1.) Laughter = laughter; sport; fooling around; clowning around; making light; making mirth; making merry; mocking.

a. Job 12:4 – Job laments that he had become a laughingstock before his neighbors… a joke. This was a laugh of derision.

b. Gen.18:12 – Sarah laughed at the promise of God of a son. This was an incredulous laugh of unbelief.

c. Gen. 19:14 – Lot’s sons in law mocked at his command to leave the city. This was a mocking laughter.

d. Prov. 14:9 – fools mock at sin. This is sinful laughter. This is the kind of laughter that occurs when folks watch the filthy sitcoms and laugh at smutty jokes and innuendos.

e. Prov. 31:25 – the virtuous woman rejoices in time to come —in the sense of she smiles at the future —a smile or laughter of contentment… knowing her family is well cared for.

f. Ecc. 3:4 – a time to weep; a time to laugh —used in a good context here. This is good, healthy laughter.

2.) Usage:

a. Laughter appears in many contexts in the Scriptures; some healthy and natural; some sinful and immoral.

b. Solomon’s point in this proverb is that laughter isn’t always what it seems.

c. When we see a person laugh, we are inclined to think that the person is happy or joyous.

d. That’s what the outward appearance is proclaiming… but it is not necessarily so.

3.) In laughter, the heart is often sorrowful!

a. This was one of Solomon’s observations of life… of human nature.

b. Solomon observed that often times people attempt to cover up their deep inner grief with the outward appearance of laughter…

c. Ha, ha, ha is constantly on their lips… giving the appearance of being jovial… upbeat… and cheerful…carefree… not a burden in the world… but on the inside it is quite another story!

d. Solomon observed that it is human nature to put on an outward show happiness to cover up inner pain.

e. Solomon observed that clowns are often very sad people.

f. We see this also in the use of alcohol. Alcohol helps people DROWN their sorrow… put on a happy, carefree, face, full of laughter, but drunks are also very sad people underneath all the phony mirth.

4.) This thought is similar to a thought mentioned in Prov. 14:10.

a. The heart of man knoweth his own bitterness… and nobody else really knows what is going on on the inside.

b. Solomon is saying that the emotions and feelings that accompany life’s bitter experiences are felt DEEP within a man’s heart… in his innermost being.

c. Solomon is saying that only the man himself can really feel and experience this bitterness. It is his OWN unique bitter experience.

d. An outsider —stranger —cannot fully participate in or even understand his inner joy either.

e. God knows the heart, but man sees only the outward appearance.

f. Because men KNOW this, (that nobody really knows my inner bitterness)… there is a tendency to cover up what is going on on the inside with a charade of bubbliness and laughter.

g. Solomon says that this is often a sham… a thin veneer to cover up a person who is hurting on the inside.

5.) This is HYPOCRISY… putting on a front.

a. Hypocrite: an actor, stage player, pretender.

b. Ancient play actors in Greece and Rome often wore a large mask with a mechanical devise to augment the voice… like a built in megaphone.

c. The term gradually became a term used to describe someone who pretends to be what he is not—a hypocrite.

d. Solomon’s point in Prov. 14:13 is that people who are constantly laughing, clowning around, and bubbly are often hiding behind a mask… it is pretense.

e. The mask has a happy face, but underneath is often sorrow.

6.) What is the PURPOSE of knowing this? Why did he write this proverb? What application can we make?

a. Don’t be fooled by people who APPEAR to be continually happy, laughing, and joking. Things are not always as they seem.
• Those who mock at sin and seem to be having a grand old time may be putting on a phony front.
• Those who drink and laugh may seem happy, but often that is just a cover for the real sorrow in their heart.

b. So don’t think it necessary for YOU to be constantly upbeat, cheerful, always bubbly.
• It’s ok to be sad. We don’t need a phony 700 club smile on our face 24 hours a day… especially when circumstances are not happy.
• Be real… not phony.

c. Most people KNOW that such laughter is a mask.
• It is in fact quite sad to see a person pretending to be happy.
• You can’t help but feel sorry for them.

d. Christians sometimes fall prey to this pretense because of a wrong concept of what true JOY is. Joy is not bubbliness or giddiness… It is possible to have the joy of the Lord—the fruit of the Spirit—even when we are feeling sad.

e. The Lord Himself was constantly filled with the Spirit… but was a Man of sorrows… but He was NOT a hypocrite. He never pretended to be something He was not.