Musar su Proverbi 21:24

Thus it happened to Pharaoh, who said (Ex. v. 2), "Who is the Lord?" and Goliath when he spake (I Sam. xvii. 10), "I defy the armies of Israel ; " and Sennacherib for his boastfulness in saying (II Kings xviii. 35), "Who are they among all the gods of the countries "; and Nebuchadnezzar in that he said (Dan. iii. 15), "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" and others who follow them in the manner of their speech and whose end was complete abasement and utter obscurity. Whosoever is in this state is not secure from error and sin. Thus saith the sage (Prov. xxi. 24), "Proud and haughty scorner is his name." He mentions craftiness, because it is the source of boastfulness.

Whoever has the quality of arrogance ought to try and turn away from it for it is very base, and the damage caused by it is great and ever-present, and the worth that is in it is very little. Therefore, we must distance ourselves from it with all our might, for arrogance brings man to ruin and to humiliation, as it is said: "Pride goes before destruction" (Prov. 16:18), and it is also said: "A man's pride shall bring him low" (Prov. 29:23). And you already know what happened to Pharaoh when he said, "Who is the Lord, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go?" (Exod. 5:2), and to Goliath, the Phillistine, who said: "I do taunt the armies of Israel this day" (I Sam. 17:10), and to Sennacherib, who said, "Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand ?" (Is. 36:20). And Nebeuchadnezzar, when he said, "And who is the god that shall deliver you from my hand?" (Dan. 3:15), and similar instances of those who spoke thusly, and their end was shame and disgrace. And whoever clings to this quality is not saved from sin and wrongdoing, as the Sage said, "A proud and haughty man, scorner is his name. Even he that dealeth in overbearing pride" (Prov. 21:24).

And this is the thing about the group of scoffers - scoffing is divided into four sections:
And the first section is the man of the tongue that spreads the infamy of people, like the matter that is stated (Psalms 50:20), “You are busy maligning your brother, defaming the son of your mother.” And he is called a scoffer, as it is stated (Proverbs 21:24), “The proud, insolent man, scoffer is his name, acts in a frenzy of insolence.” Its explanation is that] two bad traits - which are insolence and pride - gathered and joined in the scoffing man. For without having a benefit from the thing, he causes great damage to his fellows, whose reputations he sullies in the eyes of people. And this is the goal of the scoffer, more than the thief or the extortionist - who does [it] to increase his money. And he is also arrogant - for when one who is lowly and submissive recognizes his own deficiencies and blemishes, he will not scoff at people. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Taanit 8a), “In the future, all the animals will gather together by the snake and say to him, ‘A lion mauls [its prey] and eats; a wolf tears [it] and eats; [but] you, what pleasure do you have [when you bite a person]?’ He will say to them, ‘If the snake bites because no spell was uttered, no advantage is gained by the master of the tongue!’ (Ecclesiastes 10:11).” And this section is also from the sections of the group of the slanderers.

King Solomon, peace be upon him, said (Proverbs 21:24), “The violent, proud man, scoffer is his name, acts in a frenzy of violence.” The explanation is that the scoffer whose violence is great to strike with his tongue in his pride and his loftiness, his anger and his rage - do not say [about him] that he only strikes with his tongue, and not with a deed. For you should surely know that he “acts in a frenzy of violence.” He means to say that if he could not strike his enemies with his tongue and he could strike them with a deed, he would strike them with a frenzy and have no pity. [It is] like our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said regarding Doeg (Yerushalmi Sanhedrin 10:2) that when Saul commanded that the priests be smitten but his people refused to strike them, he said to Doeg, “You struck them with the tongue, you strike them with the sword,” as it is stated (I Samuel 22:18), “You, go and strike down the priests.”

Scoffing, or mocking, may be divided into five types. The first is the man who slanders people, as it is said, "Thou sittest and speaketh against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son" (Ps. 50:20). And he who does this is called a scoffer, as it is written, "A proud and haughty man, scorner is his name, even he that dealeth in overbearing pride" (Prov. 21:24). The meaning of the verse is that scoffer possesses two evil qualities in him. The first is that he is malicious and commits his sin deliberately, and that he plots against his fellow in a matter from which he himself derives no profit, yet he causes great damages to his fellow. For when he slanders this person and causes people to loath and to hate him, this is the height of malice, worse than the robber or the thief. For when a man steals or robs, there is no malice in his heart, but he is only bent on his own profit, to increase his wealth, but he who slanders people derives no profit from it, and it is in fact an inferiority of the mind. The scoffer is also arrogant and exceedingly proud and therefore he slanders people. But the wise man is modest and lowly. He is aware of his own shortcomings and therefore will never find fault with other as do the scoffers who sit and say, "So and so did thus and thus" and they jeer at him.