NOTES for Pro 21:10-13

The words are harsh, and they may seem frightening to us: “When a scoffer is punished, the simple become wise.” It sounds as though this were a public execution: let us take a bad person and punish him as a lesson to everyone... Is this what the Wise Man means? In any case, his words contain no sadism. But it is important for us to understand clearly the consequences of sin, the consequences of rejecting God, and always to remember that our actions have definite consequences and that we are answerable for everything we do. And if a simple person—that is, someone unlearned and unwise—manages to understand this “without learning from his own mistakes,” that is truly the beginning of wisdom.