Inherit The Wind

“He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind:

and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.”

Proverbs 11:29

The Word of God contains many examples of Hebrew poetry and poetic language, but no book contains better examples of the nature and character of this poetry than the book of Proverbs.

When modern Americans take the time to think of poetry, the vast majority of us think of songs sung on the radio – poems with meter, rhythm, rhyme and even melody. These characteristics of modern day popular poetry are not shared with ancient Hebrew; poetry does not characteristically rhyme, for example. Instead, poetry was used as a way of expressing emphasis, enhancing contradicting points, or even, to a lesser extent, facilitating memorization. In our text, for example, we have a classic example of Hebrew parallelism. The first line speaks of one troubling his own house coming to naught. The second line uses parallel imagery to communicate the same idea. In the second line, the subject is called a fool and, again, loses everything to become a servant to the wise (i.e. he who does not trouble his own house, presumably).

It is from this particular verse that the 1955 play, Inherit the Wind, dealing with the issues surrounding the teaching of evolution in the public school system and was based on the infamous “Scopes Trial” of 1925. The families around which the action of the play revolves divide themselves into both camps – guaranteeing an unhappy ending for many involved.

The structure of our text, and other such parallel passages, does allow for easy memorization, as the two ideas reinforce one another to drive their point home. It does not, however, take away anything from the meaning and intensity of the message of the verse. In fact, Jesus Himself pronounced what could be called the corollary to this verse: “And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:24-25). This little nugget of poetic wisdom, as the entirety of the rest of Scripture, is as profound in its truth as it is humble in its structure. RST