A Dog and His Fool (Part 1)

The fool and a dog are similar.

April 19, 2019

"As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly."

Proverbs 26:11

Part 1

What a gross topic for a devotional blog!  I agree, but please hear me out, there really is a lesson here for us.

“As a dog returneth to his vomit,”
What a revolting thought!  And yet, having had many pet dogs in my lifetime, I will have to say that each one of them has done the same thing, return to their vomit against all of my protestations to STOP!  Why on earth will a dog do that?  To humans who have sensibilities about what we eat we cannot imagine doing that!  Again, why will a dog do something so distasteful?1 (Pun intended).

According to dog experts, there are a couple of reasons they give.2  First, to a dog it looks and smells good.  The partially processed food is appealing to the animal.  Vet’s tell us that a dog’s nose is so sensitive it can detect the good parts.  Our noses only smell the terrible parts, and we instantly reject what we smell.  But vomit appeals to a dog’s appetite, it hungers for it.

Second, the experts say that out in the wild, mother dogs will regurgitate food they have chewed and swallowed, for their pups who are too old for mom’s milk, but not ready for solid food yet.  It’s just good food!  Could we say that it reminds them of mama’s home cooking?!  (“I’m Sorry,” to moms everywhere…)

Peter borrowed Solomon’s illustration.

“But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire,” (2 Peter 2:22).

So whether we are talking about a dog and its vomit, or a hog and mire, the picture holds true for a fool.

Help your child to avoid the desires of the fool before they set in for life.

“Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly,” (Proverbs 17:12).

Why is a fool addicted to foolishness?  Come back tomorrow, and we’ll talk about it.

 

 

 

1.  Veterinarians tell us there is a difference between a dog vomiting and regurgitation.  Due to time and space I can’t cover this here.  It is interesting, however.
2.  This information was gleaned from an article, “Why Do Dogs Eat Their Own Vomit?”  From the site, Simply for Dogs.com. https://simplyfordogs.com/dog-vomiting/dogs-eat-vomit/, April 10, 2019.