“In the mouth of the fool is the rod of pride, but the lips of the wise will guard them” (Mishlei 14:3)
Pride is called a rod, for it is stiff as a rod (Metzudat David).
The fool doubts the veracity of wisdom. Wisdom is above the logic of man. It is solely in Hashem’s domain. One who is not prideful will not try to overstep the boundaries of his logic, expecting to understand everything. He will submit himself to the statutes of wisdom and not question them. Only a fool acts haughtily and speaks as though he has wisdom. This is all due to his pride, which emits from his mouth like a branch from a tree. But the lips of the wise depict their inner wisdom. By believing in the statutes of wisdom, they are relegated to logic. This protects them from falling into a state of pride, as they submit themselves to a Higher Wisdom and place all their faith in it (Malbim).
Humility is a sign of wisdom. A wicked person is considered to have a “mouth of deceit” (Mishlei 10:32), since he possesses the trait of arrogance, which is the opposite of everything good.
Rabbeinu Bachya writes (Devarim 32:1) that just as wisdom is the product of the tzaddik, so is pride the product of the rasha. Shlomo Hamelech said (Mishlei 14:3), “In the mouth of the foolish one is the rod of pride, but the lips of the wise will guard them.” Pride is implanted in the heart of the fool and it branches out from his mouth, in line with the pasuk (Yeshayahu 11:10), “A branch will emerge from the stump of Yishai.” It is impossible for there to be a stump without a fruit. The fruits of the wicked person are words of arrogance and scorn, as the pasuk in Tehillim (123:4) states, “…the mockery of those who are complacent, the contempt of those who are arrogant.”
“Every proud heart is the abomination of Hashem, [from] hand to hand – he will not be exonerated”
(Mishlei 16:5).
The wise man was asked to describe pride. He replied that it is nothing but foolishness, considered abominable, as the pasuk says (Mishlei 16:5), “Every proud heart is the abomination of Hashem.” He added, “I cannot imagine how a lowly person, who came from a urinary passageway, made of seed and blood, can ever be haughty.” (Orchot Chaim).
