Drift, not rebellion, is sufficient to land a man in the assembly of the dead.
The cost of drift gets named in Proverbs 21:16: A man who wanders from the way of understanding Will rest in the assembly of the dead (v. 16). The verb wanders matters.
The destruction in view is not the result of a violent rebellion against wisdom; it is the result of drift—a slow turning aside from the way of understanding until the man finds himself somewhere he never planned to go. Wandering is sufficient to land him in the assembly of the dead. The image points to Sheol, the place of the departed.
Proverbs has insisted from the beginning that there are only two paths and that the path of folly ends in death (Proverbs 2:18-19; 5:5; 7:27). This verse puts the cost of drift in plain view.
Proverbs 21:16
16 A man who wanders from the way of understanding
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Proverbs 21:16 meaning
The cost of drift gets named in Proverbs 21:16: A man who wanders from the way of understanding Will rest in the assembly of the dead (v. 16). The verb wanders matters.
The destruction in view is not the result of a violent rebellion against wisdom; it is the result of drift—a slow turning aside from the way of understanding until the man finds himself somewhere he never planned to go. Wandering is sufficient to land him in the assembly of the dead. The image points to Sheol, the place of the departed.
Proverbs has insisted from the beginning that there are only two paths and that the path of folly ends in death (Proverbs 2:18-19; 5:5; 7:27). This verse puts the cost of drift in plain view.