Proverbs 9:13-18 ” The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. ‘Let all who are simple come in here!’ she says to those who lack judgment. ‘Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!’ But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.”

Folly, the opposite of wisdom, is personified in this passage. While wisdom offers rewards that are more valuable than riches, (Proverbs 8:10-11) foolishness recommends the excitement of forbidden activities…a “getting away with” something prohibited…all the while offering immediate gratification and appealing to our very base human appetites. Very often, folly masquerades as “wisdom-like”, but where wisdom is disciplined, humble, and trustworthy…folly is full of seduction, swagger, and deception…and in the end, the result is never good.