (9:8)
- In fact, a scorner will not listen to wise counsel: “A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.” (13:1) Can you imagine a young person in a class who is full of scorn toward the teacher and the teaching of truth?
- Solomon says a scorner seeks wisdom and does not perceive it—would not recognize it if he saw it. He has given his heart/mind over to despising the truth. (14:6)
- Scorners have an uncanny ability to attract other scorners. (Psalm 1:1)
- Scorners reject wise counsel. (15:12)
- They are ungodly in their witness. (19:28)
- They are “proud and haughty.” (21:24)
- They are the source of strife and contention. (22:10)
- They make no positive contributions to society. (24:9)
- They breed confusion. (29:8)
- God will “scorn” the scorners. (3:34)
Most often, when the Apostle Paul mentioned some person by name in any of his epistles, it was in a positive, praising sense. Not so with the scorner Alexander, a coppersmith of whom Paul says that he did him “much evil.” (II Tim. 4:14) It is not too much of a “stretch” to believe that anyone who did Paul much evil was probably a scorner who had proven to be a major headache to the apostle. Likewise with Diotrephes, whom John cites in his third epistle as one who “loveth to have the preeminence… prating against us with malicious words…neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.” (III John 9,10) Sadly, from the earliest days of the church that Jesus founded to the present hour, there have been people who qualify as “scorners,” according to the characterizations of such as set forth by King Solomon.
God said, at one time, through the prophet Isaiah: “Hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.” (Isa. 28:14) He went on to describe those scornful men as having made a covenant with death, and with hell. God promised those scorners in Isaiah’s day that He would deal with them through “a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone.” (Isa. 28:16) Jesus would deal with those scorners…and today, as Head of His Church, He will deal with all such scorners. We must do as the apostle did with Alexander the coppersmith when he turned him over to the Lord to be dealt with: “The Lord reward him according to his works.” (II Tim. 4:14)
Should we not, then, in the ministries God has entrusted to our stewardship—even yet today—beware of the scorner? Their potential for destruction by their presence cannot be overstated. Selah.
“Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil…of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.” (II Tim. 4:14,15)