Proverbs 9:13

Proverbs 9:13 "A foolish woman is clamorous."

In this summarizing chapter of the contrast between the evil woman and Wisdom, Solomon adds an attribute to expound on what we already learned in chapter 7.  In the eleventh verse of chapter seven, Solomon describes the evil woman as “loud.”  Here in the thirteenth verse of chapter nine, he elaborates on her verbal tendencies by calling this woman “clamorous.”  To be clamorous is indeed to be loud but there is more to it than just volume.  Someone who is CLAMOROUS is turbulent and vehement; demanding by voice.  But even more important, someone who is clamorous is repetitive in their turbulent demands.  Perhaps the greatest picture of clamor is found in the protests our nation has seen over the past year where people vehemently demand something by repeating a line over and over.

Clamor is only mentioned one other time in Scripture and it was Paul who mentioned it in his letter to the Ephesian believers.  When encouraging them to let no corrupt communication proceed out their mouths and when instructing them to only speak that which is good for the good of the hearer, he mentioned clamor in Ephesians 4:31.  He wrote, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and CLAMOUR, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.”  A clamorous person tries to get something they want by verbal intimidation and force.  A clamorous person tries to drown out reasonable debate or discussion by the intense repetition of words. A clamorous person tries to stop contemplation and deliberation.  A clamorous person keeps repeating their demand until they get it, knowing that people will eventually give in just to silence them.  Toddlers are best known for being clamorous at times.  A little boy will scream over and over, “I want my mommy” when being put in the nursery.  A little girl will angrily demand over and over, “I want my juice” when told to wait.  In these cases, the toddlers will tolerate no reasonable argument and they will protest until they get what they want.  Clamorous toddlers will use their vocal cadence to wear down their parent and remove any resistance.  Sadly, it often works as parents give them what they want just for the sake of getting some peace and quiet.    

The evil woman that Solomon is warning Rehoboam of is more than loud – she is persistent and relentless in her loud demands for him.  By her tone and repetition, she will make it clear to him that rejection is not an option.  By loudly and constantly speaking in his ear, she will ultimately be seeking to stop him from thinking his decision through.  As long as she has his ear, she will have his head.  As long as she has his head, she’ll have his heart.  This is the nature of a clamorous woman.  She knows that if she were to give him time and space to make a sound decision about his romantic life, he would probably wouldn’t choose her.  She knows that if she were to give him some quiet time to seek counsel and pray about it, he would probably wouldn’t accept her invitation.
 
This is the nature of evil and foolishness.  When someone knows that they are flawed or that their product is flawed, they speak loudly and constantly to RESTRICT REASON.  Salesmen who want to make money off a bad product keep talking to keep you from thinking. Salesmen who want to make a sale off a flawed product keep telling you that if you leave, it could be gone or that the deal will go away.  Salesmen want you to make impulsive decisions because they fear time will allow the potential buyer to compare their product with another product and wisely choose the other product because it is better.  Satan is the greatest salesmen this world has ever seen and he is the King of Clamor.  He puts evil before us loudly and constantly so as to eliminate quiet and reason.  Through various forms of media, he keeps talking in order to keep us from thinking.  He tempts us by bombarding us with images and sounds of sin with the goal of getting us to make impulsive decisions.  He knows that if we have enough space and enough silence, there’s a good chance that we’ll hear from God and rethink an impulsive purchase of sinful pleasure.  He wants to fill our eyes and ears with aggressive temptation so as to get us to silence the sales pitch with submission.  We foolishly tell ourselves that if we give in to temptation, it will go away.  We mistakenly convince ourselves that if we give in to temptation, it will get quiet again.  Just as the toddler quiets for a moment when they get their sippy cup, the flesh quiets for a moment when we get our pleasure.  The problem for the parent is that the toddler only gets more emboldened to be more clamorous next time because they found out that their repetitive demands worked.  This is the same problem for the Christian when it comes to temptation.  Satan knows that if he’s loud enough long enough with us, it works and we’ll succumb to temptation.

This clamorous nature of foolishness is the reason why Wisdom tells us to “forsake the foolish and live” in verse 6.  Staying around the foolish will wear you down.  Staying around the foolish, who are clamorous, will eventually lead to submission to the foolish.  We need to forsake the foolish if we’re going to find virtue.  We need to turn off the world’s media if we’re going to hear Heaven’s message.  A Christian will not be wise if they are addicted to YouTube or TikTok or other social media platforms.  Why not? Because the clamorous nature of foolishness will keep you from opening the Bible and receiving its wisdom.  People can spend countless hours staring at a screen clicking button after button and yet struggle to spend a few minutes in God’s Book of Wisdom.  All of the fancies of our world are designed to keep us from Wisdom.  All of the temptations of our world are designed to keep us from finding quiet time with God.  Our Adversary, the King of Clamor, speaks loudly and repetitively through screens, speakers, billboards and magazines to get us to make impulsive and foolish decisions.  We need to recognize the nature of evil and foolishness.  We need to “forsake the foolish and live.”  We need to get away from all of the noise of our world and find some quiet time with God.  If we do not, eventually we’ll give in to foolishness of life and forfeit the wisdom that God offers us.    
 
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with noise or with being “loud,” as was the strange woman in chapter 7.  Wisdom herself in both chapters 8 and 9 “crieth out” for the sons of man.  The problem with the foolish woman is that she is repetitively loud in order to keep you from hearing Wisdom.  Foolishness is repetitively loud in our world in order to drown out Wisdom’s invitation.  Foolishness can be seen everywhere and it can be heard everywhere.  Foolishness in our society is loud and intentionally intimidating.  Walk away from foolishness and walk in the way of wisdom. Learn to take a daily and steady break from the obnoxious noise of life so you can hear the still small voice of God.

In the vestibule of our church, we have a sign that has one of my favorite quotes painted on it – a quote attributed to Ralph Emerson, “Let us be silent, that we can hear the whisper of God.”  Foolishness and evil are intentionally clamorous in order to keep us from hearing the whisper of God.  Forsake them.