Job 11:12

But a witless person will become wise,

   As soon as a wild ass is born human.

 

This one is funny. Not just because it has the use of a word that became incorrect, but because it makes fun of stupid people in such an obvious way. I get the feeling many people feel humor is not appropriate for a scripture, but God made us humorous, so it’s logical to think He uses it to teach us.

“Witless” was also “stupid” (I said it was obvious), “empty headed”, “vain”, “hollow”, and “hollow core”. I think the Wizard of Oz had the scarecrow for this.

Women probably are not offended that man was used here, but I kept the “neutered” version to make sure it applied to all.

“Wise” was also “understanding”. I kept the loftier ideal here.

“As soon as” was also “when”, but the verse also had some variations on this logic form. One had (basically) “ A stupid person can no more be wise than a donkey can be born a man.” Another compared a vain man being wise to a man being like a wild donkey colt, but I think this was a lost in translation artifact of King James English more than a different idea. Another compared the stupid man to a donkey directly. This works better but misses the humor.

“Wild ass” was also “wild donkey’s colt”, “saddle ass”, or “onager”. (Onager being “the most horse like ass species” according to the internet. My mind wonders if the root word was mule which I think would make it even funnier but miss out on the bad word, and confuse those who do not know the difference between a mule, a donkey, a horse, and an ass.

I had a new thought (think epiphany) that I should split the comparisons individually rather than keep the ones for each stitch together. I imagined that the audience might not follow the train of thought as well as I like when it’s all strung together.

I never understood the difference between idiot and stupid and how they relate to people being not smart or people being willfully opposed to using their brains. I assume that a wild ass’s colt is pretty stupid.  I assume that the verse is not talking about people with diminished natural capacity so much as those who would never imagine putting forth effort to improve. I have used these words about drivers all the time (mostly in my head or when alone), but I have felt guilt over having used the words when the person truly could have been doing their best. I assume there is some way to love people that is not defined by how smart they are or not and I pray that God will help me find that path, so I do not appear as a stupid donkey to anyone (ever again).

(Written 2/13, Posted 2/15, Job 242)