# What does the biblical metaphor "inherit the wind" mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236 "2008-11-18T03:19:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/1 "2008-11-18T03:19:26Z")
\*Inherit the Wind \*is one of my all-time favorite movies, but that’s not was this question is all about. If I’m not mistaken the original line in the bible reads “He who troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.” Now, I just heard someone on TV referring to someone “inheriting the wind.” That guy’s remark made me realize that I really don’t know what exactly the phrase means. (FWIW, the usage by the fellow on TV did not clarify things.) Can someone set me straight? Thanks all, in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Jesus\_Harold\_Christ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f14d63/32.png) [@Jesus\_Harold\_Christ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jesus_Harold_Christ)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/2 "2008-11-18T03:43:44Z")
You build a house (and make to family) to avoid troubles like the wind (or fighting and have people you can trust), but if you bring in troubles into your house it is the same if you never had a house–the wind (fighting, mistrust) is inside. ---
**Author:** ![Jesus\_Harold\_Christ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f14d63/32.png) [@Jesus\_Harold\_Christ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jesus_Harold_Christ)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/3 "2008-11-18T03:49:05Z")
It also implies the family will be destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/4 "2008-11-18T10:32:40Z")
> [@Jesus\_Harold\_Christ](#): > > You build a house (and make to family) to avoid troubles like the wind (or fighting and have people you can trust), but if you bring in troubles into your house it is the same if you never had a house–the wind (fighting, mistrust) is inside. What did the phrase have to do with the plot of the movie? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/5 "2008-11-18T10:57:47Z")
The full line is actually: He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. The second line clarifies a little. However, it’s a little hard to draw parallels, is the one who troubled his own house Cates\*? If so, “the fool” seems to be referring to “he” and his case was certainly portrayed as the protagonist/correct side of the debate… on the other hand, the “servant” side makes a little sense. If you extend the overarching ramifications of the trial, the parallels fit in more nicely… the law was “troubling” intelligent people/the country, but eventually they got proven wrong and became servants to the “wise” thinking men, but It’s still a bit of a stretch. \*I’m using movie names just for ease of comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/6 "2008-11-18T11:08:00Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > The full line is actually: > > He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: > and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. > > The second line clarifies a little. However, it’s a little hard to draw parallels, is the one who troubled his own house Cates\*? If so, “the fool” seems to be referring to “he” and his case was certainly portrayed as the protagonist/correct side of the debate… on the other hand, the “servant” side makes a little sense. If you extend the overarching ramifications of the trial, the parallels fit in more nicely… the law was “troubling” intelligent people/the country, but eventually they got proven wrong and became servants to the “wise” thinking men, but It’s still a bit of a stretch. > \*I’m using movie names just for ease of comparison. Missed edit: I should add that the Old Testament often equates the court (uh… the court) with wisdom and we often equate education (Cates) with the passing of wisdom so there’s a sort of “schism” in that if the court is wise, and the passers of wisdom are passing on contrary ideas… who’s right? Is the teacher in the wrong because he’s not passing wisdom correctly? Or is the old wisdom getting in the way of the new wisdom? Some food for thought to give the quote a little context: Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Anyway, I need to sleep and can’t think straight, maybe that’ll spark a little discussion at least. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/7 "2008-11-18T11:41:46Z")
I always interpreted it to mean that a man who causes trouble in his own household will inherit nothing (but the air), which I think fits in with the next line. It’s saying that a person can be born into great fortune but our behavior in life will dictate where we end up. How this relates to the film/play and its characters I am not quite sure. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/8 "2008-11-18T11:47:11Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > The second line clarifies a little. However, it’s a little hard to draw parallels, is the one who troubled his own house Cates\*? If so, “the fool” seems to be referring to “he” and his case was certainly portrayed as the protagonist/correct side of the debate… on the other hand, the “servant” side makes a little sense. If you extend the overarching ramifications of the trial, the parallels fit in more nicely… the law was “troubling” intelligent people/the country, but eventually they got proven wrong and became servants to the “wise” thinking men, but It’s still a bit of a stretch. ISTM that “you shall inherit the wind” was intended to be a hypothetical condemnation of Cates’ actions by the bible-thumping crowd. Or, inversely, a reference to the trouble the bible-thumping crowd caused by trying to (effectively) ban science in schools. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/9 "2008-11-18T15:10:26Z")
> [@Hostile\_Dialect](#): > > Or, inversely, a reference to the trouble the bible-thumping crowd caused by trying to (effectively) ban science in schools. That’s always how I read it. The one who was doing the “troubling,” and also “the fool,” was Brady. He and his crowd were trying to create a division between knowledge and religion that Drummond in particular didn’t believe in. They were going to a lot of trouble over nothing and they were going to have nothing to show for it. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/10 "2008-11-18T15:11:48Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > I always interpreted it to mean that a man who causes trouble in his own household will inherit nothing (but the air), which I think fits in with the next line. It’s saying that a person can be born into great fortune but our behavior in life will dictate where we end up. > > How this relates to the film/play and its characters I am not quite sure. I think this is the right interpretation. It is often useful with hard to interpret bible verses to look at several translations. I found that the Contemporary English Version translates it this way: Fools who cause trouble in the family won’t inherit a thing. They will end up as slaves of someone with good sense. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/11 "2008-11-18T15:43:29Z")
I always thought “The Wind” was a reference to Divine Wrath- so that if you stir up conflicts within your family/community, even over what may seem to be a righteous cause, you’ll be inheriting The Wind of Divine Retribution ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/12 "2008-11-18T15:58:24Z")
The line addressed to the preacher, Rev. Brown, from Brady. From SparkNotes: > [@](#): > > As Reverend Brown’s back-and-forth oration with the crowd reaches a frenzied pitch, the preacher asks the crowd if they curse and cast out the man who denies the story of Genesis, referring to Cates by pointing at the jail. The crowd responds furiously, which causes Rachel to shake. Reverend Brown asks the crowd if they should pray for God to bring his hellfire down on Cates. He goes further, comparing Cates to the Pharaohs and asking for “his soul [to] writhe in anguish and damnation.” Rachel interrupts and asks her father to stop condemning Cates. Reverend Brown calls out for the Lord to punish those who want to forgive Cates. > > Brady, who has been growing uncomfortable with Reverend Brown’s sermon, interrupts. He cautions Reverend Brown and suggests that the preacher should not try to “destroy that which you hope to save.” Here’s where the quote is used, to the man who is condemning is his daughter. At the end of the play too, the daughter runs away with the schoolteacher, so the preacher is left with nothing. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/13 "2008-11-18T16:04:55Z")
> [@Hostile\_Dialect](#): > > Or, inversely, a reference to the trouble the bible-thumping crowd caused by trying to (effectively) ban science in schools. And the kicker of the title is supposed to be that THE BIBLE is the source for the advice that the Bible-thumpers are ignoring. The reference can even be applied more broadly, not just about church/state issues. The “troubling their own house” refers to fear-mongering and squelching dissent in general, not only Bible-thumping. Remember that when this first came out, the connection to McCarthyism would have been obvious. It’s funny (and by funny, I mean alarming) that today the religion in public education issue is much more topical. So a society that spent its time and energy on a witch hunt for communists would be self-defeating (as evidenced by the space race – we in the U.S. were focused on rooting out communists, and the U.S.S.R. was focused on launching rockets – and look who won). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/14 "2008-11-18T16:10:33Z")
You trouble your house, you cause stress. Stress leads to indigestion and farting. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/15 "2008-11-19T01:18:58Z")
So they _did_ have something to show for it! Well, something to smell for it, anyway… ---
**Author:** ![CreativeWarrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@CreativeWarrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CreativeWarrior)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/16 "2015-08-09T21:59:39Z")
The wind cannot be gripped, kept, or cultivated. It is like inheriting nothing. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary “He that brings trouble upon himself and his family, by carelessness, or by wickedness, shall be unable to keep and enjoy what he gets, as a man is unable to hold the wind, or to satisfy himself with it.” ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/17 "2015-08-09T22:54:49Z")
poop -\_- ---
**Author:** ![DarwinsStepChildren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/47e85d/32.png) [@DarwinsStepChildren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarwinsStepChildren)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/18 "2017-06-15T08:29:30Z")
Crotalus is correct about the meaning of wind. In ~15th Century B.C.E. humans saw wind as invisible, intangible, a.k.a nothing. The best English translation I’ve read of Proverbs 11:29 was: He that troubleth his own house shall inherit only wind. I regret forgetting the source I read it from, and the inability to attribute the author. The entire first sentence of this Proverb is a metaphor. The author of Proverbs 11:29 was using wind as a metaphor for nothing. Own house is also a metaphor as well. Before I begin my ramble, I would just like to say that you have every right to be confused. The usage of “own” in this sentence is certainly not intuitive and takes awhile to comprehend. I am unfamiliar with Semitic languages and don’t know if “own” has specific differential meanings or not, however, we are discussing English and in English, own can sometimes be difficult to define. Own in English can be a pronoun, an adjective, or combined with other words be used as a noun. The noun form of own is used instead of admit. Own up to your actions or something like that. Proverbs 11:29 is not using own in the verb form. We know it can either be a pronoun or an adjective. From the words his own house we know that his own or own, is being used as a possessive adjective. His own house, or just his house is not replacing the noun house, it is just describing the house. If the sentence was something like: “My house is bigger than his.” The word his is replacing the noun house and his would be considered a possessive pronoun. Since the noun house in our example is not being replaced, merely defined by the words His own, then we can state that His own is a possessive adjective. Now, given this, own can be used for first person possessive adjectives, or, it can also be used for second and third person possessive adjectives. I will give examples. “He is using his own phone” is a first person possessive adjective. The pronoun(s) He/his is reference to a single individual. “Let them take their own lunch” is a third person possessive adjective. The pronouns them and their are used to reference more than one person. This is where the confusion in Proverbs 11:29 begins, but unfortunately, this is not where it ends. Own also has two different meanings. Own in English can mean belonging to i.e. (legal) ownership to a group or an individual. Own can also mean particular to, or relating to a group or an individual. I will give examples. “He burnt down his own house” is an example of the first meaning of own, where the noun house, does belong to, is legally owned by, the pronoun He and/or his. “He hit his own mother” is an example of the second definition of own. The noun mother is not possessed by, or legally owned by the pronoun He and/or his. The noun mother in this case is in the form of particular to/relating to. The phrase “His own house” in English usually takes the form of (A) first person possessive adjective and (B) Belonging to or legal ownership. However, Proverbs 11:29 is using “His own house” to mean (A) Third person possessive adjective and (B) Own to mean particular to, or related to. Which is why this Proverb is so difficult to define. However, once you take the first sentence with Third person possessive and particular to, related to form of own, the second sentence makes much more sense and completely follows the first. He that troubleth his own house… ancient writing, and I am not saying I agree with this, was only written by men. The pronoun He was often used in place of the pronoun They, or Anyone. That is what happened in this case. He that troubleth means Anyone that troubleth. Again, using the word His in ancient writing was often used for the word their. So the first sentence translated into English should say: “Anyone that troubleth their own house shall inherit the wind.” So this means that anyone that troubleth their own house shall inherit nothing. There is still the problem with “own house”. Usually in English this is used for belonging to or legal owner ship. For this Proverb, the author is using “own house” to refer to particular to, or related to. “Own house” does not refer to a single object. It doesn’t refer to a building or dwelling. Whether you use the word “his” or the updated word “their” it also doesn’t mean legal onwer(s) of a building or dwelling. “Own house”, in this particular proverb, refers to an individual’s surrounding, i.e. community. Whether it be in a household, in school, work, army, etc. etc. The people that you come in contact with on a semi-daily routine becomes your community or your tribe, or in this case your house. Usually, especially in ~15 century B.C.E establishments, your community or tribe ALL followed the same religion. Troubleth doesn’t have to mean religion, but in the play and the movie it does mean religion. What the first sentence of Proverbs 11:29 is saying is: if you bring trouble to your community, then you will inherit nothing. This saying is VERY religious and VERY philosophical. It is talking about people’s feelings and mental state, and has absolutely nothing to do with what is actually true. If EVERYONE in your community is drinking straight from the river without boiling their water, then the first sentence is telling you to just let it go, don’t say anything, agree with the masses and maintain the status quo, even if you have evidence that drinking water straight from the river without boiling it is bad for the communities health. Because this disrupts the status quo and could cause panic. It is the same with religion. Even if your evidence suggests that the community is worshipping the wrong god(s), or even if the evidence you accumulated suggests that there is no god more than it suggests that there is a god, don’t point it out. Do not disturb the status quo. Don’t cause the masses to panic. Why? That gets into the second sentence of Proverbs 11:29. Which is why this definition of the first sentence is most likely to be true. The second sentence directly follows this definition. The second sentence of Proverbs 11:29 says “and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart”. The first eight words of this sentence are pretty clear. The fool is the one who, according to the bible, is stupid enough to bring trouble to his community. The one who brings trouble to the community shall be servant to the… Pretty easy to follow. Who or what is the wise of heart? It is not someone who necessarily understands facts. Someone who is Wise of Heart is someone who takes other’s feelings and mental reactions into consideration before they act or speak on a subject. Richard Dawkins is the proverbial opposite to someone who is Wise of Heart. I don’t know if there is a word or phrase to mean opposite to Wise of Heart, but I am going to use Unwise of Heart to mean the exact opposite to Wise of Heart. Richard Dawkins went to Oxford, he devised the meaning of meme, he is very intelligent, you could even say wise. However, he is definitely not wise of heart. Whenever Richard Dawkins debates someone whose lively hood depends on religion, whether it be an Islamic Imam, or a Jewish Rabbi, or a Christian Priest or whatever, the debate ultimately goes down to one single argument. The religious representative will say to Dawkins something along the lines of: “Don’t you understand that she feels better believing that she will she her husband if she dies, rather than believing she’ll just be microbe food”, or, “Don’t you understand that this person who is in constant agony is comforted and feels better believing that he will be able to continue on and make contributions in heaven after he dies rather than believing that he is just immobile, paralized, crippled etc. and after he dies he will be put in the ground unable to make contributions as easily as someone who may not have a disease.” There are many arguments you can make along these lines for ANY religion. Dawkins response in every instance to these types of questions are: “I don’t care about anyone’s feelings, I care about what is TRUE!” I am not agreeing or disagree with Dawkins, I am not saying his statement is correct or incorrect. What I am saying is that statements like that are completely opposite to someone who is Wise of Heart. Someone who is wise of heart does take peoples feelings and mental state into consideration before they act or speak on a subject. For example: Let’s say that there are children playing, and they happen to be recreating, re-enacting certain Bible Stories. An adult, who is well versed in the Bible, comes along and hears the children playing. Amongst some of the correct interpretations, these children have got names, dates and whatever else totally wrong. Wrong from what the Bible says. This person could run to the children, intervene, tell them they’ve got everything wrong, don’t try to re-enact the Bible unless you are certain of the stories etc. etc. Or, this person, who is well versed in the Bible, could listen to the children and say to him/herself: “These children are getting along, playing nicely, and are happy. Interrupting their play with Biblical facts might lessen their fun, make them unhappy, or even make them panic. So, for the sake of the children’s feelings and mental state, I will decide to say nothing and not interfere.” So example one, where the person rushed in to tell the children written stories, names and dates from the Bible and informs them that they are completely wrong is Unwise of Heart. While the individual who decides to say nothing because intervening could make the children unhappy, despite the fact that this individual knows the true way the Bible is written, is Wise of Heart. So what does “the fool will be servant to the Wise of Heart” mean? Wise of Heart does not have to deal with religion. It could have been children playing pirates, and they start using toy machine guns and using names of people who were never Pirates. Someone could come up and tell them how incorrect machine guns are for the time period and how wrong they were about the names of the Pirates. Or they could just realize that these children are getting along and having fun despite their ignorance and move on because they don’t want to disrupt their happiness. Let’s take an example of a family. Let’s say that a mother and her son are home. They find out something that would disappoint dad. Maybe his team got knocked out of the playoffs, or maybe his cousin died. Whatever. Then dad comes home. Mom asks how his day was and Dad says: “Horrible, 100 different things went wrong, a piece of machinery fell on my foot, I didn’t have time for lunch etc. etc.” The son, wants to tell his father about the bad news that him and his mother know about. In this situation, the son is the fool, and the one to inherit the wind. The information is true and correct, but telling his father at this point in time would make a bad situation even worse. In this case the son would be bringing trouble to the house. He also is not wise of heart. What about the slave situation? That comes into play when the mother, who is wise of heart, starts to hear her son say something about the extra bad news. She comes over to him and tells him to stop. She says: “Now is not the time” or something like that. The fool, the son, does what the mother says, who is Wise of Heart. That’s what slave to the Wise of Heart means. This is a single day, simplistic example. Let’s say that we are talking about a Jewish tribe in ~15th Century B.C.E. Someone who either realizes that there is no God, or someone who realizes that there is a better God wants to reveal this to the entire tribe. First of all, this individual would be bringing trouble to the house, a.k.a. tribe. Secondly, a person who came to the same realization earlier on, but decided not to say anything so the status quo can be maintained and no panic would arise would come to counsel this individual and explain to him that it is not a good idea to make claims that could cause huge panic and change, and it is better to just let it go to maintain order within the tribe. The person doing the explaining is Wise of Heart and the person who wants to disrupt the status quo and make huge changes is the fool and is the slave to the Wise of Heart because he ends up listening to him and doing what he told him to. What does this have to do with the play/movie “Inherit the Wind”? It ends up having two meanings. Metaphorically the title is talking about Scopes a.k.a. Cates who is trying to bring change and facts to a town full of people who are not ready for this huge upturn, a town who would panic if Natural Selection were to all of a sudden be accepted by all the individuals in the community. The writers of the play/movie want the audience to realize that this proverb also has another meaning. That is to realize that when progress has been made within a community, progress that supersedes the Bible, the answer is not to try to abandon this progress, rather, to fit it into your religion. When Reverend Brown was preaching, he was talking about the Old Testament when God would smite the enemies of the Jews. Then he went on to say that he hopes and prays that God will punish Cates’ soul forever and punish those who ask that grace be given to Cates. That is when Bryan a.k.a. Matthew Harrison Brady quotes the first sentence of Proverbs 11:29 to Reverend Brown. Stating that it is possible to be too zealous. What that means is that 20th century A.D. Southern Americans, despite their bible thumping ways, have moved beyond the inquisition, the literal word of God and have moved beyond the damming of souls and the torture of disbelievers. They want him punished according to the law, but the citizens of this community have moved beyond punishment in the name of God. What Brady was telling the good Reverend is that Proverbs 11:29 can mean that the man that is over zealous, the person who tries to bring back orthodoxy that has been abandoned and bring back orthodoxy that human progression has already moved beyond is bringing trouble to your own community. In this case, the good Reverend is bringing trouble to his own house, a.k.a community, and he is the fool, while Brady is playing the part of the Wise of Heart to slow him down and tries to make him understand that being over zealous is bad for the entire community. That is why this play/movie is named Inherit the Wind. It doesn’t just mean the religious interpretation of not overturning the status quo with scientific leaps, it also means not to overturn the progress that has already been made by man, do not disrupt the current status quo containing current progress and science to the old ways and traditions of religions. When Brady was interrogating Cates’ fiance, he was overzealous himself. He wanted to prove God right, and that God’s sayings, and God’s way is correct so much, that he stopped being Wise of Heart. It was Brady’s wife who had to be Wise of Heart and tell him to stop for the sake of the girl, and her feeling’s and mental state. Then of course Brady’s last speech where he says that God speaks to him directly really brings trouble to the community. He is obviously being overzealous, and he definitely inherits nothing from that speech. If he hadn’t died, someone, probably his wife, would be Wise of Heart and explain that stating that God speaks directly to Brady and no one else is making a huge change in every community, and they would just refuse to accept/believe this statement. And the best thing to do is to leave it alone and never say it again to prevent uprising and panic in any community. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/19 "2017-06-15T10:06:14Z")
Oh my. A wall of text to revivify this zombie. **Crotalus** , I think the TL;DR is that you got it right. 9 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236/20 "2017-06-15T10:40:28Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Oh my. A wall of text to revivify this zombie. That’s more of an obelisk of text. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-biblical-metaphor-inherit-the-wind-mean/473236.md?page=2)