Taken from a paper I wrote on fools and folly after reading from the preacher and author Harold Bullock.
The Typological Fool
Foolish behavior stems from failing to fear God and failing to practice humility. The fear of the Lord results in a surrender to Him, giving Him the desire of your heart; secondly, it results in trusting in God and taking him at His word. In order to fear God it is absolutely necessary to practice humility. There are various ways in which people either do not fear God and/or act prideful. Thus, people do not usually suffer from only one type of foolish behavior; rather, many suffer from a spectrum of foolish behaviors that can be seen throughout ones life. However, often time’s one particular folly dominates over the others. While many may mature away from these foolish behaviors, some do not. Those who do not remove themselves from their folly suffer the pangs that come with foolishness. This is as a result of being blinded from their folly or unfortunately openly choosing to continue living it. This choice to embrace a lifestyle that does not live righteously and justly toward others yields perpetual pain and sorrow. If these people do not stamp out these foolish behaviours while they are young or embrace Christ they will eventually develop into adult size fools and with that comes many complications. Certainly, we are all inclined to behave foolishly at times; it is the course of action we take against such behaviour that marks the true desire of our hearts. That is not to say that adult size fools cannot turn from their ways or rather that God cannot transform and renew their minds. The point is that adult size fools are more ingrained into their lifestyle and shaping their behavior is less accessible than children so we find that it becomes more of our heavenly Father chiseling away the pieces that don’t reflect him rather than a parent disciplining his children.
By nature we are selfish individuals. The desires of our hearts are closely linked to our actions. Bullock teaches that the human heart contains three corrupting drives that mark the foundation for follies to develop or for us to behave in foolish ways. These three drives in Hebrew are called: ‘Ivveleth, Howleluwth, and Ra’. ‘Ivveleth is the stubborn self-centeredness that drives us to seek after our own desires. Howleluwth is the justification we do to exalt ourselves. To think that we deserve to get what we want. Ra’ is the willingness to hurt others in order to get what we want when we want it because we think we deserve it.
Prov. 4:23 warns us to guard our hearts because from it flows the spring of life. This is important especially in light of Prov. 16:22 where understanding is connected to the fountain of life. So therefore the heart is the wellspring of life and understanding is a subsequent body of that water. From the desires within our heart flow our actions. If we have evil desires sowed within our heart then we will show that in our actions. Our sin turns into a habit and that habit forms into a lifestyle. Coincidentally, lifestyle is one manner of many by which fools are differentiated from the wise. There are five major and distinct fools that Bullock mentions: Keciyl’s, Eviyl’s, Cakal’s, Halal’s and Nabal’s. The Keciyl fool is driven by ‘Ivveleth. He wants what he wants and is selfishly motivated to get it. The problem, therefore, is that the Keciyl does not surrender his desires to God. Instead he focuses on his own desires and strives to achieve them but does so in a way that does not take God into account and that is very impatient. He is trying to get what he wants but through the fastest way possible. It is this laziness and lack of diligence that proves to be his demise.
The Eviyl is also driven by the ‘Ivvelteth. He seeks his own desires and not God’s. An Eviyl is characterized by his behavior with others. He tends to be manipulative, controlling, rebellious, and adversarial. He demonstrates these characteristics by getting upset with others and doing whatever is necessary to get his way. Even if he can see God as truth, He is not a reality for them in his life.
A Cakal is the best outward example of what the desire of Ivelleth can lead one to. This is because Ivelleth is so easily seen here in more than just the interaction that one has with people. A Cakal does not have to interact with others for one to see his folly, his choices and subsequent consequences. His desire is to please himself; he does not think that God has to be incorporated in his decision making process.
The fourth fool is the Halal. Vanity is the name of the game for him. He wants all eyes on him and he does not try to be humble about it. The desire of his heart is inclined to Howlelah. This means that he truly thinks that he deserves to get what he wants when he wants it. These people are usually the “superstars” (leaders, famous people, etc.) It is the Howlelah within his heart that causes him to be so arrogant.
The fifth and final fool is the Nabal. This is the most dangerous of the fools because the Nabal lives like there are no divine consequences. To him, God does not exist and therefore, there is no eternal right or wrong but only the laws or standards that society establishes. In a way the Nabal sees himself as the god of his world.
