A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
    and a rod for the backs of fools!
4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
    or you yourself will be just like him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
    or he will be wise in his own eyes.
6 Sending a message by the hands of a fool
    is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison.
7 Like the useless legs of one who is lame
    is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
8 Like tying a stone in a sling
    is the giving of honor to a fool.
9 Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand
    is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
10 Like an archer who wounds at random
    is one who hires a fool or any passer-by.
11 As a dog returns to its vomit,
    so fools repeat their folly.
12 Do you see a person wise in their own eyes?
    There is more hope for a fool than for them

As a dog eats its own vomit,
    so fools recycle silliness. ‘The Message.

You may have heard it said that the definition of madness is to keep doing the same thing but expect a different outcome.

In the summer of 2012, Jilly and I spent a long weekend in the Spanish city of Barcelona. We decided to leave our hotel very early on Sunday morning and walk to the beach while it was still cooler. Day was just dawning, and as we walked towards the front, hundreds of mainly young people were streaming our way, as the night clubs closed, and people started to head home. Many looked rough, and some were clearly unwell, and needed assistance from friends. We commented to each other about the anomaly, that most of them would probably be back the next weekend, to repeat the formula, knowing that it would not satisfy them at all.

Madness! A recycling of ”silliness.”

There is something about the fallen human psyche that is drawn to its ‘drugs’, whether literal or metaphorical. We have to keep ‘popping’ those pleasure pills, even though they put us at risk, endanger our lives, and leave us hungrily wanting more of that which will never fill us.

David H. Wheaton writes about 2 Peter 2:13 in one edition of the ‘New Bible Commentary’;

‘Sin attracts with its offer of pleasure, but in the end he who indulges finds that he has no pleasure at all.’ (It is noteworthy that towards the end of 2 Peter 2, the Apostle quotes Proverbs 26:11).