Proverbs 17:16-21

Proverbs 17:16-21
English Standard Version
​16 Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom
    when he has no sense?
17 A friend loves at all times,
    and a brother is born for adversity.
18 One who lacks sense gives a pledge
    and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.
19 Whoever loves transgression loves strife;
    he who makes his door high seeks destruction.
20 A man of crooked heart does not discover good,
    and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.
21 He who sires a fool gets himself sorrow,
    and the father of a fool has no joy.

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Typically, fools are not entrusted with much wealth, because they would spend it on more foolishness instead of using it to try to gain true wisdom.  Even if a foolish person did spend their money on learning and knowledge (not the same as wisdom), what good would it do him?  You would simply have a highly intelligent fool that would just get into more trouble in "smarter" ways and probably lead more people astray.

We move from the fool thinking that money is all he needs to buy wisdom and happiness to the wise person realizing that friendship is one of the more valuable things that God has given to us and should be valued over much gold or silver.  Family is usually even closer than friends though so hopefully your brothers (and sisters) are there for you in the hardest of times, even when your friends are not there.

One of the many ways we get ourselves into trouble is borrow money from others.  Solomon advises against this and says that it is the one who lacks sense that gives collateral in pledge and even more foolish is the neighbor who co-signs a promissory note to put up security for his neighbor.  Solomon's financial advice can be summed up with "neither a borrower nor a lender be."  That is, live within the means that God has given to you and if you really want to help your neighbor with something, buy it for them and give it to them as a gift, but do not require repayment.  Debts get in the way of relationships with family and friends.

The person who loves to sin is going to have lots of broken relationships because of that sin, and it will cause much tension and strife.  Also, the person who is proud will build a stumbling block for himself (the picture here is of a large doorway that probably has a raised lip at the entryway that is easy to trip over.  It looks impressive to people but it's not very practical and it lends itself to injury.

A man whose heart is crooked doesn't even see the good in other people because he is always looking for others to be crooked just as he is (we call this projection in psychology).  They wouldn't even know something good if it jumped up and bit them, and they even start to expect everything that happens to them to be bad because they don't believe that they deserve anything good.

The one who is a habitual liar falls into all kinds of trouble because of his lies.  The calamity he falls into doesn't just affect him though, it affects all those around him.  So it is that even the father and mother of a fool has much sorrow because of the foolishness of their son or daughter.  They have no joy because they are always sorrowful about the bad choices their child has made.