Prudent in the original Hebrew portrays a person who is cunning and crafty as is further defined in BDBD for Proverb 12:23. There I learn that the cunning stores and covers the knowledge of Jesus, his words, and his kingdom in their soul’s vault (also 10:14; Matthew 13:45-46). The proverb in 14:8 tells me that the wisdom of the prudent is to compare and search their soul and their ways with the word of God that they so treasures.
A fool does not treasure the word of God, refuses to examine their soul in light of the word of Jesus, and therefore deceives themselves and others (though not everyone is fooled by their deception). What they do treasure does not bring them success in the eyes of God and seldom in the eyes of others. Instead, it leads them toward their own destruction. All this is out of fear of something that never happens as they perceive it (John 3:19-20, 12:44-47).
The disciples knew that Jesus often went to lonely places by himself to pray (Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46, 14:32; Luke 6:12, 9:28, 11:1) Though his apostles saw this routine they only record one of these secluded lonely prayer times. Surely the Lord’s prayer on the Mount of Olives (Gethsemane) just before he was betrayed and arrested is the prayer of a prudent wise man (Mark 14:32-42).
